Good morning, Reader!

It's true.

I love/hate Grammarly.

In one sense, Grammarly is one of the most valuable tools I have in my writing toolkit.

When I'm reading over my own work, for example, it can be easy to initially miss errors like minor typos or incorrect punctuation. Grammarly, bless its helpful heart, caught several mistakes even as I was drafting this email (thanks, pal).

This saves me quite a bit of editing time.

Grammarly also sends me weekly emails with updates about my writing (see the snapshot below).

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I need this kind of cheerleader in my life.

However.

While Grammarly is a handy tool, it's not my go-to for final editing and proofreading.

Why?

Because Grammarly makes mistakes.

For example, it offered the suggestion below to rephrase a sentence within this email:

Um, no, Grammarly, I was trying to say that you helped me catch writing mistakes—not that I spotted them on my own.

This kind of suggestion is a problem.

I've noticed that students often accept all of the changes that Grammarly suggests when they're in the final editing stage of their theses or dissertations.

I can always tell when this happens because their work is usually riddled with mistakes, especially unclear sentences.

Every time.

So, while I use Grammarly daily, I don't rely on it for final edits.

When it comes time for that, I usually reach out to one of my favorite editors: my identical twin sister.

Elisabeth has an MBA and works as a business writing instructor; she's my editor when I'm working on a big project that needs a second set of eyes.

Sure, I may write and edit for a living and be able to catch a lot of my own mistakes, but not every single one.

We're all human.

We're going to miss mistakes in our own writing.

All writers—even the scholar-writer-superstars out there—need their work edited and proofread by someone else.

For this reason, instead of solely relying on Grammarly (or some other digital writing tool), I highly recommend contacting an actual person for a final review of your work.

Doesn't have to be a twin sibling (likely won't be), but ask someone you trust to edit your draft.

It's essential for a polished final submission.

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Need an Edit?

Speaking of editing...

...I've received a lot of editing requests lately.

I was actually kind of confused by the high demand until I realized that many university semesters are close to wrapping at this time of year.

So!

​I've added a formal editing request option to my website.​

Have a research paper, a thesis or dissertation chapter, or maybe even a journal article that needs editing?

I'm here. *waves*

If you're interested in having your work edited by moi, here's how the process works:

1. Fill out the form included at the bottom of my editing services page.
2. I'll reach out and edit 1 page (or 500 words) of your document for free so you can be sure we're a good fit.
3. If you decide to move forward, I’ll send a contract so you’re fully aware of the price, payment options, and turnaround time for your document. No surprises here!
4. Once you receive your edited document, you’ll have up to 4 weeks to review my edits/feedback and contact me with any follow-up questions.

Currently, I'm only accepting 4 smaller writing projects (10,000 words or less) and 1 larger writing project (think an entire thesis or dissertation) per month.

This month, I have spots left for 2 smaller writing projects, so feel free to complete the form at the bottom of this page or reply to this email if you'd like to apply!

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eBook Update:

Thanks to those who signed up to be beta testers for my 17-Week Literature Review Writing Plan!

This eBook outlines specific actions to take each week during a standard university semester to WRITE, FINISH, AND SUBMIT your literature review.

The official eBook launch will be in April, but I had planned to send it to beta testers this week.

However, after review, I decided that the eBook still needs some final love (and more examples for easy reference!) before sharing out. I want this resource to be as valuable as possible to you.

Beta testers: look for an email next week!

All write, all write, all write,

Erin Schleiden, PhD