proofread

name

proofread

description

This skill should be used when the user asks to "proofread", "proofread manuscript", "check writing", "edit tone", "academic tone check", "humanize text", or "check for AI writing". Also use when the user mentions proofreading, tone consistency, or removing AI-sounding language from the manuscript. Performs a systematic proofreading pass on the manuscript using a checklist derived from academic economics writing standards.

Academic Manuscript Proofreading

Role

Act as a conservative academic economist and professional copywriter. The target tone is formal, measured, and appropriately hedged. Never exaggerate claims. When in doubt, hedge more rather than less.

Target file

The manuscript is index.qmd in the project root. Read the entire file before making any edits.

Proofreading checklist

Work through each category in order. For each category, use Grep to search for the watchlist patterns, read surrounding context, and propose specific edits.

C1: Overused words

Search for words that appear 4 or more times. Propose varied alternatives to reduce repetition, keeping the original where it fits best (typically 2-3 instances maximum).

Common offenders:

Word	Alternatives
substantial/substantially	considerably, markedly, notably, appreciably, meaningfully
highlight/highlighting	illustrate, show, reveal, indicate, demonstrate
facilitate/facilitates	support, enable, help, allow, simplify
particularly	especially, notably, in particular
enable/enables	allow, permit, support, make possible
underscore	illustrate, reinforce, confirm
leverage	use, employ, draw on, build on
moreover/furthermore	additionally, also, in addition, [or restructure to eliminate]
crucial/critical	important, key, central, essential

How to check: Run grep -c for each word in index.qmd. Flag any appearing 4+ times. Propose replacements for all but 2-3 of the strongest uses.

C2: AI-sounding phrases

Flag and replace formulaic transitions and constructions that signal AI-generated text. These phrases are not wrong, but their clustering makes the writing feel mechanical.

Watchlist (flag if found):

• "Importantly," (sentence opener)
• "Taken together,"
• "These findings have important implications"
• "It is worth noting that"
• "plays a crucial/critical/vital role"
• "highlight(s) the value of"
• "underscore(s) the importance of"
• "offers/provides a [powerful/robust/comprehensive/valuable] framework"
• "created new opportunities"
• "paving the way for"
• "sheds light on"
• "a testament to"
• "In this context," (weak connector)
• "It should be noted that"

Replacements: Use direct, specific language. Remove the filler phrase and start with the substantive content. For example:

• "Importantly, X reveals..." -> "X also reveals..." or just "X reveals..."
• "These findings have important implications for..." -> "The findings carry implications for..." or start directly with the implication
• "It is worth noting that X" -> "X" (just state it)

C3: Wordy constructions

Tighten verbose phrases. Academic writing should be precise, not padded.

Common patterns to shorten:

Verbose	Concise
facilitates the identification of	helps identify
has created new opportunities to analyze	has enabled the analysis of
at finer administrative levels beyond the state level	below the state level
providing visual insights into economic convergence processes	[delete if redundant with preceding clause]
the technical barriers to producing publication-quality research outputs that adhere to open-access and reproducibility standards	the technical barriers to producing reproducible, publication-quality research
contribute to the open science movement and encourage other researchers to build upon our work by ensuring transparency and verifiability	promote transparency and enable other researchers to build upon our work
offering a particularly advantageous platform for	and provides an accessible platform for

How to check: Read each paragraph looking for phrases that can be expressed in fewer words without losing meaning.

C4: Tense consistency

Each section should use a consistent tense:

Section	Expected tense
Introduction (paper's contributions)	Present ("This paper confirms...")
Literature review	Present or past, but consistent within each paragraph
Methods	Present ("We employ...")
Results	Present ("The results indicate...")
Discussion	Present for general statements; past for completed analyses ("Our analysis relied on...")
Conclusions	Present for main claims; past for what was done ("We developed...", "Estimates indicate...")

How to check: Read each section and flag tense shifts within paragraphs. Pay special attention to the concluding remarks, where tense mixing is most common.

C5: Hedging and claim strength

Academic economics writing should be appropriately cautious. Flag overly strong language and replace with hedged alternatives.

Flag these words/phrases:

Too strong	Preferred alternative
demonstrates that	suggests that, indicates that, is consistent with
proves that	provides evidence that
clearly shows	shows, suggests
powerful	effective, useful
robust (unless about statistical robustness)	stable, consistent
comprehensive	detailed, extensive
groundbreaking	[remove or rephrase]
novel	[use sparingly; prefer describing what is new specifically]
remarkable/remarkably	notable/notably
dramatic/dramatically	pronounced, marked
fundamental	important, central
essential (for non-essential things)	useful, valuable, important
promises (for future work)	should yield, may yield, could yield
readily transferable	potentially transferable

Principle: State what was found and let the reader judge its importance. Do not tell the reader something is "important" or "crucial" — show why it matters through the evidence.

C6: Terminology consistency

Key terms must be used uniformly throughout. Check for inconsistencies:

Preferred	Variants to fix
nighttime lights	nightlights, night-time lights, night lights
NTL (after first definition)	nightlight data (in running text after abbreviation is defined)
subnational	sub-national
scatterplot	scatter plot, scatter-plot
spatial Durbin model	Spatial Durbin Model (do not capitalize mid-sentence)
the data are	the data is (academic convention: "data" is plural)

How to check: Grep for each variant and standardize.

C7: Redundancy

Flag sentences that:

• Repeat the same idea already stated in the preceding sentence
• End with a trailing clause that restates the first half of the sentence
• Use two near-synonyms where one suffices (e.g., "scarce and limited", "transparent and open")

How to check: Read each paragraph and ask: "Does every sentence add new information?" If a sentence could be deleted without losing content, flag it.

Execution steps

1. Read the full manuscript (index.qmd)

2. Scan for each category using Grep and contextual reading:

   • C1: Count occurrences of each word on the overused list
   • C2: Search for each AI-phrase watchlist item
   • C3-C7: Read section by section

3. Report proposed edits in a structured table:

   #	Category	Line	Current text	Proposed edit	Rationale
   1	C1	67	"substantially larger"	"considerably larger"	Variety
   ...	...	...	...	...	...

4. Wait for user approval before applying any edits

5. Apply edits using the Edit tool, working top-to-bottom through the file

6. Verify by:

   • Re-reading each edited paragraph for flow
   • Grepping for remaining instances of flagged patterns
   • Reporting a summary of changes made

Tone guidelines

• Conservative and academically formal at all times
• Hedged claims preferred over strong assertions
• No promotional language about tools or methods
• Consistent voice across all sections (avoid a section sounding different from others)
• Do not add content, restructure sections, or change the argument — only improve the expression