Confusion about the policy on editing and proofreading academic work

[meghamlton]

Hello all! 

So, I'm curious about thoughts / experiences with editing and proofreading academic work within your editing and proofreading gigs. 

Fiverr is clear about the limitations in writing and plagiarizing academic work, i.e. someone wanting the seller to write their entire essay, do their homework, etc., 

With that being said, the academic Do and Don't list suggest that proofreading would be totally fine. 

From seller page https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360020869438-Academic-services-on-Fiverr---The-Dos-and-Donts: 

From buyer page: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360020869658-Academic-services-on-Fiverr---The-Dos-and-Donts?segment=buyer

This would mean that while writing is a very obvious no go, proofreading, editing, and suggestions would be allowed and, in fact, seem to be encouraged. Yet, on this forum there are mixed messages about this--some sellers seem adamant on no academic work in general and others use these guidelines. Looking for thoughts on navigating this gray space, and if anyone has directly contacted Fiverr CS about this previously. 

[meghamlton]

I agree with you. My confusion rests with the fact that Fiverr themselves states that proofreading and editing academic work is fine. It seems to be unclear. 

It hasn't been an issue for me over the past few months, as I've mainly attracted professionals. 

In terms of the messaging before booking, I like to make sure I can meet all client's needs / can turn down a project or talk things through if need be. That's been going well for me so far. 

As I said, I was looking for thoughts regarding editing and proofreading specifically and the fine print Fiverr has on it, which I've included in the screenshots above. 

[vickieito]

19 minutes ago, meghamlton said:

proofreading, editing, and suggestions would be allowed

Proofreading and suggestions, yes (in the form of annotations or comments). I wouldn't offer or make edits in a Track Changes document. All edits should be done by the student.

I'm on Seller Plus, so I actually use Negative Keywords to block out any buyer that uses "essay," "assignment," "thesis," "SOP," and "write paper."

[meghamlton]

@vickieito--I appreciate your reply! To clarify: I would be unable to edit the document, as in insert a comma where a comma should be, is what you're saying? Proofreading includes editing, so that's where I'm a bit confused. Would your suggestion be to highlight the error but not correct it? 

Edited November 2, 2022 by meghamlton

[vickieito]

8 minutes ago, meghamlton said:

Would you suggest that I make any "line edits," if you will (i.e. correcting a misspelling or grammatical error) as a comment rather than directly suggesting it in the document? 

Yes, comments are better outside of the document. I also like to either request or change the documents to a PDF format and work with that, so that it's very clear that I'm not doing the students' work for them.

However, when I tell that to students, most just go away because they want someone else to do their work for them.

Edited November 2, 2022 by vickieito

[meghamlton]

4 minutes ago, vickieito said:

Yes, comments are better outside of the document. I also like to either request or change the documents to a PDF format and work with that, so that it's very clear that I'm not doing the students' work for them.

This is very helpful, @vickieito! When dealing with completed academic work, I will make suggestions in the comment portion rather than using track changes, including grammatical edits. How do you make comments on a PDF? 

[vickieito]

10 minutes ago, meghamlton said:

How do you make comments on a PDF? 

I use the free comment and annotation tools on Adobe Acrobat. I usually just use the annotation tool for proofreading (see below) and save the comment box for my longer comments and suggestions.

Quote

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by vickieito

[vickiespencer]

2 hours ago, meghamlton said:

Looking for thoughts on navigating this gray space, and if anyone has directly contacted Fiverr CS about this previously. 

I have contacted CS about proofreading academic work and they said, "Please note that it is allowed to offer proofreading, however only for Dissertations, PhDs and Theses."

[andrewptn]

On 11/2/2022 at 9:17 PM, meghamlton said:

Hello all! 

So, I'm curious about thoughts / experiences with editing and proofreading academic work within your editing and proofreading gigs. I sometimes write various articles and prepare materials for my clients' essays, but I didn't write them all the time. My last such writing was a few essay examples from this I believe check here but I wrote them for educational sites, not my clients and for Fiverr I did not show at all. But I'm having trouble writing articles for a client and I wanted to ask for your advice on this forum. 

Fiverr is clear about the limitations in writing and plagiarizing academic work, i.e. someone wanting the seller to write their entire essay, do their homework, etc., 

With that being said, the academic Do and Don't list suggest that proofreading would be totally fine. 

From seller page: 

From buyer page: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360020869658-Academic-services-on-Fiverr---The-Dos-and-Donts?segment=buyer

This would mean that while writing is a very obvious no go, proofreading, editing, and suggestions would be allowed and, in fact, seem to be encouraged. Yet, on this forum there are mixed messages about this--some sellers seem adamant on no academic work in general and others use these guidelines. Looking for thoughts on navigating this gray space, and if anyone has directly contacted Fiverr CS about this previously. 

I wonder what the support team said. According to the Fiverr rules, correcting academic work is a normal practice.

Edited January 31, 2023 by andrewptn