English Editing for International Graduate Students
The English Editing for International Graduate Students (EEIGS) program is a unique opportunity for international students enrolled at the University of Maryland. Through the program, international students may submit required academic writing for free editing. Editors are volunteers from the university's Volunteer Service Corps.
This is a virtual, asynchronous service: students submit papers electronically as Word documents and editors respond using the “track changes” feature in Word. All documents submitted for review must be submitted in Word; we cannot review documents submitted in LaTeX, PDF, or PowerPoint.
EEIGS services are available throughout the year (not limited to the academic semesters). Because services are provided by volunteers, the number of requests that can be fulfilled and the time it takes to respond to papers may fluctuate. Please be aware of this, and make sure to plan accordingly.
To use the services of EEIGS, students must follow these requirements:
- Students must be currently enrolled, international graduate students at the University of Maryland, College Park.
- Each paper must be submitted with an editing request form
- Students are requested to send no more than 30 pages, double-spaced, in any single request. Any papers over 30 pages long may be worked on in sections over several weeks, as services are available.
- EEIGS does not have the capacity to review entire dissertations for editing.
- Papers must be submitted as Word documents. No other formats will be accepted. If your document is generated in LaTex or PDF or as a PowerPoint presentation, you must convert the text to Word in order for it to be reviewed. Please also be sure that you have removed any previous comments from the paper before submitting it for review.
- Students who use the services of EEIGS must inform their advisor or their program’s director of graduate studies about the aid received in this program. This is a matter of academic integrity.
- Students are responsible for any assigned deadlines for their own work. EEIGS and the volunteer editors are not responsible for any deadlines related to the assignment. Students should plan editing turnaround time into their writing schedules.
- Students should note that EEIGS has limited expertise with CVs or resumes; consult the University Career Center with requests to review these documents.
Students using the services of EEIGS can expect that:
- EEIGS volunteers will edit and proofread students’ projects through the “comments” and “track changes” in Microsoft Word.
- EEIGS volunteers will be generalists who will not provide specific feedback about the content and development of ideas in a paper (for that service, please request a consultation with the Graduate School Writing Fellows)
- The EEIGS coordinator will seek a volunteer editor for each request and will report the results to the student. Students may request a specific editor; however, all requests will initially go through the EEIGS coordinator.
- Submitted requests up to 10 double-spaced pages will be returned within 5 business days; longer papers may require extra time.
How to request editing services from EEIGS:
Submit your request to the program coordinator through the editing request form. Once you have completed teh form, please email your document to eeigs@umd.edu.
Questions? Please contact the EEIGS coordinator at eeigs@umd.edu.