| name | paper-language-polishing |
| description | Use when polishing academic manuscript language, especially Chinese-to-English scientific writing, Nature-style or venue-aware prose, section-aware tense, hedging, overclaim control, AI-voice cleanup, article repair, and claim-preserving revision. |
Paper Language Polishing
Use this skill when the task is to polish, rewrite, translate, or audit manuscript language without changing the scientific meaning.
Inputs
- Manuscript section type: abstract, introduction, results, methods, discussion, conclusion, rebuttal, or cover letter.
- Target venue or style: Nature/British, IEEE/US, ACM, Elsevier, medical journal, thesis, or general academic.
- Source text and any required terminology.
- Claim-evidence notes if available.
Workflow
- Identify the section type and target style.
- Extract the main claim of the passage.
- Preserve numbers, units, methods, entities, abbreviations, and citation anchors.
- Rebuild Chinese source logic into scientific English; do not translate clause order mechanically.
- Apply section-aware tense and hedging.
- Split overloaded sentences.
- Remove unsupported novelty or superiority claims.
- Remove AI-looking punctuation, adverb overuse, generic transitions, and inflated wording.
- Return polished text plus a brief change log.
Language Gate
- One main proposition per sentence.
- Claim strength matches evidence strength.
- No invented mechanisms, citations, values, limitations, or novelty.
- British spelling for Nature-style outputs unless the user asks otherwise.
- Article usage is checked for singular count nouns.
- Abbreviations are defined on first use.
- Quotation marks, em dashes, parentheses, and adverbs are not overused.
- Generic AI-like phrases are replaced with evidence-specific scientific prose.
When To Read References
- For section-specific moves, read
references/section-moves.md.
- For overclaim and hedging patterns, read
references/hedging-and-overclaim.md.
- For AI-looking punctuation, adverbs, and generic phrasing, read
references/ai-voice-cleanup.md.
- For top-journal section structure and paragraphing, read
../../docs/top-journal-section-playbook.md; for Chinese drafting guidance, read ../../docs/top-journal-section-playbook.zh-CN.md.
- For the full chapter logic and language style system, read
../../docs/language-logic-style-guide.md.
