The Royal Holloway Proofreading Scheme is only open to postgraduates who would like to have the final draft of an assessed project/dissertation/thesis checked for minor slips and errors.

What is the proofreading scheme?

The scheme makes use of a register of approved proofreaders who have agreed to abide by the Royal Holloway Proofreading Scheme Handbook and Code of Practice. This means they can only identify errors (in language, punctuation, layout and referencing). They cannot correct or fix-up errors for you.

The scheme's proofreaders do not work for Royal Holloway but are freelance professionals with experience of checking through academic work for error. All have qualifications from the Publishing Training Centre (PTC) and/or membership of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). Any work that these proofreaders do for you is by private arrangement and paid for by you.

Do please note:

As the service is by private arrangement between proofreader and student, the College bears no liability for any failings in the arrangement. Further, it is the sole responsibility of the student to ensure that the authorship of a submitted dissertation or project is his or her own work alone and not that of a third party.

How does the scheme work in practice?

If you are a postgraduate and want to have the final draft of your extended written work proofread, you will first need to request permission from your supervisor or personal tutor. They complete the Proofreading Consent Form and email it to:  cedas@rhul.ac.uk.

Once CeDAS has received the consent form, we will email you a register of approved proofreaders along with a copy of the completed consent form. You can then approach a proofreader from the register with details about what you want proofed. You will need to provide:

• a representative 2‐3 page sample of your draft work to help the proofreader estimate costs
• a copy of the completed consent form
• the word count for the work that is to be proofread
• a reasonable timeframe for completion of the proofreading

If the proofreader is unable to do the job, you will need to approach another proofreader from the register.

All details about the operation of the scheme including a recommended four-step workflow are to be found in the Royal Holloway Proofreading Scheme Handbook and Code of Practice. Do please read this carefully.