Other CALL services

The correctors on the list below are available only for thesis corrections. Most are correctors of English, but the list also includes correctors of other languages. They have been selected after editing a trial paper.

A thesis corrector can only be contracted by researchers and students for other editing jobs if there is a good justification for not using the internal CALL text review service. In such cases, an SAR containing the justification for the use of a corrector should be submitted to the Director of the Academic Service.

Check out our list of Thesis Correctors

The corrector's job is to ensure the grammatical and syntactical correctness of your thesis. They may also indicate if something is written in an inappropriate style, or if something is unclear, but are not expected to change the wording or ideas in the text.

It is important that both the writer and the corrector have the same expectations of what the outcome of a correction will be. Below are the guidelines of what is expected of a corrector.

If you have any questions, contact CALL

It is the corrector's responsibility to:

• Correct the thesis using 'track changes' or equivalent
• Ensure that they correct the thesis within the time frame agreed upon with the researcher
• Ensure that they can easily be reached for the duration of the correction

It is the researcher's responsibility to:

• Choose which corrections to accept
• Insert the accepted corrections in the final text
• Ensure that they can easily be reached for the duration of the correction

The corrector is expected to indicate corrections, where appropriate, to:

• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Typos
• Inappropriate vocabulary
• Grammar and syntax
• Sentence & paragraph length

The corrector may indicate that something in the text is unclear but is not expected to change it.

The corrector is not expected to:

• Clarify, develop, correct, or in any way change the ideas and arguments in the text
• Provide help with referencing
• Format or sort footnotes or endnotes for consistency or order
• Improve or alter the position of tables and/or illustrations
• Translate to or from other languages

1. Choose a corrector from the Centre for Academic Literacies and Languages (CALL)'s List of Correctors. You can ask the CALL to point out correctors with particularly positive feedback.

2. If you choose a corrector who is not on the EUI list of correctors, s/he must be approved by the CALL in order to be eligible for departmental funding. They must send 10 pages of your thesis edited using track changes to the CALL. Only once they have been approved can they officially begin work on your thesis.

3. Fill in and sign the Standard Agreement form with your corrector.

4. Give the Standard Agreement form to the Departamental Coordinator. The Head of Department will then submit the request for financial commitment for approval.

5. Once the editing has been completed to your satisfaction, inform the administrative assistant and pay the corrector.

6. Give a copy of the corrector's receipt of your payment to the administrative assistant.

The Law department has a slightly different procedure. See the department's Thesis Language Correction page for details.

You are entitled to funding if:

• you were exempted from following English academic writing courses
• you have followed at least 75% of the first-year researchers' academic writing course in your discipline
• you have a 4th-year grant and submit within 4 years of admission to the EUI
• you do not have a 4th-year grant and submit within 5 years of admission to the EUI

If you have submitted after the 4- or 5-year time limit you may, exceptionally, be granted financial support if :

• the departmental budget has not been exhausted, and
• your supervisor deems language correction essential before the thesis can be defended.

Your supervisor will assess the extent of text correction needed on your thesis. Depending on their assessment, the department will contribute a sum of money towards the correction of your thesis.

Thesis Text Correction Funding Categories

1. No Correction Needed

• Funding: Not eligible for funding.

2. Minor Correction Needed

• Funding: Up to €500
• Conditions: Correction must be completed within 2 weeks of submission to the corrector.

3. Extensive Correction Needed (possibly involving two rounds)

• Funding: Up to €1,000
• Conditions:
  • The Head of Department may approve or reject the request based on their assessment and the available thesis editing budget.
  • Extensive thesis correction should generally be completed within 4 weeks of submission.
  • If more time is required for additional rounds, this must be negotiated in advance

• The department will only fund the text correction of the final draft of your thesis
• Researchers (ECO, SPS) who submit a thesis consisting of several papers may use the thesis text correction service only once for the final draft of each paper
• Text correction of earlier drafts is not funded by the departments
• Text correction of revisions in response to jury reports after submission of the final draft is not funded by the departments

Your feedback is important!

In order to maintain a high standard of thesis text correction for our PhD researchers, we ask you to take two minutes to report on the quality of the correction once the corrector has returned the draft to you. Your answers will be kept confidential.

Correctors who do not deliver corrected theses in time or who have consistently negative assessments will be taken off the list of approved correctors.

In certain circumstances, yes. Please see the procedure below:

1. Ask him/her to correct 10 pages of your thesis using track changes.

2. Send these pages with an email explaining your choice of corrector to the CALL for approval.

Researchers

If you are an EUI researcher, you can use the internal text review service provided you meet one of the following requirements:

• you have been exempted from following academic writing courses
• you speak English as a first language
• you have followed at least 75% of an academic writing course

School of Transnational Governance Students

If you are an STG GEM, PLF, or MnTG student, you can use the internal text review service, provided you have attended the required English for Academic Purposes training offered by CALL to the STG. For more information, please contact your programme coordinator.

Academics

Please see the section below on Text Editing for Academics.

• Departmental papers (max. 10 pages)
• Second-year chapters (max. 20 pages)
• Purpose statements, teaching statements, letters of application, and so on
• Articles, conference papers, working papers, and so on, can also be corrected, depending on the availability of CALL teachers.

You can have papers reviewed:

• English
• German
• Italian
• Spanish

For all other languages, you will have to arrange private review. Some correctors on the CALL List of Correctors offer languages other than English.

If you have any questions, contact the CALL.

CALL accepts papers for review from the beginning of October to mid June.

Papers can be handed in once they are completed or in short sections. Papers can also be handed in for revision after your departmental deadline.

1. Format: Word document, 1.5 line space, numbered pages
2. Include a front page with your Name, Department, Supervisor, Title, Contact number/Address, Number of Words without Bibliography, and Deadline Date (if you have one)
3. Indicate which pages you would like revised (see page limits).
4. Send the text in an email attachment to the CALL.

Please allow a minimum of 10 working days for revision.

Each review is followed by a feedback session with the teacher.

The feedback session aims to:

• Clarify doubts or questions with the review or problem areas that have emerged
• Develop strategies for learning from your errors
• Discuss ways of improving your writing
• Discuss areas for further language revision
• Assist in setting up a plan for the next phase of the writing process

Following an Open Call for tender for the provision of English text review and editing for academic purposes the following framework contracts have been allocated to:

1. Alyson Price

2. David Barnes

3. Jonathan Fitchett

4. Lewis Driver

5. Lisa Robbins

Fellows should contact their respective administrative coordinator. Max Weber Fellows should follow the procedure laid out under Working Paper and contact the MWP with any questions.

The required time for the review and editing of a text depends not only on the length of the text but also on the issues in the writing. Therefore, the author of the paper and the editor must agree on the expectations and the estimate of working hours before the review work begins.

Procedure for submitting a text

1. Contact the editors on the list, following the ranking, to check their availability and ask for an estimate.

2. Open a financial commitment with Financial Management, attaching the quotation from the corrector and putting the Centre for Academic Literacies and Languages (CALL) in copy.

3. Confirm the job with the editor.

Editors Not On The List

Other external editors may only be contracted under exceptional circumstances and if approved by the Director of the Academic Service via SAR.

If you need specific help on language or academic skills in English, German, Italian, or Spanish, you can book an appointment via email.

Most consultations are one-to-one, but you may also request a consultation for more than one. For example, if you are co-authoring a paper, both authors could attend the meeting.

Individual consultations may be a one-off, or you may make a series of appointments.

Individual consultations are open to all EUI members.

You can ask for support with anything pertaining to language or academic skills, such as:

• language questions 
• academic writing 
• academic presentations 
• teaching skills
• the job search
• time management

To book an individual consultation, send us an email.

The Centre for Academic Literacies and Languages (CALL) can issue a certificate of attendance to learners who frequented at least 75 % of a course in any language offered at the EUI. The certificate states the language, the course(s) you frequented, the time period(s) and the course level(s).

If you would like a certificate of attendance, write to the CALL stating:

• Name, surname
• EUI status, e.g.: HEC cohort 2020, PhD researcher
• Title, dates and teacher of the course you frequented

CALL cannot issue certificates of language proficiency.

International Proficiency Certificates

French

Diplôme avancé de langue française (DALF). Language proficiency exams are held at the Institut français de Florence

Preparation courses for the DALF certificate can be held on request.

Contact the CALL

German

Preparation courses for language proficiency exams can be offered at the EUI. The exams are held at the Deutsches Institut.

Contact Silke Tork

Italian

Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera (CILS)

Preparation courses for the CILS exam are offered at the EUI. The exams are held at the CALL in December and June.

Contact Gaia Pieraccioni

Spanish: Diplomas in Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE)

Preparation courses for language proficiency exams at the Cervantes Institute can be held on request.

Contact Miriam Tombino

Language courses at the EUI adhere to the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). For each course the CEFR language level is given in the title and/or in the course description.

To register for a course you need to know your level in the respective language. As the procedures for placement tests and course registration may differ from language to language you should check the information given under Placement Tests.

Language Levels

The EUI language courses are based on the proficiency levels of the Common European Framework of Reference. The CEFR organises language proficiency in six levels, A1 to C2, which can be regrouped into three broad levels: Basic User (A1-A2), Independent User (B1-B2) and Proficient User (C1-C2).

Common European Framework of Reference

The CEFR is, as the title suggests, a framework of reference for languages.It was developed to standardize language qualifications gained in different learning contexts.

It helps learners to understand what knowledge and skills they should develop at each level and to measure their progress at each stage of learning.

The CEFR provides 'a transparent, coherent and comprehensive basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, the design of teaching and learning materials, and the assessment of foreign language proficiency. It is used in Europe but also in other continents.' (COE website)

The internationally recognized certificates for European languages are based on the proficiency levels of the CEFR.

Self Assessment Grids

The CEFR offers self assessment grids for learners. However these self assessment grids do not replace the Centre for Academic Literacies and Languages (CALL)'s placement test.

You can gain an indication of language ability in any European language at the Council of Europe's CEFR Levels webpage. Here you can check the self assessment grids for the languages on permanent offer at the EUI.

English (pdf)

Español (pdf)

Français (pdf)

Deutsch (pdf)

Italiano (pdf)

English for Academic Purposes

During the interviews for places at the EUI all candidates to the HEC, Law, and SPS Departments must sit an oral and written language test. Candidates to the Economics Department sit a language test at the beginning of their second year.
Anyone else wishing to follow an academic writing course must take a placement test before being admitted to a course. Please contact CALL.

Italian

Absolute beginners:

• 1st year researchers are assigned to A1-beginner courses
• Everyone else is kindly asked to fill in the pre-enrollment form.

Learners with previous knowledge

If you are not a beginner and have not participated in an EUI course before, you must sit a placement test. Please fill in the pre-enrollment form.

Continuing Learners

Learners who already participated in a course do not need to take a placement test. They can continue with the course indicated by the teacher.

French, German and Spanish

Absolute beginners

Absolute beginners for French, German and Spanish do not need to sit a placement test. They can register directly for the respective A1 course. Please note that the courses for absolute beginners start in October.

Learners with previous knowledge

If you are not a beginner and have not participated in an EUI course before, you must sit a placement test. Please contact: French, German, Spanish

Continuing Learners

Learners who already participated in a course do not need to take a placement test. They can continue with the course indicated by the teacher.