Academic editing is a human editor correcting grammar, register, citations, and formatting to a style guide, without changing what you argued. Send the file with a note that says "edit my paper," your style guide and your deadline, and a per-word price comes back within two hours during desk hours (8 am–11 pm ET). This page is the hub for GradeDraft's academic services.
Free revisions for 14 days (30 days for dissertation chapters and capstones)
Reply within 2 hours, 8 am–11 pm ET, 7 days
Written and reviewed by the GradeDraft editing desk.Last reviewed
¶ 1¶ 2¶ 3
Turnitin originality report included
After proofreadingp. 1
One paragraph, three edit levels
After proofreading
Social media use among adolescents has increased dramatically over the past decade. Researchers have documented a parallel rise in reported anxiety symptoms across the same age group (Chen, 2019). The exact mechanism connecting these two trends remains a subject of ongoing investigation, and while some scholars point to social comparison as the primary driver, other researchers argue instead for the displacement of sleep and in-person contact that heavy use causes directly. Chen (2021) revisits the debate without resolving it, and the utilization of self-report measures across most existing studies introduces additional uncertainty, though Chen (2019) reported the association as robust across three national samples. Public health guidance has not yet caught up with either explanation, and most recommendations for families remain generic.
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Margin noteThis draft's grammar and citations were solid. The recurring pattern was hedging: several claims stated correlational findings as causal. I…
Published prices · USD
Nothing upfront
Proofreading$0.018per word
Copy editing$0.028per word
Line editing$0.045per word
Nothing upfront — a Stripe invoice (card or bank transfer) after you approve the delivered draft
What academic editing changes in a paper - and what it never touches
Academic editing changes how a paper reads. It does not decide what it argues.
Sentence and paragraph level: grammar, register, hedging, transitions
An editor fixes grammar, raises informal register, and adds hedging where a claim outruns its evidence ("may contribute to," not "causes"); nominalizations like "the utilization of" get cut. Each paragraph opens with a topic sentence, with transitions connecting ideas rather than listing sources.
The four things an academic editor will not do
We will not write new content, change your argument, weaken a source, or produce work your institution would treat as someone else's.
One marked-up paragraph from a real submission
Original: "The findings was somewhat interesting and could maybe suggest a link." Edited: "The findings suggest an association." Only hedging and the agreement error moved.
§ 02
Pick your edit level: proofreading, copy editing, or substantive academic editing
Proofreading: the final surface pass
Academic proofreading catches spelling, grammar, punctuation, and consistency on a finished document. It is the right pass once your argument is settled: see academic proofreading services.
Copy editing: sentences, citations, consistency
Copy editing adds sentence rewriting and checks citations against your reference list. Most searches for academic editing services mean this level, and it's our default.
Substantive editing reorganizes paragraphs where the argument doesn't follow and flags evidence that's asserted rather than shown. The thesis stays yours; the furniture moves.
Decision table: match your draft state to a level
Which edit level matches your draft
Draft state
What still bothers you
Level to order
Advisor-approved
Typos, formatting, consistency
Proofreading
Content set, sentences rough
Wordiness, citation mismatches
Copy editing
Argument itself flagged
Paragraphs that don't connect
Substantive editing
A free writing center pass is a good first step; tell your editor what it flagged.
§ 03
The same paragraph at three edit levels - see the difference before you buy
A composite sample written by GradeDraft, drawn from the kind of social-science literature review the editing desk handles. It is not a real student's paper.
One paragraph, three edit levels
Original (122 words)
Social media use among adolescents have increased dramatically over the past decade, researchers have documented a parallel rise in reported anxiety symptoms across the same age group (Chen, 2019). The exact mechanism connecting these two trends remains a subject of ongoing investigation, and while some scholars point to social comparison as the primary driver, other researchers argue instead for the displacement of sleep and in-person contact that heavy use causes directly. Chen (2021) revisits the debate without resolving it, and the utilization of self-report measures across most existing studies introduces additional uncertainty, though Chen (2019) reported the association as robust across three national samples. Public health guidance has not yet caught up with either explanation, and most recommendations for families remain generic.
After proofreading
Social media use among adolescents has increased dramatically over the past decade. Researchers have documented a parallel rise in reported anxiety symptoms across the same age group (Chen, 2019). The exact mechanism connecting these two trends remains a subject of ongoing investigation, and while some scholars point to social comparison as the primary driver, other researchers argue instead for the displacement of sleep and in-person contact that heavy use causes directly. Chen (2021) revisits the debate without resolving it, and the utilization of self-report measures across most existing studies introduces additional uncertainty, though Chen (2019) reported the association as robust across three national samples. Public health guidance has not yet caught up with either explanation, and most recommendations for families remain generic.
After copy editing
Social media use among adolescents has increased dramatically over the past decade. Researchers have documented a parallel rise in reported anxiety symptoms across the same age group (Chen, 2019). The exact mechanism connecting these two trends remains a subject of ongoing investigation. Some scholars point to social comparison as the primary driver; others point to the sleep and in-person contact that heavy use may displace. Chen (2019) reports the association as consistent across three national samples, though the mechanism remains unresolved. The utilization of self-report measures across most existing studies introduces additional uncertainty. Public health guidance has not caught up, and recommendations for families remain generic.
After substantive editing
Reported anxiety symptoms among adolescents have risen alongside their social media use over the past decade (Chen, 2019), but the two research camps studying why disagree on the mechanism. One points to social comparison; the other to the sleep and in-person contact that heavy use displaces. Chen (2019) finds the association consistent across three national samples, though self-report measures leave the mechanism uncertain. Until public health guidance catches up, family recommendations are likely to stay generic.
What changed
Proofreading: fixed subject-verb agreement, split the comma splice. Content and hedging untouched: not this level's job.
Copy editing: hedged the causal claim, resolved the Chen (2021)/Chen (2019) citation-year mismatch, standardized tense.
Substantive editing: cut both nominalizations, reordered to lead with the finding and disagreement, tightened 122 words to 76.
Citation and reference correction: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago and Harvard
What we fix in a reference list
A reference-list audit checks every entry against style rules (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago Manual of Style 17 or 18, or Harvard, with Turabian on request), flagging both directions of the most common failure: a citation with no matching reference, or the reverse. APA 7 wants a DOI or stable URL where one exists, drops "Retrieved from" for stable content, and flags "as cited in" citations when findable.
The 12 APA 7 errors we see most
Eight reference-list entries, twelve corrections
Before
Chen, L. and Park, J. (2019) Social Media Use And Adolescent Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(2), 112-130.
Ramirez, T. (2021). Sleep displacement in digitally connected teenagers. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 88, 44-59.
Osei, K. (2018). Understanding adolescent development. Routledge, New York, NY.
Whitfield, S. (2022). What the research really says about screen time. Retrieved from https://hrt.example/screen-time
J. Nakamura. (2020). Comparative anxiety measures across three national youth cohorts. Developmental Psychology Review, 12(1), 3-22.
Delgado, M. (2023). Measuring adolescent wellbeing in the platform era.
Osei, K. (2020, may 3). New data on teen screen habits. Youth Research Bulletin, 5(3), 18-25.
Park, J. (2017). Anxiety trajectories across adolescence. Journal of Youth Studies, 20, pp.201-215.
After
Chen, L., & Park, J. (2019). Social media use and adolescent anxiety: A longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(2), 112–130.
Ramirez, T. (2021). Sleep displacement in digitally connected teenagers. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 88(4), 44–59.
Osei, K. (2018). Understanding adolescent development. Routledge.
Whitfield, S. (2022). What the research really says about screen time. Health Research Today. https://hrt.example/screen-time
Nakamura, J. (2020). Comparative anxiety measures across three national youth cohorts. Developmental Psychology Review, 12(1), 3–22.
Delgado, M. (2023). Measuring adolescent wellbeing in the platform era. Journal of Digital Health Studies, 9(2), 88–101.
Osei, K. (2020, May 3). New data on teen screen habits. Youth Research Bulletin, 5(3), 18–25.
Park, J. (2017). Anxiety trajectories across adolescence. Journal of Youth Studies, 20(3), 201–215.
Rules applied
Ampersand · period after year · sentence case · en dash.
Issue number added.
Title italicized; no publisher location.
"Retrieved from" removed; source name added.
Author reordered to last name, initial.
Journal, volume, issue, pages added.
Month capitalized.
"pp." removed; issue number added.
§ 06
Document formatting: templates, heading hierarchy, tables and figures
Templates and automatic contents pages
Most institutions publish a template (margins, font, title page order), and we format to yours. APA 7 defines five heading levels by weight; we apply them as real styles, so a contents page updates itself.
Tables, figures, and what formatting is not
Tables and figures get consistent numbering, correct captions, and matching in-text callouts. Formatting is layout, not proofreading; document formatting services are billed separately when ordered alone.
Send your file and pick a level: proofreading, copy editing, or substantive editing. You'll get a fixed per-word price and turnaround before you commit.
Edit my paper: process, turnaround and what lands in your inbox
Accepted files and what you get back
We accept .docx, .rtf, shared Google Docs, and LaTeX as tracked .tex changes or a parallel PDF markup. Every order returns tracked changes, a clean copy, and an editor's note, a one-page pattern summary. Shortened example:
This draft's grammar and citations were solid. The recurring pattern was hedging: several claims stated correlational findings as causal. I softened these and flagged two I couldn't resolve without your input.
You get 14 days for a free revision on anything the edit missed, within the original scope.
Turnaround by document length
Turnaround by document length
Document length
Standard
Rush available
Under 3,000 words
3-day
24-hour
3,000-15,000 words
7-day
3-day
15,000-40,000 words
7-day
3-day, quoted first
40,000+ words
7-10 days
Quoted before you order
§ 08
What editing costs: per-word rates by level and speed
2,000-word essay, substantive editing, due in under 12 hours: 2,000 × $0.045 × 1.4 = $126.00.
Rush cost and rate comparison
Our $0.018-$0.045 range covers all three levels without a pricier tier, a rush edit adds 40% to the same per-word rate, and every rate sits on the full price list.
§ 09
Our editors: who they are and how they are matched to your paper
Vetting: the test every editor passes
Every editor passed a test edit scored against a published rubric before their first paying order.
Editor vetting rubric (pass threshold: 4 of 5)
Criterion
What it checks
Grammar and mechanics
Zero introduced errors on a 500-word passage
Citation-format accuracy
Correct APA 7 / MLA 9 / Chicago 17 or 18 on a mixed list
Voice preservation
Edits don't flatten register into generic phrasing
Query quality
Flags ambiguous claims instead of silently rewriting
Turnaround discipline
Returns the test edit inside the stated window
Subject matching and "native English editor"
We match by declared subject area (social science, life science, humanities, business, engineering) and reassign if the fit is wrong; the desk is listed under who reviews your paper. "Native English editor" should mean someone editing academic English as their working language. Say so at intake if it isn't your first language; we edit your English toward academic register without erasing your voice. Editors join the desk only after the paid test edit described on our freelance proofreading and editing jobs page, and how GradeDraft is run explains why we publish desks instead of names.
§ 10
How we compare: Scribbr, ProofreadingPal, ProofreadingServices.com and Grammarly
GradeDraft vs. four alternatives (checked 2026-09-04)
Editor type
Rate on this page
GradeDraft
Human, subject-matched, certificate on request
$0.018-$0.045/word, published above
Scribbr
Human
Not published here; check their current price list
ProofreadingPal
Human, two-pass
Not published here; check their current price list
ProofreadingServices.com
Human
Not published here; check their current price list
Grammarly
AI, no human read
Subscription, not per-word
Grammarly vs. a marketplace vs. a managed service
Grammarly is enough for spelling and a first grammar pass; it won't catch a citation-year mismatch or an argument that doesn't follow. A marketplace where you pick an editor from listed profiles suits you once you already know who you want; a managed service like ours matches the editor for you.
§ 11
Where academic editing stops: editing, ghostwriting and what your institution allows
What an editor may change
Most policies allow language and mechanics edits and prohibit changing your ideas, data, or conclusions; rewriting your argument puts your work at risk. Check your handbook or ask your advisor whether outside editing must be disclosed; it varies by school.
The certificate and confidentiality
We issue a certificate on request, stating the level and date: documentation that editing occurred, not a guarantee of approval. Language editing carries no claim on acceptance, and we never suggest otherwise. Your document is seen only by your assigned editor and never published or reused; an NDA is available on request.
Brief received
Reference GD-000000
A priced quote comes back to your email. Replies within 2 hours, 8 am–11 pm ET, 7 days a week.
Upload your file, choose proofreading, copy editing, or substantive editing, and see your per-word price within two hours during desk hours (8 am–11 pm ET, seven days a week).
Replies within 2 hours, 8 am–11 pm ET, 7 days a week
Briefp. 1
A sample paragraph before you pay, on every order
— 1 —
Included
Turnitin originality report included
USD
Proofreading$0.018
Copy editing$0.028
Line editing$0.045
Revisionsp. 2
Free revisions for 14 days (30 days for dissertation chapters and capstones)
FAQ
Questions people ask before sending us a paper
Replies within 2 hours, 8 am–11 pm ET, 7 days a week
“7 questions
01
What is the difference between academic editing and proofreading?
Proofreading is a surface pass on a finished document (typos, punctuation, spacing, formatting) and nothing else. Academic editing is the broader category, adding copy editing and substantive editing, which touch consistency, citations, and argument. See the three-level example above.
02
Is academic editing ethical?
Yes, when it stays inside language and mechanics rather than rewriting your argument, evidence, or conclusions. "Where academic editing stops" above sets out the line most university policies draw, and what an editor refuses to cross.
03
How much does academic editing cost?
From $0.018/word for proofreading to $0.045/word for substantive editing, plus a 40% rush surcharge on files due in under 12 hours. A 1,000-word essay proofread on standard turnaround runs $18.00; the same document as a substantive edit runs $45.00. See the full rate card and worked quotes above.
04
Do you provide a certificate of editing?
Yes, on request at no cost, stating the edit level and date: documentation that editing occurred, not a guarantee of outcome. Some journals and committees ask for it; we issue a one-page PDF you can forward.
05
Will my document remain confidential?
Yes. Only your assigned editor sees it; it's never published, reused, or shared. An NDA is available on request at no extra charge, and your document is never used as a training or marketing sample.
06
Can I choose my own academic editor?
Request a specific editor if you've worked with one before; otherwise we assign a subject match from your discipline and reassign if the fit turns out to be wrong.
07
Do you edit LaTeX documents?
Yes, as tracked .tex changes or a parallel PDF markup, most often for math, computer science, engineering, and physics, where formulas and code stay untouched while the prose gets a full pass at your chosen level.