Editing has got more than one aspect. Good editing would, on the other hand, take your write up from a simple one to a priceless piece of literature. Editing at a very basic level is known as proofreading. It is looking over a document for simple errors. However, there is a method of editing, which goes deeper. Here are a few points to find out which one is better.
Proofreading
Before trying to understand what substantive editing is, it is important to understand what proofreading is. Proofreading is essentially a part of every project. It is what you do after you have finished organizing all the ideas. This is the stage where all the errors in grammar and spelling are caught. Most of these can be easily identified with something as simple as a word processor. It is also, however, important to note that the word processing program may not be able to catch all the mistakes in your document. It is best to get someone to go through your work and carry out thorough editing as compared to superficial editing.
Substantive Editing
This type of editing is also known as comprehensive and developmental editing. It is a much more thorough form of editing. You could make changes to your research work in terms of the overall structure, clarity, and organization. Moreover, the purpose of the article is also considered while carrying out this type of editing. It is important to carry out the comprehensive editing of your document since without it, your document would not only become incomprehensible, but also be of a very poor quality. If an article does not read well, not only will you lose your readers’ interest, but also make your document end up looking bad in the eyes of the others. Substantive editing is, therefore, much better than proofreading.