Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aka Dave]

I have a really good relationship with my boss, she really lets me do my own thing and she's very supportive.

At the end of the last semester I helped her with her research project by recording the Freshman's oral conversation exam on an mp3 (she designed the exam for the purposes of her research).

She's a linguistics prof, and has written a 25 page paper. She wants me to correct/edit it. I said sure, and I'd like to help her as much as I can.

Still, I'm in uncharted territory here and was wondering if anyone has done this. I can imagine, given the level of English the prof's in my dept. have (most of them speak poorly, my boss actually is nearly fluent) that some profs might ask the native speakers to help them with English papers.

Has anyone done this? Would my boss be offended if I made a lot of corrections?

[pocariboy73]

I've done it many times before and it drives me crazy! Often they expect you to do it and think it's easy for you cuz you're a native speaker. However, the paper is riddled with incomprehensible errors which takes hours and hours of stressful editing work to correct the mess.

Nowdays, I try my best to avoid doing any kind of editing work due to the sheer stress of it all and the little appreciation shown afterwards.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

It happens all the time in Korea. I'm editing my co-worker's PhD thesis and at times it's difficult to avoid ghost-writing it.

[Pink Freud]

It's something I do regularly for the profs in my department as well. I agree that it can be stressful because of the number of errors, but the faculty are generally appreciative.

[heydelores]

Do you all do this as a professional courtesy, or do you charge for it? What's the going rate? I was just asked to do the same and have no idea.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[PRagic]

This irks the crap out of me. My first day at my current job, another prof marched in and dumped a paper on my desk. I charged her 10K a page. She seemed shocked, but I explained my situation.

First, most of these papers are funded, so it's not costing them a thing. Second, foreign faculty are not a built-in editing service. I'm not an English teacher, and I didn't want to set a precedent. I also charged my department for editing the English web site. If someone asks, I usually say that I'm not a proofreader, but can introduce a native speaker with the appropriate experience and background. Hell, SNU's institute runs an entire business revolving around proofreading!

Another prof, however, has paralled research interests and asked me to 'peer edit' his paper before the journal submission. No problem there. I just circled awkward phrases or portions that didn't make sense and made a note. I didn't rewrite the paper, I left the corrections up to him. That type of work is mainly what we do for journal submission reviews anyway.

[spliff]

How much per page? If ur not getting paid then don't do it unless off course u r a chump.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Um, guys, do your Korean co-workers never help you with translations? Do they never help you translate things on handouts or vocab sheets? Do they never help you make calls or help translate when you need to get personal stuff done? Then why the mercenary attitude when it comes to returning the favour for them?

[spliff]

[jackson7]

You lucky bastard! Don't charge for it. Instead politely ask that she add you to the list of authors when it is published. You won't get first or last-name credit (the first and last name listed are often thought of as the "lead" researchers on the project) but it will be something to tag on your resume for future positions. The 2-10 hours (10 if it's really bad) will definitely be worth it considering the time she's probably put into designing the study and analyzing the results.

[PRagic]

There's little chance of anyone adding a proofreader's name as a second or third author. The primary reason is that there is no actual contribution to the reseach design, theory content, or analysis/results sections. Plus, Korean universities are passing more and more stringent publishing quotas for professors of all ranks. Additional authors decrease the 'points' earned for a publication. If it's a lower-level Korean journal, then they might add you on as the points are already at a bare minimum. However, for SSCI submissions, which can take 1-2 years or more to process through to print, the stakes are higher.

[marlow]

[PRagic]

Spot on.

[KoreanAmbition]

I edited/rewrote a 20-page journal article for publication by 2 Chinese professors; 1 from Canada, the other from China.

The job took me about 40 hours in total of hard effort, and I tried to get my name on the author list.... I didn't.

I only did the job because the Professor in Canada has a big reputation and in his reference for me to confirms that I did that job for him. I also make sure I place it on my resume in a glowing fashion.

If I did have a choice though, I would value my name going on the paper in some way (even as an editor) rather than the cash.