What Is the Cost to Have Your Dissertation or Thesis Edited? Based on a 100-Page Dissertation

All of the students I have worked with across the globe have one thing in common: They don’t have much money. Yet, most students—regardless of their writing ability and time factors—would undoubtedly welcome some form of help from an editor. But can they afford it? Is it worth the cost?

Here is a guide for help you can get from working with an editor. Note that these prices are general estimates and are based on a 100-page manuscript.  

$500. A cursory review for formatting and compliance with your school’s specifications and academic style guide.

 There are a few formatting commands that I can perform in seconds or minutes that some students never master or spend hours trying to figure out. For example:

·      Creating/formatting the Table of Contents. Do you know that the customary dots in the Table of Contents is a simple tab? Take a second. Under paragraph formatting, click on tabs. You will see two options on the right: “alignment” and “leader.” So, rather than hitting dot, dot, dot, dot, dot across the page and still not being able to line up the page numbers, a simple tab is all you need (as shown here with the tab stop at 6.5”). 

·      Formatting headings and block quotes:

As you are getting ready to submit your dissertation, there can be a lot of anxiety around formatting and style guide compliance. For many students, it is well worth the cost of hiring an editor to review their dissertation before final submission. 

$1,500. A careful/technical reading of your dissertation, correcting grammatical errors (data are, none is), typographical errors, formatting errors, and noncompliance with the academic style guide (10 or ten? noncompliance or non-compliance?). Many students hire editors for technical editing as they would rather not slog through the rules in the 200+-page style guide. It is very reassuring to have a professional do a once-over, page-by-page reading of your dissertation.

$3,000-$6,000. In this price range, you are asking an editor to provide copyediting. Some students need this for a number of reasons, such as: 

·      They are so busy in their professional life that they simply don’t have time to do more than the first draft.

·      They are unfamiliar with academic writing or do not have confidence in their ability to write at a level that they themselves wish to see in their own scholarly publications. 

·       Writing is not their forte for other reasons: ESL (English is not their native language), LD (they may have a learning disability), or they were never taught how to write well.

Is it worth it? Yes.

If you hire an editor, you will finish your program sooner—which in and of itself may save you the cost of working with an editor; you will be proud of your published dissertation; and you will be able to get on with your chosen career (i.e., start to make money!).

One important caveat: Editors are not licensed, and thus, you must be confident that the editor you hire is qualified, trustworthy, and ethical. 

Are considering hiring an editor? Stay tuned. Next week, I will be writing about how to hire an editor.

You may also wish to purchase my book, De-Stressing the Dissertation and Other Forms of Academic Writing: Practical Guidance and Real-Life Stories.  

Kathleen Kline is an academic editor with over 35 years’ experience working with students across six continents. She is the Director of the Writing Center at the Wright Institute, a clinical psychology school in Berkeley, California.