Meet our editors and proofreaders: Sarah

On 12 May 2021 / Advice, Aktualności, Porady, Publications, Scientific / Leave a comment

Meet our editors and proofreaders: Sarah

Sarah, PhD in history University of St Andrews

As a part of “Meet our editors and proofreaders” series, we interview some of the native speakers who edit and proofread your texts. Today we publish an interview with Sarah, PhD in History, from the University of St Andrews. She discusses her work and provides helpful advice about how to improve your academic writing.

Research interests

eCORRECTOR: What are you researching?
Sarah: I’m researching medieval English law. My main focus is on how cases were argued in court and how legal experts gained their knowledge.

eCORRECTOR: What inspires you about research?
Sarah: I really enjoy getting to read through manuscripts from 800 years ago to try to find out what people were thinking! It makes the Middle Ages seem so much more real.

eCORRECTOR: What is the major scientific challenge, in your field, for this decade?
Sarah: The major challenge to medieval legal history today is that we need to reassess the sources. Most of our scholarship is based on work done in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which focused on institutionalised law and neglected large bodies of local, customary law.

eCORRECTOR: Have you read a breakthrough paper recently?
Sarah: I recently discovered that people in the twelfth century sometimes tried to use their last wills to distribute land (which you can’t legally do in the Middle Ages). This shows that people were willing to experiment with the laws that were available to see what they could get away with.

Golden tips about writing papers

eCORRECTOR: What is your golden piece of advice when writing a paper?
Sarah: Write an outline before your start ? the more detailed, the better! Then you can just fill in the blanks with your research.

eCORRECTOR: What is the most common mistake you notice when you edit/proof papers?
Sarah: Grammatically, the construction “allows to” appears very frequently. In English grammar, words like ?allow? and ?let? have to have a direct object before the infinitive, such as ?this case allows me to examine?? as opposed to ?this case allows to examine??. You can also get around this by saying, ?this case allows for the examination of??, which is just a slightly different construction that lets you avoid the first person. Ridiculous, I know!

eCORRECTOR: Do you have a presentation/stylistic tip?
Sarah: Use the same font throughout the entire paper, 12 point for the main text and 10 point for the footnotes. It seems like a small thing, but it makes a very big difference to how professional your paper looks.

eCORRECTOR: What example phrase should you use when writing a paper?
Sarah: I’m quite fond of the phrase “X is crucial for our understanding of Y because…” . It makes the point very strongly!

About tools and motivation

eCORRECTOR: How do you get motivated to start writing a paper?
Sarah: I start by organising all my evidence. Once I’ve done that, I can see what kind of an outline I need to write and might even have half of the paper written already!
When I’m having a hard time getting started, I set a timer for 15 minutes. Then, I write as much as I can in that time (even if it’s nonsense) and see what I have. The time limit makes me feel like I am writing for a deadline and doesn’t let me procrastinate.

eCORRECTOR: Can you recommend any app/tool for improving scientific writing?
Sarah: I highly recommend using Zotero or another citation software (Endnote, Mendeley) to do your references. This will ensure that you use the same format throughout and takes care of all the repeat references by automatically using “ibid.” and short-form citations.
Grammarly is also helpful, but the professional version can do more harm than good for non-English speakers, as it does not always understand what you are trying to say and will suggest things that are incorrect.

eCORRECTOR in 2018 ? a retrospect

On 31 December 2018 / Aktualności, News / Leave a comment

The beginning of a new year is a perfect opportunity to take a look at the passing 2018. We would also like to use this opportunity to wish our customers and native speakers all the best in 2019 – may it be a year of success and reaching for the stars.

A lot has changes at eCORRECTOR in 2018 ? top quality is still our paramount objective and we aim at it tirelessly. Introducing new paths in our functioning aims at providing tailor-made native speaker proofreading and translation services. Some have already been applied and it is our hope that they have a direct positive impact on the quality of our translation and proofreading services. Below you can find some highlights of 2018 at our company.

Projects – more and larger

Each year, we manage to successfully complete more and more native speaker proofreading and translation projects. There were about 5 000 of those in 2018 ? that’s 50% more than last year! Autumn was the busiest season for our native speakers, though some projects lasted throughout the entire year. We also carry out more and more projects using CAT tools, which allows us to complete larger projects within a shorter deadline. Returning customers prove that the quality of our scientific proofreading is very high.

Unique undertakings

This year was also a time of new tasks. We assisted our partners in preparing English-Arabic and English-Icelandic dictionaties. Our native speakers took part in an interesting project concerning emojis. We also took up a challenge of recording voice messages for one of our customers. Finally, namy fascinating discoveries got published thanks to our specialist proofreading service.

Conitnuations and novelties

We have prepared various entires in the Scientist’s Library, expanding the already rich offer of materials for academics willing to publish in English. We are also continuously working on the academic writing guidebooks. There was also a series of free online consultations with a native speaker, where you could ask questions about the English language.

New partners

We have established numerous business contacts with companies from the USA, United Kingdom, Denmark, the Czech Republic or Lithuania. We have also entered into a partnership deal with Smartcat. Together, we launched a campaign to increase the awareness of CAT tools amongst translators by hosting our first webinar. eCORRECTOR cooperates with a lot of universities and research facilities. Our new partners this year are, among others, the Museum of Koszalin, University of Casimir the Great, journals such as Human Movement, Meteorology Hydrology and Water Management ? Research and Operational Applicationand the Scientific Journals of the Maritime University in Szczecin.

Meeting partners, customers and translators

We participated in scientific conferences and industry events, where we could ponder upon translation itself and the education of translation specialists in Poland and worldwide. We started at the 5th International Conference Medical Science Pulse ?Interdisciplinary Science & Research? and the Warsaw edition of LocWorld, where we discussed the art of writing scientific texts. Another step was the Smartcat Partner Day in Warsaw ? our speech regarded the opportunities this CAT tool opens up for LSPs. Next, we attended the Konferencja Tłumaczy, where we talked about CAT education of Polish translators. During the Dimensions of Business Language and Culture DOBLAC 2018 event, we could present the technological means of providing top quality services. Incidentally, we also went to Zurich Zand the Russian Techtextil Week!

We are very eager to welcome the challenges of 2019. It is our hope that we will be able to assist you in reaching for the established goal by providing top quality native speaker services.

O eCORRECTOR:
Cel działalności: dostarczenie tekstu, który będzie odpowiednio odczytany przez czytelników obcojęzycznych ? pozbawiony wpadek kulturowych czy nienaturalnych wyrażeń.

Wśród naszych klientów znajdują się osoby prywatne, instytucje kulturalne i państwowe, uniwersytety oraz ludzie nauki. Grono naszych zadowolonych klientów powiększa się bardzo szybko, co jest kolejnym dowodem naszego profesjonalizmu i rzetelności. Stale współpracujemy z kilkuset native speakerami języków docelowych, dokładnie weryfikując jakość ich pracy

Verification and proofreading service at eCORRECTOR

On 25 September 2018 / News / Leave a comment

Writing is a creative process that may lead to great literature or breakthrough academic papers. Irrespective of the area, authors are rarely able to critically evaluate their texts and spot all the main errors. Here?s where proofreaders enter the scene. How to choose the best service for your needs?

eCORRECTOR offers three types of proofreading services ? verification, standard proofreading and specialist proofreading. The main difference between verification and any proofreading is the fact that it includes a comparison of the translation with the source text.

Verification

At eCORRECTOR, verification tasks are assigned to a person fluent in both languages who compares the two texts sentence by sentence, checks for possible mistranslations and smoothens the target text. Verification may not be performed by a native speaker of the target text in a case where the combination involves a rare target language.

Standard Proofreading

When it comes to proofreading of any type, it does not have to include verification due to a simple reason ? the proofreader, although a native speaker of the target language, may not know the source language. The premise is to correct any language mistakes, cultural mishaps and stylistic issues in the target text, without an explicit need to consult with the original. Standard proofreading is carried out by a native speaker who holds an advanced command of their mother tongue confirmed by education and/or membership of associations such as SfEP. This service is recommended for commercial and business texts, literature, reports, etc.

Specialist Proofreading

Specialist proofreading is carried out by a linguistically skilled native speaker, but the proofreader also holds a PhD (or equivalent such as MBBS) in a relevant area and in most cases a record of their own journal publications. This service is recommended for scientific publications (papers, chapters, books, journals, etc.) as it provides an insight of another scientist, well-versed in the specificity of the field. We also attach a Certificate of Proofreading after completion of proofreading for each full text.

If you have any questions about the details of our services or are not sure which service is the best for you, do not hesitate to contact us via the expert chat or email (info@ecorrector.com).

About eCORRECTOR:

Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

eCORRECTOR has an excellent track record of providing proofreading and translations to individual academics, institutes and businesses. We are building a solid reputation and have a large number of customers who reuse our services as well as recommended it to others.

Summer at eCORRECTOR

On 17 September 2018 / News / Leave a comment

Summer has been a time of vacations as well as intensive work. From June to August, our native speakers translated about 1,730,000 words and proofread over 1,500,000 words! Some of our projects were over 50 thousand words or were translated into more than 20 languages. Coordinating such tasks – especially with the distractions of the wonderful weather like this summer – required focus and discipline as well as skillful application of available technologies, e.g. CAT tools. Cooperation with Polish and international companies and translation agencies gains momentum!

Our Head of Scientific Proofreading, Dr hab. Mark J. Hunt, was an active participant at the LocWorld (Life Science Business Roundtable) with his speech entitled Scientific Proofreading and Possible Lessons for the Localization Sector. Our Head of Translations, Magdalena Ochmańska, delivered a presentation on CAT tool awareness at the Smartcat Partner Day. This was a valuable opportunity to discuss with leading experts and other LSPs. We are also pleased to announce that we won a tender for the second time to proofread and translate for the academic journal E-mentor. We have also expanded our proofreading services for Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, a journal which focusses on neurobiology. eCORRECTOR have proofread the last 2 volumes of the journal which will continue for the foreseeable future.

Our team has also changed in the last three months. We had to say goodbye to Tomasz Bortnowski, who decided to follow his other passions as an Assistant Project Manager at eobuwie.pl. However, the eCORRECTOR team has grown by 2 new experts, Milena Olborska and Małgorzata Durazińska-Wójcik, who strengthen our project management and customer service. Milena is a UW English philology graduate who also completed SWPS postgraduate studies for certified translators. Her adventure with languages started with a simple need – reading books in their original version and find allusions to other cultures hidden in there. She loves travelling, the next destination being Nepal. Milena is also a great fan of the Polish volleyball team and 1980s horror movies. In her free time, she volunteers at a foundation which helps fight leukemia. Małgorzata is an economist by education but tied her career to direct customer service. She constantly develops her skills by participating in workshops and training sessions. Apart from working in our front office, she actively supports charities and initiatives such as “Zrób rakowi wspak.” She loves travelling to the sounds of good rock music and cuisine, but from the taster’s viewpoint.

Even though we worked hard this summer, we managed to catch a breath and smell the roses. eCORRECTOR team members chose to, e.g. swim in the Adriatic (the marine fauna there is unforgettable!), others travelled across Europe (that involved driving for 6 000 km), while those without a wandering soul were able to appreciate their local regions. Some even managed to change their marital status!

If you would like to learn more about our services and how we can assist your business, do not hesitate to contact us on the expert chat or via info@ecorrector.com

About eCORRECTOR:

Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

Language barrier should not stop your academic career

On 26 April 2018 / News / Leave a comment

Some say that science is the universal language of the world. While it holds true for calculations, formulas and equations, other areas need natural languages. It is true that English has become the lingua franca of the scientific community. The expansion is so great that we sometimes forget that famous scientists were not actually native speakers of English. Quite a lot of people can quote Albert Einstein?s words and probably everyone can recognise him in pictures ? but who can remember he was actually German-born?

A vast majority of publications is written in this language for a simple reason ? academic usually hold at least a communicative command of English. It makes it possible for them to exchange ideas, learn about new discoveries and work in international research teams. Therefore, publishing papers in English seems like a natural choice. Problems arise when the article is to be reviewed by a native speaker of English with a degree in a related field. This person will not only point out language mishaps but also bumps in the flow of the paper. What is the solution? Services of another native speaker of English with at least a Ph.D. in a related field.

eCORRECTOR is able to help you in this area. We work with native speakers of various target languages who are experiences academics themselves. They know the struggle you?re facing while preparing a manuscript. It is our pleasure to help you break the limits of languages and contribute to the global pool of academic knowledge.

About eCORRECTOR:

Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

Translation and Proofreading of Grant Applications

On 15 December 2017 / Advice, Porady / Leave a comment

Research, especially in rapidly growing areas like biomedical science and engineering, requires substantial funding. Scientists have access to a number of grants that may help them finance their academic plans, e.g. the Visegrad fund, EU funds, ERC grant, NCN grants.

It is normal in the career of a scientist for grant applications to be rejected, indeed quite often the rejection rate exceeds those grants accepted. This is the case for those at the start of their career all the way through to highly experienced scientists.

Writing a grant can be considered in much the same way as writing a paper, indeed the structure of many grants are often in the style of an academic paper, requiring introductions, methods, with the results being anticipated rather than obtained (although it is often advisable to include preliminary data).

Increasingly, grants need to be prepared in English. One reason for this is so that they may be evaluated by non-Polish speaking scientists. As with academic papers, the quality of the written text can have an important influence on how the reviewer perceives the quality of the science. Clarify of language can be one of the decisive factors determining the outcome of a grant application. For example, if methodologies, expected outcome, etc are unclear or confusing it is highly likely a reviewer will not recommend the application for funding. To address this issue (and the increasing demands that parts or all of the application be submitted in English) a growing number of universities and institutes have established international offices dedicated to the preparation of grant proposals.

At eCORRECTOR we work closely with research scientists, many of who have received funding from US, UK, or Polish-based funding bodies. This expertise enable us to provide highly specialised editing of grant applications which is likely to enhance the content of the application as well as its overall professional presentation. We also offer a translation service for academics who either do not have the time to write the application or are not used to preparing applications in English. In additional to providing language support for grant applications, eCORRECTOR has a strong track record of helping academics prepare manuscripts for international peer-reviewed journals and habilitation theses.

About eCORRECTOR: Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

Our Head of Scientific Proofreading, dr hab. Mark J Hunt, received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK and has published over 20 academic papers and regularly serves as a reviewer for international journals.

We are very proud of the academic excellence of proofreaders. Here are some of the universities where our proofreaders received their PhD?s (or MBBS): University of Cambridge, University College London, King?s College London, Queen Mary University of London, University of Massachusetts, Johns Hopkins University, University of California, University of Edinburgh, University of Newcastle, Durham University, University of Arizona, University of Minnesota, University of Colorado, University of Connecticut, Ohio State University.

eCORRECTOR proofread for e-mentor (an SGH journal)

On 27 November 2017 / News / Leave a comment

Over the past year, we have successfully provided proofreading for many academic journals ? Ginekologia Polska, Medical Science Pulse, Acta Innovations, Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin, to name but a few. This month we are pleased to announce that eCORRECTOR won a tender to provide English proofreading for the academic journal E-mentor.

E-mentor is a bimonthly journal issued by the SGH Warsaw School of Economics and the Foundation for the Promotion and Accreditation of Economic Education. It is a peer-reviewed publication distributed to over 285 research units and entrepreneurships. The primary objective is to develop and perfect educational systems, especially with respect to remote learning. Its main areas of interest include (but are not limited to):

ce-education
knowledge and data management
e-business
continuous education
methods, forms and programmes of economic foundations

This journal publishes not only research results and innovative ideas, but also analyses and prognoses for education in Poland and worldwide. The readers can also find information about publications, websites, recent events, conferences and seminars devoted to this idea. It is also worth mentioning that E-mentor partners with some of them.

We look forward to providing our native speaker specialist proofreading services to E-mentor. Education is an important factor in the development of every society, therefore it seems advisable to support initiatives aiming at bringing a new quality into the process.

If you have any questions about our services or would like to know how we may help you upgrade your publication, do not hesitate to contact us via the expert chat or our inbox (info@ecorrector.com).

About eCORRECTOR:

Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

MS Word ? an accessible tool for translation and proofreading

On 20 September 2017 / Advice / Leave a comment

One of the most popular software used when preparing documents, mainly text, is MS Word. This program provides a wide array of tools and options that help its users in the process of creating linguistically correct and visually attractive content. Word is also a great tool for translation and proofreading, and is regularly used by our translators and proofreaders.

Translation by a native speaker in Word-like software

The majority of professional translators use CAT tools to work on their assignments (which does not mean they machine translate!). CAT tools divide the text into segments and allows a translator to work one sentence at a time in a bilingual table. MS Word can change the text into a table and create a user-friendly working environment. Our translators can also simply insert the translation beneath the original ? paragraph after paragraph ? or, most often, simply replace the source text with its foreign language version. At eCORRECTOR, almost all our translations are carried out by translators who are native speakers of the target language. We also use specialist native speaker translators for texts that require in-depth knowledge of the subject, such as advanced scientific and engineering texts.

Proofreading by a native speaker in Word-like software

At eCORRECTOR we provide two types of service. Standard proofreading which is carried highly qualified and experienced linguists who are native speakers of the target language. We also provide specialist proofreading which is aimed at authors of academic and scientific texts. This type of specialist proofreading is carried out by native speakers who hold PhD?s or are qualified doctors of medicine/physiotherapy etc. The track-changes mode, provided by Word, is very useful here ? the programme shows each change made by the proofreader, from substantial edits to the smallest change. Comments can also be inserted where sentences may be unclear or additional input from the author is recommended. It is possible to save the file like that or accept the changes to get a clean file.

If you have any questions concerning our translation and proofreading services in various formats (like PDF, InCopy, LaTex, PowerPoint, Excel and many other), do not hesitate to contact us via the expert chat or our email box info@ecorrector.com

About eCORRECTOR: Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

Proofreading and translating in Excel

On 8 September 2017 / Advice / Leave a comment

Excel (and similar) software is usually associated with calculations, balance sheets, financial reports; however, our native speakers can also use it for translation and proofreading! Although such software is often not very word-friendly, it offers some tools that may actually assist your business in creating quality foreign language content.

Programmes like Excel are made of rows and columns with many individual cells. This type of layout is useful when you have to create e.g. a brochure in several languages. You can have each sentence of your source language in a different cell in the first column. Then, you just add the translations in adjacent columns ? e.g. English in column 2, German in column 3, Spanish in column 4, etc. Using this approach you know exactly where a given phrase in the foreign language should go!

Although spell-check is an in-built option in Excel, this programme may also be used for further proofreading. Our native speakers can improve your Excel document in three ways. One is about creating a separate row for cells that are edited. The second requires marking the modified cells with colour. Excel software also enables track changes, but it is not as visible as in DOC/DOCX files ? the programme marks the cell and displays a drop-down menu with the inserted change. Using cell-based programme is not recommended for texts in one language only (it is less convenient in such cases); if you have the same content in several language versions, it may prove more convenient for you.

It is also possible to leave comments where the content is not clear for the native speaker. It proves useful when you have manuals or lists of ingredients ? everything has to be transparent there.

Let us know what other formats would you like us to handle. Do not hesitate to contact us about your Excel projects or any other documents that would benefit from the attention of our native speakers. We are available on the expert chat and at info@ecorrector.com.

About eCORRECTOR: Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

Another visual project completed by eCORRECTOR

On 25 August 2017 / News / Leave a comment

We have already assisted some of our customers in proofreading albums and similar publications. One of the more unique ones regarded the cooperation with Instytut Łukasiewicza, where we helped to create a Polish-English album within the project What was the Truth? Nazi German Camps. Polish Heroes. Our native speakers were recently engaged in the project related to proofreading an album about John Paul II and his visits in the convent of the Ursuline sisters in Jaszczurówka. The publication was co-financed by Zakopane City Council.

Co-financed by Zakopane City Council

This famous historical figure was well-known for his love of the mountains. There are many records of him skiing or just walking up a hill. Due to its location, the convent in Jaszczurówka was one of the places he visited frequently to enjoy this pastime.

The album sketches the history of the place and mentions other persons that are somehow tied to this place.

The By Mouse company from Zakopane, Poland, has been our customer for quite some time and we have completed several projects together. The subject matter and project specificity is different each time, stimulating our team of native speakers to expand their interests and skills.

We sincerely hope that we will be able to assist them further on. If you have any other visual projects you would like our help in, do not hesitate to contact us.

It is a great honour to present the visualisations regarding the album. You can take a look at them below – hope they will enourage you to take a look at the entire publication.

About eCORRECTOR: Mission statement: to ensure textually clear, grammatically correct and properly localised proofreading and translations by native speakers of the target language.

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