Academic Proofreading Service by Subject Specialists

Grammar software can fix your commas. It cannot tell you that your methodology does not support your conclusion.

Our academic proofreading service puts your work in front of an editor who actually knows your field — a researcher who has written the kind of chapter you are writing and knows what an examiner looks for.

Send us 500 words and we will edit them free, so you can see the difference before you pay anything.

Choose your level of editing

Not every draft needs the same thing. Pick the level that matches where your work actually is.

	Proofread	Copy-edit	Subject edit
Spelling, grammar, punctuation	✓	✓	✓
Formatting and layout	✓	✓	✓
Reference list consistency	✓	✓	✓
Sentence structure and clarity		✓	✓
Academic tone and word choice		✓	✓
Comments on argument and evidence			✓
Structural feedback by chapter			✓
Editor is a specialist in your field			✓
From	£12 / 1,000 words	£24 / 1,000 words	£38 / 1,000 words

Every level returns two files: a tracked-changes copy showing every edit, and a clean version ready to submit.

What our proofreading service will and will not change

We are specific about this, because a good academic proofreading service has boundaries and a bad one does not.

We will: correct spelling, grammar and punctuation · fix inconsistent formatting · check your reference list matches your citations · flag unclear sentences and suggest alternatives · point out where an argument needs more evidence · tell you if a section is in the wrong order.

We will not: rewrite your argument · add research you did not do · change your findings or conclusions · write new sections for you · submit anything on your behalf.

Your research, methodology, findings and conclusions stay yours. An editor makes your work read the way you meant it to, which is a different job from writing it for you.

If your institution has a proofreading policy — many do, especially for postgraduate work — send it to us and your editor will work inside it.

What we proofread

Postgraduate PhD theses · Master’s dissertations · research proposals · literature reviews · methodology chapters · systematic reviews and meta-analyses · conference papers · journal articles for submission

Undergraduate Essays · reports · lab reports · final-year projects · case studies · reflective writing

Professional CIPD assessments across Level 3, 5 and 7 · business reports · funding applications · personal statements

Subject areas Business and management · HR and CIPD · accounting and finance · nursing and health sciences · biology and life sciences · psychology · education · engineering · computer science · economics · social sciences

How it works

1. Send your document. Upload it with your deadline, word count, and referencing style.
2. Get a free 500-word sample edit. We edit a section of your actual work, free, so you can judge the quality. No card needed.
3. Approve the quote. Fixed price based on word count and level. No hourly billing.
4. Your editor works on it. Someone in your subject area, matched to your document.
5. Receive two files — tracked changes plus a clean copy — by your deadline.
6. Ask questions afterwards. Follow-up on any edit is free for 7 days.

Turnaround times

Word count	Standard	48-hour	24-hour
Up to 5,000	1 day	✓	✓
5,000–20,000	3–4 days	+40%	Ask
20,000–50,000	5–7 days	+40%	—
50,000+ (PhD)	7–10 days	Ask	—

Submit at least a week before your real deadline where you can. It gives you time to review the tracked changes properly rather than accepting everything blind — which is where students lose the benefit.

Why choose a subject specialist

Generalist editors miss discipline problems. A copy editor who has never read a CIPD assessment will not know that describing where the brief said analyse is what fails the unit. A statistician will spot that your reported p value does not match your degrees of freedom. A generalist will not.

Software cannot read for meaning. Grammarly is genuinely good at grammar and free. If grammar is all you need, use it. You are here because you need something it cannot do.

Your editor is verified. Every editor’s qualifications and subject background are checked before they take work. You see their credentials, specialisms and review count before you book.

You keep the knowledge. Tracked changes with comments explaining why, not silent corrections. The next chapter should need less editing than the last.

 

Frequently asked questions

How much does academic proofreading cost? Proofreading starts at £12 per 1,000 words, copy-editing at £24, and subject editing at £38. A 20,000-word dissertation at proofreading level costs around £240. You get a fixed quote before anything starts, and a free 500-word sample edit first.

Is using a proofreading service allowed? Yes, at almost every institution. Proofreading is recognised academic support and most universities publish a policy setting out what an editor may and may not change. We work inside your institution’s policy — send it to us with your document. What is not allowed is someone rewriting your argument or writing sections for you, and we do neither.

Will you fix my references? Yes. We check that your in-text citations match your reference list and that both follow your style consistently, whether that is Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE or your institution’s own variant.

Can you proofread a whole PhD thesis? Yes. An 80,000-word thesis typically takes 7 to 10 days at standard turnaround. For work that long we usually assign one editor across all chapters so terminology and style stay consistent.

What is the difference between proofreading and editing? Proofreading corrects surface errors — spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting. Editing goes further into sentence structure, clarity and academic tone. Subject editing adds a specialist’s comments on your argument and evidence. The comparison table above sets out exactly what each level includes.

Will you tell me if my work is not good enough? Yes, and we would rather do it early. If an editor thinks a chapter has a structural problem that proofreading will not fix, they will say so and suggest what would help instead.

Do you use AI to edit my work? No. Your document is edited by a person. We use software for spell-checking the way any editor does, but the judgement calls are human. That is the entire point of paying for this.

Is my work kept confidential? Yes. Your document, your name and your institution stay between you, your editor and our support team. We never share your work, never publish it, and never contact your institution.

Try it on your own work

Send 500 words of your actual document and we will edit them free. No card, no account, no obligation.

You will see exactly what an editor in your subject changes and why, and you can decide from there.

Disclaimer: All of the papers you get at Prestoexperts.co.uk are meant for research purposes only. The papers are not supposed to be submitted for academic credit.