Reference editing
“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man [sic] will turn over half a library to make one book.”
— Samuel Johnson, in Boswell The life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Referencing matters
Have you received a manuscript back from the journal or publisher with instructions to fix the reference list? Does formatting references do your head in? For that, you need an editor!
We all know that accurate and adequate citation of references and sources is a critical part of the research writing process. It can also be time consuming and it is easy for in-text citations to get out of sync with the compiled reference list.
Correct formatting of citations and references is an art and science in itself. Meeting the publisher’s specifications requires a thorough knowledge of reference types and citation styles.
Over 14 years experience with referencing
I have more than 14 years’ experience editing reference lists for geoscience publications. Using leading software, I have managed reference databases holding over 20,000 entries. This includes customising styles to meet the requirements of publishers such as Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia.
I will be pleased to help bring your references into line with a publisher’s style and formatting. This can mean:
copyediting the reference list for spelling, punctuation and consistency
cross-checking in-text citations (or notes) with the reference list
formatting the reference list to match a specified style.
The choice of references used in your publication remains the author’s responsibility. However, employing me to assist with these tasks may save you many hours of labour and smooth the path to having your work accepted for publication.
