When your dissertation or CCS is finished and ready to submit for reviews, it is sent to Meridian’s in-house editor. The editor is allotted up to four hours to review your manuscript for each review step (Content, Format and Style, and Bindery). The Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition suggests that an experienced editor can complete four to five pages per hour. 12 hours of review multiplied by five pages per hour equals 60 pages of editing that is provided to you at no charge.
These manuscripts are much longer than 60 pages, so what the editor does is read selections of different areas and edit/point out examples of where your writing needs work and any formatting issues. You will then need to go through your entire document to find other instances of the example errors and fix them. See the Knowledge Base guide to editing here.
You can do the editing yourself, ask a friend, colleague, or family member, or hire a professional or freelance editor. Although rare, if approval for any step is denied more than once, Meridian may require you to hire a professional editor.
The most common area where a manuscript is denied approval is Format and Style. Often, a preliminary Format and Style review/edit is conducted in the Content Review step to help you fix these issues before the formal Format and Style review. So, before submitting for Content, it is strongly recommended that you do the following:
- See the Knowledge Base article on Graduate Level Writing
- Run your manuscript through an online grammar checker, a list of which can be found here
- Go through the appropriate checklists line by line and ensure you adhere to every item – don’t just check the boxes
While online grammar checkers are very useful, they run on AI and almost always miss things or give incorrect advice. Using a human editor is much more reliable. It is also helpful if you have a willing colleague that will go through your manuscript and compare it to the checklists.