What We Offer

Editing levels differ according to the needs of individual manuscripts, with some requiring more work than others, or more attention to specific areas. In general, there are four levels of editing that apply to manuscripts: substantive, semi-substantive, standard, and light. Examples of these different levels can be found on the SAMPLES OF OUR WORK page.As we explain on our PRICING page, we aim to bring all of our clients’ manuscripts up to publishable standards (what we call “the Eyrie standard of excellence”) and do not, therefore, offer separate services differentiated by levels of editing. We assess each manuscript and estimate the time required to edit it.The details provided below on areas covered by our editing will help you to understand how we work with your manuscript.

EDITING SERVICES :

Comprehensive review of manuscripts and identification of formatting gaps and issues:

We ensure that all manuscripts comply with the requirements of target journals and other publications. Areas of compliance that we check for include:

  • Consistent use of one English style (e.g., American, British, or Canadian),
  • Manuscript and abstract length and structure,
  • In-text and reference list citation styles,
  • Tables, headings, and paragraph styles,
  • Spelling style and conventions.

We will point out any issues that we find, and if you have ordered our formatting service (see below), we will also correct these issues for you.

Improving a manuscript’s structure and organization:

Objective: Depending on the needs of your manuscript, we will edit it to ensure that its structure and organization are clear, cohesive and logically coherent. Though we may substantially (heavily) edit the manuscript to ensure that these writing goals are attained, we will not rewrite it.

Outcome: Your manuscript is well-structured and your ideas flow logically and smoothly throughout the text. Your argument is clearly conveyed through logically connected and well-structured paragraphs.

Resolving style-related issues:

Objective: We will conduct sentence-level editing to address language and style issues (e.g., word choice and order; repetition; appropriate use of jargon, acronyms, abbreviations, and active/passive voice; and avoidance of anthropomorphism).

Outcome: Your written content is well-constructed, clear and concise, adhering to accepted academic style conventions, and the rhythm and flow of your sentences are natural so that your text reads like that of a native English speaker.

Correcting the mechanics of your writing:

Objective: We will ensure that the mechanics of your writing is perfect, addressing any issues relating to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. We will check whether there are punctuation-related issues (e.g., the correct use of semicolons, Oxford serial commas, and quote marks complying with American/British writing conventions); subject-verb agreement; the appropriate use of hyphens, em-, and en-dashes; capitalization; and other mechanical issues.

Outcome: Your text is completely error-free and conforms to required style conventions.

Feedback and suggestions:

Using the commenting feature in Word’s tracking program, we will provide precise and detailed comments and suggestions aimed at improving the structure, organization, mechanics, and style of your writing.

MISCELLANEOUS ACADEMIC AUTHOR SERVICES:

Formatting manuscripts:

If you would like us to format your manuscript, we offer this as a separate task. Formatting work includes ensuring that the manuscript is correctly formatted according to the required style guide of your publication. This includes headings, line spacing, indented paragraphs, in-text and reference list citations, and other formatting requirements. We can also apply basic formatting to your tables and check the text.

Cover letter development:

If you have ordered this service, we will write an effective and persuasive cover letter that you can submit to the target journal along with your manuscript. This will present concise statements on the background, methods, and results of your study as well as reasons why it will interest readers of the target journal and its contribution to the research literature. We will also check other requirements for cover letters specified by the journal.

Abstract development:

If you require an abstract for your manuscript, we will develop an abstract that provides a concise summary of the manuscript that is correctly structured according to the requirements of your target journal and within the specified word limit. The abstract will be succinct, presenting the background, methods, results, conclusions, and implications of your study.

Journal recommendations:

If you order this service, we will provide you with a report containing our recommendations of four target journals, ranked in descending order, for your manuscript that are tailored to your publishing criteria. In this report, we will outline the reasons for our recommendations and provide you with key details and features of the recommended journals to enable you to make an informed choice regarding your target journal.

Reviewer recommendations:

If your target journal requires a list of recommended reviewers, we can provide you with a report in which we identify four scholars who would be particularly appropriate choices as reviewers in terms of their fields of study, appropriate seniority level, and research interests. The report will include relevant details on these individuals.

DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ STATEMENTS OF PURPOSE FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE PROGRAM APPLICATIONS

We work with individual students on their draft statements of purpose, however preliminary, helping them to convey their scholarly aspirations in an effective way that is persuasive and draws the attention of the concerned academic selection committees.

We help students to further develop their ideas, and we subsequently edit their written work to ensure that it reflects what they want to express. In some cases, we may also speak with a student on Skype to further discuss his or her application.

We will not actually write a student’s statement of interest as this would be unethical, but we will help students to clarify their thoughts and will polish their writing to ensure that it captures the interest and attention of members of the selection committee as a strong application that meets their selection criteria.

EDITING OF DIVERSE DOCUMENTS IN THE NON-PROFIT SECTOR:

We edit diverse kinds of non-profit sector documents, including concept notes, proposals, grant reports, informational reports, blog content, policy briefs, and other kinds of documents produced by organizations working in this sector.

Radhika, the lead editor at the Eyrie, has several years of programmatic as well as writing/editing consultancy experience in leading international development research centers and philanthropic organizations such as the World Agroforestry Centre, the Center for International Forestry Research, the Ford Foundation, the International Development Research Centre, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Wildlife Fund. She brings this knowledge and experience to bear in her editing of documents in this sector.

In the future, we will be launching a variety of specialized writing services that will be added to this page. We look forward to working with clients on these writing projects.