PROOF READING AND EDITING A THESIS
Tuesday 12th October, 2021
BY
OLIVER TANNER
ollietanner32@gmail.com
WRITING IS A RECURSIVE PROCESS
WHAT DOES A COPY EDITOR DO?
WHAT DOES A PROOF READER DO?
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A PROOF READER AND COPY EDITOR
Copy editor – checks for consistency; looks for repetition and redundancy, transitional
signals; looks for improvements in style; maybe re-write sentences to make clearer.
Done after the first draft of your work.
Proof-reading – checks margins, line breaks, indentation, page numbers, headers,
footers, content on each page. No re-writing work, final polishing.
Done at the very end
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT – BUT AS GOOD AS IT CAN BE!
AIM: TO PRODUCE A HIGH QUALITY PIECE OF WORK.
TECHNIQUES FOR EDITING AND PROOF READING YOUR OWN THESIS
How do I proof read my own writing?
How to look at your text in a different way.
1. Let it breathe
2. Don’t trust spell check on MS Word. Try using AI software like Grammarly.
3. Change the font size or font type (break the mental image you have of your
writing)
4. Print it out
5. Use a ruler
6. Make several passes (stages: grammar – spelling – punctuation –
headers/footers etc.)
7. Read it backwards
8. Read it out loud – listen for rhythm (use text to speech), e.g. Natural reader.com.
9. Ask a friend / colleague
10. Call in a professional
NOTE
Get familiar with your common mistakes, and watch out for them.
When proof reading - No distractions – social media, Facebook etc.
HAVE SOMEONE ELSE CHECK YOUR THESIS
The main points:
1. Has never read your document
2. Training/experience is preferable (but not essential)
3. Must be willing to read out loud
Note anything that interferes with their reading
NOTE
Proof reading translations vs proofreading other types of theses.
USING THE REVIEW TAB ON MS WORD
1. TRACK CHANGES
• on/off
• mark up
•mark up options
• accept / reject
2. NEW COMMENT
• add new comment
• custom
•delete or resolve
Example one
The term “dhamma” is perhaps the most important term in the Pali Buddhism. Despite its
crucial position in the Buddhism ‘dhamma’ has several ways of being translated and interpreted
depending in the context its bring used. In this chapter, I will review the meanings of dhamma”
as it appear in the canonical Theravāda Buddhist text, the commentaries,. in order to bring out
its deeper meaning. Each of these areas will be explore in detail in order to provide the accurate
meaning of the term ‘dhamma’.
Example 2
Exegetical material related to these divergent views that existed among the exegetes with
regard to the number of meritorious deeds and also enumerating them under the three bases
of meritorious deeds contained in the canonical literature. Furthermore, an analysis of the
existing literature shows that modern scholars have not accurately focused their research to
discuss in detail these divergent views. Moreover, the attempt made by them on this regard
can be traced back to the early PTS translations , which draws our attention to the divergent
views related to the meritorious deeds contained both in the Abhidhammāvatāra and in the
Abhidhammattavikāsinī.1 Attempts made by Rhys Davids in this regard has been limited to the
translation of related material contained in the Pāli commentaries from the Sinhala language.
Furthermore, a similar observation can also be made to the English translations made by Pe
Maung Tin,2 and R.P. Wijeratne and Rupert Gethin.3 In addition to the contributions made by
the translators mentioned earlier Kulupana Dharmaratna has collected the views related to the
number of meritorious deeds. However, he has not discussed them in detail to see to what
extent Theravada exegetes differ from one another with regard to the number of meritorious
deeds. Therefore, taking this gape into consideration, the present paper attempts to discuss
the divergent views existed among the Theravāda exegetes with regard to the number of
meritorious deeds contained in the canonical literature.
1
2
3
Example Three
What is Pāli
There are many definitions of Pāli by scholars, Wilhelm Geiger defined as follows: “As
the name of a language, it originates as an abbreviation. In Pāli, pāli-bhāsā means "the
language (bhāsā) of the texts (pāli)". A fuller translation of pali might be "text for recitation”.
The texts in question are those of the earliest stratum of Buddhist scriptures as they are
preserved by a particular Buddhist tradition, the Theravada. In that tradition those texts are
collectively referred to as the Tipiṭaka, which literally means "that which is in three baskets",
and they are supposed to be "the word of the Buddha" (Buddhavacana). The Tipiṭaka is
usually referred to in English as "the Pāli Canon." 4 According to C.A.F. Rhys Davids: “Pāli
in fact is not the name of any localizable tongue. The meaning of the word is "Row" (cf. our
"paling"). There are a dozen meanings of the word pali distinguishable in Sanskrit, of which
"row" is one, but in no case does it mean "language".”5 And further explain that: ‘The
language of the Theravādin canon is a version of a dialect of Middle Indo-Āryan, not
Māgadhī, created by the homogenisation of the dialects in which the teachings of the Buddha
were orally recorded and transmitted. This became necessary as Buddhism was transmitted
far beyond the area of its origin and as the Buddhist monastic order codified his teachings.’6
4
Wilhelm Geiger, A Pāli Grammar (Oxford : The Pali Text Society, 2005), p. viii
5
C.A.F. Rhys Davids, Sakya or Buddhist Origins (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2017), p.429-430
6 http://www.palitext.com/subpages/lan_lite.htm\
