The Importance of Dissertation Proofreading
After all of the time and effort invested into writing a good dissertation (see our dissertation editing guide), it can feel like you deserve a break. And you do. But first there’s one last thing to do: dissertation proofreading. Dissertation proofreading often seems like a tedious distraction that will prolong the period before you can have a celebratory drink or go to bed or just sit in your room in a vacant daze feeling vaguely triumphal, but it is anything but. Proofreading is incredibly important, and we’re going to show you why with some examples of why proofreading errors can be costly.
The most common kind of proofreading error is in the listing of prices, particularly on online stores. A notable pricing error was made in 2006 by Alitalia, the Italian Airline. They offered, for one weekend only, return business class flights from Toronto to Cyprus for $39, at a discount of $3861 from the usual asking price of $3900. Hundreds of customers bought the tickets at the $39 price as news spread. Alitalia decided to honour the tickets bought at the discounted price, but stopped selling any more. Still, the loss – even accounting for a significant profit markup on the face value of the tickets, must have been considerable, potentially running to hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is money Alitalia could have used. In that same year they stopped receiving investment from the Italian government under new EU rules. By 2008 they declared bankruptcy. In 2013, they were on the verge of bankruptcy again. One can’t help but wonder if the kind of inattention to detail that led to their pricing error might have contributed to their larger financial woes.
Chile is a vibrant, exciting country, booming as it throws off the shackles of Pinochet’s dictatorship. It is one of the few countries in South America that doesn’t suffer significantly from corruption. This doesn’t mean that Chile’s bureaucrats are all effective, however. In 2010 the general manager of the Chilean mint was dismissed, along with several of his staff. It transpired that thousands of fifty peso coins had been issued in 2008 with the name of the country misspelt. Rather than Chile, these coins were the legal tender of Chiie. For a nation still striving to establish a stable modern identity for itself in the shadow of oppression and dictatorship (and succeeding, at least a little, through their astounding football team). The coins are still in circulation, although there are reports that some dedicated speculators and numismatists are hoarding them in the hope that their value in the future will increase.
The world of corporate law is rarely funny. But, occasionally, a glimmer of humour escapes from a lawyer’s staid, expensive briefcase. This happened in Canada in 2006. Rogers Communications, the country’s largest provider of cable television, and Bell Aliant, a telephone company, had a legal dispute over the cancellation of a contract. At the centre of the dispute was an ambiguous comma.
“This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.”
The disputed comma is the second one. The regulator determined that this second comma meant that the one year termination clause applicable to both the period of five years after the initial contract and to the successive five year renewal period; Bell Aliant were unhappy, arguing that their comma use meant that the one year termination applied only to the five year renewal, not to the initial five year contract.
After lengthy legal proceedings, Rogers won. They won not just the grammatical fight, but the right to end the contract, and with it, CA$1,000,000.
As these examples illustrate, dissertation proofreading is important, and failing to do it can lead to bad things happening, like going bankrupt, or getting fired, or losing a million dollars. Few things will make your academic work look more stupid than egregious proofing errors, and the whole point of your academic work is to make yourself look intelligent to your examiners.
Luckily, there is a way to get your dissertation proofreading done without having to compromise on getting the break you deserve. Our professional dissertation proofreading service will find and replace any mistakes, helping you to avoid the pitfalls of Alitalia, the Chilean mint and Bell Aliant.
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