Services

Plain English

Rewriting for general (non-specialist) readers or for translation into other languages. Crisp, simple English with ambiguities and hard words removed and complex concepts explained.

Copy-editing

Editing text line by line to ensure clarity, grammatical correctness and stylistic consistency. May also include checking and editing illustrations, captions, figures and tables. Copy-editing may include formatting in Word (layout, font choice, hierarchy of headings, running headers and footers, page numbers) or providing direction to designers.

Proofreading

Checking copy (usually in pdf) after it has been put into design format, to make sure that all the copy-editor’s instructions have been followed and that no errors have been introduced in layout, captions, illustrations, tables and figures. The term ‘proofreading’ is also sometimes used to mean a final check of a document before it is passed to a designer. This may include some copy-editing tasks (see above). We can do proofreading as a stand-alone job or include it in the quotation for a publishing project.

Structural editing

Conceptual editing with attention to flow of argument and logical order of elements. For large documents, this is done in two stages, with suggestions on structure returned to authors and the final copy edited after agreement on changes.

Verification/Fact checking

Line-by-line checking of reports or other documents for scientific and factual accuracy. We can mark all unsupported or untrue statements, or (depending on client requirements) do the research to fix all mistakes, ambiguities and omissions, and rewrite the document.

Summarising

Writing précis of longer documents: executive summaries, journal article abstracts.

Style sheets

Development of appropriate style sheets to guide authors and editors of complex documents. Selection of appropriate spelling and prose style, usage rules, referencing, abbreviations and standard and technical phrases.

Project management

We can handle your whole publication project, from initial publication strategy to printed reports, infographics and media releases. We will plan and schedule all the elements and engage designers, infographics experts and printers as required.

Conference posters and presentations

We can make your poster the one that everyone at the conference wants to look at, and your PowerPoint presentation the one that everyone remembers.

Questionnaire design

Development of questionnaires from scratch using interviews, pilot studies or published qualitative research, or adapting questions from handbooks and previous studies. Using our linguistic skills and knowledge of lay understandings (e.g. folk psychology), we can construct or edit your research questionnaire to achieve optimal comprehension and minimal missing or contradictory responses.

Research translation

Reworking the findings of research for health promotion, clinical practitioner training, policy making, publicity or social media. We are also happy to consult with research teams so that they can handle research translation themselves.

Indexing

Preparation of back-of-the-book A–Z indexes for popular and scholarly books and reports, both practical and highly conceptual. (Cookery books a speciality.) We offer a rapid and professional service using up-to-date technology, providing indexes to meet local and overseas publishers’ requirements.