Thomas M
Vienna, Austria
Specialist subjects:
Editing formats:
Education:
BA in History and Ancient History
University of Exeter
2014–2018
MA in History
University of Vienna
2019–ongoing
Favorite referencing style
My history faculty at Exeter used Oxford style, so that is the one with which I'm most familiar. Vienna uses Turabian, so I'm presently building experience with that one.
Why I became an editor
While studying history in Berlin and Vienna, lots of my friends would ask me to go through their English-language essays and help them out with the weirdness of English grammar and spelling.
What can I say? I fell in love with puzzling out how to rework sentences and change words about. It's like the most complicated crossword around! It combines the mental gymnastics of playing with language and helping people.
Background and experience
I've done quite a lot of proofing/editing on behalf of my ESL friends around Europe, from CVs to essays to full master's theses.
As the 'wordy' one in my family, I've also undertaken such tasks for them, such as personal statements and the like.
Finally, I've read through and given feedback for many of my more creatively inclined friends for their attempts at writing fantasy (it's always fantasy), so I also possess a modicum of experience in this field.
Why I love proofreading and editing
I like puzzling out and playing around with language to find the right word or phrase, and I enjoy discovering the best way to express myself based on my audience. My academic writing is very formal and analytical. When texting with friends, on the other hand, I'll be writing in a semi-impenetrable combination of meme references and irony. This chameleon-like quality of language, how we change it to portray different qualities in different environments, is deeply fascinating to me.
Favorite book:
‘White Trash Warlock’ by David R. Slayton.
Hobbies:
Writing uni essays, scrolling TikTok, walking, trying and failing to stop reading the news, or sending memes pretty much sums up my life at the moment.
Editing tips:
Thesaurus websites are pretty helpful when struggling with a word, as long as you are critically engaged and don't just take the topmost suggestion.
