Free Guides for Students Doing Their Own Writing
These guides are free, and they are written for students who are doing their own writing. I’m Ahsan Irfan, the founder and sole editor of Help Me Bro, and I put them together for the questions that come up most when a dissertation or thesis moves from draft to final form: what kind of editing you actually need, how to pick someone to help, and how to meet a format that your school is strict about.
Nothing here will write your paper for you, and nothing here should. The guides explain how the process works so you can make better decisions about your own draft.
Understanding dissertation editing
Start here if you are not sure what editing involves, or what separates one kind from another.
- Dissertation editing guide: a walkthrough of what dissertation editing covers, when it helps, and how to prepare your draft before you send it anywhere.
- Levels of editing: an explanation of the difference between light proofreading and deeper editing, so you can match the service to the state of your draft.
- How to choose a dissertation editor: the questions worth asking before you hand your document to anyone, and the answers that should give you pause.
Citation style
APA errors are among the easiest to make and the most tedious to track down by hand.
- APA 7 dissertation format: a practical guide to applying APA 7th edition to a long document, from headings to references.
Formatting for your school
Universities often add their own rules on top of the style manual: margins, front matter, page numbering, and more. These guides go through the requirements one school at a time. If your university is not listed, the general guide is the best place to begin.
- Dissertation formatting overview: the common formatting requirements that most graduate schools ask for, and how to check yours.
- Florida State University dissertation format: what FSU expects from your dissertation layout.
- Michigan State University dissertation format: a guide to the MSU formatting requirements.
- Baylor University dissertation format: the Baylor layout rules in one place.
- Colorado State University dissertation format: how to set up your document for CSU.
- University of North Carolina dissertation format: a guide to the UNC formatting expectations.
When you want a second reader
If you would like feedback on a draft you wrote, send the word count, deadline and file through the quote form.