How to Choose the Best AI Language Editing Tool

When it comes to AI writing tools, there is something for every situation, from autocorrect software for text messaging and spell checkers for email to full blown proofreading software and content generation. 

While it seems obvious to not autocorrect your book manuscript or use advanced editing software on your social media posts, all the gray areas in between can be confusing. 

Let’s start with the basics. While all AI proofreading tools are AI writing tools, not all writing tools are capable of proofreading and editing. On a similar note, just because an AI writing tool is familiar or popular, does not mean it’s the best in every situation.

By exploring the purpose of various types of AI writing tools, we can determine the most appropriate times to use them. We can then look more closely at four of the top AI proofreading and editing tools to determine which is the best for academic writing.

What are the types of AI writing tools?

AI writing tools are artificial intelligence (AI) software applications that use machine learning algorithms to automate the writing process. Some have very specific functions, like correcting spelling errors, while others act more broadly as comprehensive writing assistants.

Commonly, AI writing tools provide one or more of these services:

• Content generation: produces text through natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG)
• Proofreading: identifies errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization
• Editing: corrects issues with style, vocabulary, formatting, and clarity
• Citation generation: produces and edits citations in various citation styles
• Paraphrasing: rephrases content while maintaining the original meaning
• Summarizing: condenses text into a more concise version with the same meaning
• Developing research questions: generates countless iterations of potential research questions based on general data input
• Translating: changes the source content into a different specified language while also retaining the meaning

When should you use these different tools?

Knowing what kinds of AI writing tools are available is an important first step in making an informed choice. To effectively match the right tool with your specific situation, however, it helps to ask a couple of key questions:

1. What am I writing and for whom?
2. At what point am I in the writing process? 

The answers change as a manuscript moves from early ideas toward submission, and the cost of a missed error rises along the way.

• Discovery\investigation: AI summarizers such as Quillbot or ChatPDF help sift through potential sources, and INK can generate research questions that reflect a project's direction.
• Prewriting: Brainstorming and outlining tools such as HyperWrite and Wordtune can turn research questions into an outline and a working thesis.
• Drafting: General-purpose assistants such as ChatGPT can kickstart a first draft, while a basic proofreader such as Grammarly can catch spelling and grammar errors along the way.
• Editing: Once a draft is complete, the priority shifts from generating text to refining it. General-purpose tools tend to correct surface-level errors but can miss the conventions of scientific writing, such as precise terminology and concise phrasing. This is where Rubriq fits best. Trained on years of scholarly input, Rubriq was built specifically to edit academic manuscripts, improving clarity, conciseness, and flow while preserving academic style.
• Pre-submission: A final pass before submission is the last chance to catch language issues that could invite reviewer criticism or an early rejection. Rubriq is designed for manuscripts at this pre-publishing stage, and it is especially useful for authors writing in English as an additional language.

Which AI proofreading and editing tool is best for academic writing?

Of the four tools compared here, Rubriq is the most suitable for academic manuscripts, because it is the only one built specifically for scholarly writing. The other three serve real purposes, but each is designed for a different kind of writer or a different stage of the process. Each tool is assessed below on what it does, where it fits best, and where it falls short for academic work.

1. Grammarly offers free and subscription versions, with features that grow in complexity as the price increases. It specializes in general AI-powered writing assistance and basic proofreading, which makes it best suited to personal and casual writing and to catching grammar and spelling errors during drafting. For academic writing, its limit is scope: it identifies errors and suggests fixes but does not edit for the conventions of scientific prose.
2. Microsoft Editor also has free and subscription versions, with pricing based on the number of users. It works inside Microsoft products and apps such as Word, Outlook, Gmail, LinkedIn, and Google Docs, checks for clarity, passive voice, and clichés in addition to grammar and spelling, and supports more than 20 languages. It suits business writing and academic writing up to the undergraduate level, but it does not go further than flagging issues and suggesting corrections.
3. ChatGPT has a free plan and a paid plan with faster responses and priority access to new features. It is built to produce personalized output, which makes it strongest in the discovery, prewriting, and drafting phases, where interactive brainstorming and source analysis are useful. When used for editing, it can propose broader changes that improve clarity, but it can miss inaccuracies specific to scientific language and does not reliably tighten wordy text.
4. Rubriq offers a free 7-day trial with the full range of features available on the unlimited paid plan. Trained on years of scholarly input, it was created to edit academic manuscripts and to help researchers prepare for publishing success. It is most appropriate for advanced academic and scientific manuscripts in the drafting, editing, and pre-publishing phases, and it is also highly effective for authors writing in English as an additional language.

Examples

The following example not only illustrates the capabilities of these four AI proofreading tools but also highlights their limitations.

Original text: 

This study designed before-after study in the same patients rather than a parallel control as the periodontal morphology and periodontal environment of patients differ; thus, the gingival papilla defect may be due to one or more factors.

Grammarly:

Microsoft Editor:

ChatGPT:

Rubriq:

As expected, the first two tools only identified the grammatical error and suggested an appropriate solution. While ChatGPT proposed more extensive editing that enhanced the clarity of the text, it missed inaccuracies specific to the scientific language used in research manuscripts. ChatGPT further failed to make the text more concise. Rubriq provided a comprehensive edit that preserved the academic language and style while also improving the overall readability and conciseness.

Final thoughts

There are specialized tools for everything. From can openers to chainsaws, each tool is crafted for a particular purpose. The same holds true for AI tools for writing. Every type of writing and aspect of the writing process has specific tools that perform the best. 

Knowing what kind of AI writing tools are available and what they do is an essential first step in choosing the right one. Authors must then ask a few key questions about what they are writing and for whom to really pinpoint which tool best fits their current needs.

After comparing four AI proofreading and AI language editing tools, it was clear that not all are suitable for academic writing. Because it is tailored to serve researchers and authors of the academic writing community, however, Rubriq was able to offer a complete editing solution.