Practical English: Quality Editing and Proofreading

Hello, and thanks for visiting. My name is John Acker (click here to email me), and I'm a PhD student in English at The Ohio State University. In addition to my teaching and research duties at Ohio State, I'm also a freelance editor and proofreader. I hold a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Illinois, an M.A. in English from The Ohio State University, and am working on my dissertation at Ohio State.

Besides writing and editing my own papers throughout my academic career, I have experience editing a wide range of texts (including dissertations and theses) on a variety of topics, such as business, social science, lab science, and of course the humanities. This experience includes volunteer peer editing for literature and composition (both in person and online), paper workshops as a teaching assistant, professional communication with faculty and students, and most recently professional editing and proofreading for both undergraduate and graduate clients at OSU. Additionally, I co-edited an online checkers newsletter for several years, was one of four content editors for a full-length checkers textbook published in 2006, and was the primary editor for an annotated checkers tournament book published the following year. For a PDF copy of my CV/resume, please click here.

As a full-time writing instructor, having taught classes in composition, literature, and business writing, I have worked with a wide array of academic and professional genres, including journal articles. Accordingly, I can offer you expertise in several different types of writing, along with bountiful experience in professional editing and proofreading.

My Editing Rates
    Classroom Essays, Theses, and Dissertations
  • $3.00 per 250 words for editing grammar, style, and content
  • This rate includes help with organization and comments/suggestions on improving your argument, if needed. Please note that the vast majority of my editing projects are outside my own academic expertise, so often I don't know about field-specific standards for writing or argument structure (such as active vs. passive voice) unless you mention them specifically. My focus, instead, is on making sure your prose is correct, consistent, and clear, so you can focus on presenting your data and argument.
    Application Essays, Personal Statements, and Cover Letters
  • $5.00 per 250 words, including work on grammar/style as well as improvement and advice on audience, tone, and self-presentation. These essays take considerably longer to do, and some clients also find it helpful to work with me one-on-one in a consulting environment ($25/hr) in advance.
  • I also offer resume editing, at the rate of $15/page. For academic CVs, estimates are on a job-by-job basis.
  • For jobs over 25 pages, these rates are negotiable. Please note, however, that rush jobs (more than 15 pages/day) will cost more.

    • Document Format: I prefer to work in Microsoft Word, as it allows me to send and receive documents via email and has good reviewing features, particularly Track Changes. However, I am open to other file formats (e.g. LaTeX or PDF), depending on the complexity and length of the document. In general, PDF documents with charts, graphs, and/or equations do not transfer well to Word, so working from a plain-text version of the text is much easier for both of us.

    Payment: Cash or personal checks can be sent to my campus mailbox:

    John Acker
    Department of English
    421 Denney Hall
    164 W. 17th Avenue
    Columbus, OH 43210

    I also accept PayPal, with a small additional convenience fee (5%) to cover transaction costs. My PayPal address is my regular email account, given below.

    Contact Info: For more information or to inquire about my availability, please email me at acker.jt@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest!