Editing services

1. THE ALP EDITING SERVICE
The ALP editing service is part of the Writing Centre of the Academic Language Programme (ALP) of the Faculty of Humanities. The Writing Centre is one of the initiatives that the ALP has developed to support members of the VU community in developing their communicative skills in English and Dutch (which we also do with workshops, coaching, and tutorials, see here).

2. WHAT WE DO FOR BACHELOR AND MASTER STUDENTS
We offer you a check on your English or Dutch writing skills early in your thesis trajectory. 

We check your text and show you – with the help of ‘track changes’ and comments – where it can be improved. The track change function shows you which corrections we’ve made in the text. These will always relate to simple and clear linguistic errors. The comments are used to point out unclear passages in the text, or cases where there are different options for improvement. We will add some general comments on your writing style at the end of the document. 

You make your own decisions about the text on the basis of our comments.

This is how it works:

1. You send us a text of 2,500-3,000 words. This can be any part of your thesis. It needs to be a version that represents your writing skills of a finished text. In other words, we don’t look at drafts. A good option is to send us a part of your literature chapter. 
2. We check your text, focusing on errors and clarity. In addition, we add three comments about how you can improve your style, and if relevant, we add some suggestions for what to work on in finalizing the document and provide useful resources to help you with these improvements.
3. The price is €75,- for a text of 2,500-3,000 words written in your first language, and €100,- for a text of 2,500-3,000 words written in a second or additional language.  
4. You work through the comments, and use what you’ve learned in the rest of your thesis.  

Please note: we are not ghostwriters, which means we don’t write your text for you. We also don’t correct a text on the last night before you have to hand it in. On average, we will need about ten days to edit a text. Please also note that the price is based on an assumption about the number and type of mistakes made by native speakers vs non-native speakers of Dutch and English. 

3. WHAT WE DO FOR PHD CANDIDATES/RESEARCHERS
For PhD candidates and researchers, we offer editing services for texts up to roughly 7,000 words. You can choose between ‘light’ editing, which focuses on correcting simple errors and identifying ambiguous phrases, and ‘heavy’ editing, where we also pay attention to style and attractive writing, as well as typical aspects of final versions, such as consistency in spelling and terminology. 

If you’re looking for help with a longer text, you can send us an email at alp.fgw@vu.nl to ask about possibilities. 

4. WHAT DO WE EDIT AND WHAT DO WE NOT EDIT?
We only look at the actual text, that is to say the chapters in which you report on the research you have done. We also don’t consider the layout of the text, nor do we check the references in your text, because there may be very specific guidelines for these in your field. We will, however, make a comment if we see that the references in the text are not consistent.

5. HOW DOES IT WORK IN PRACTICE?

For Bachelor/Masterstudents

1. Please send your text to alp.fgw@vu.nl.
2. Within three days, you will receive a message from us about the expected time it will take to edit your text, and the payment details.
3. Once you have paid, the editor will start editing your text.
4. You will receive your edited text within the period that was agreed on. The edited text will also be sent to your supervisor, if that was part of the agreement.

More information for supervisors and teachers

For PhD candidates/researchers

1. Please send your text to alp.fgw@vu.nl, for further information and consultation.
2. Within three days, you will receive a message from us about the expected costs (see 4) and the expected time it will take to edit your text.
3. If you agree on the costs, the editor will start editing your text.
4. You will receive your edited text within the period that was agreed on. The edited text will also be sent to your supervisor, if that was part of the agreement.
5. You will receive the payment details.