academic-writing-style

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---
name: academic-writing-style
description: "A specialized skill that systematically guides academic thesis style, structure, and citation rules. Used by writing-coach and proofreader agents to improve academic writing quality and verify format compliance. Automatically applied in contexts such as 'academic style', 'thesis structure', 'citation format', 'APA style', 'argumentation structure', 'scholarly expression'. However, running plagiarism detection software (Turnitin) and journal submission on behalf of the user are outside the scope of this skill."
---

# Academic Writing Style — Academic Thesis Writing Style Guide

A specialized skill that enhances the writing-coach and proofreader agents' academic writing capabilities.

## Target Agents

- **writing-coach** — Thesis structure design, draft writing
- **proofreader** — Style verification, format consistency checking

## Per-Chapter Thesis Structure and Writing Guide

### Chapter 1: Introduction

| Component | Purpose | Length Guideline |
|-----------|---------|-----------------|
| Research background | Engage the reader, establish context | 30-40% of chapter |
| Problem statement | Justify the need for research, prior study limitations | 20-30% |
| Research purpose | State specific objectives | 10% |
| Research questions/hypotheses | Specify questions to be investigated | 10% |
| Research scope | Temporal/spatial/subject boundaries | 10% |
| Thesis organization | Chapter-by-chapter overview | 5% |

**Introduction funnel structure:**
```
[Broad] Macro context, societal issues
  |
[Medium] Academic context, prior research trajectory
  |
[Narrow] Research gap, unresolved questions
  |
[Pinpoint] This study's purpose and questions
```

### Chapter 2: Theoretical Background / Literature Review

**Organizational approaches:**

| Approach | Best suited when |
|----------|-----------------|
| Thematic | Addressing multiple theories/variables |
| Chronological | Development process matters |
| Methodological | Comparing methods is central |
| Theoretical | Comparing competing theories |

**Critical review sentence patterns:**
- "While studies have found ~, they have the limitation of ~"
- "The findings of ~ and ~ are contradictory, indicating the need for further research"
- "Prior studies have overlooked ~, which means ~"

### Chapter 3: Research Methods

**Required components:**
1. Research design and rationale
2. Participants (population, sample, selection criteria)
3. Measurement instruments (item composition, validity, reliability)
4. Data collection procedures
5. Analysis methods and rationale
6. Ethical considerations (IRB, etc.)

### Chapter 4: Results

**Writing principles:**
- Report results only; interpretation goes in Chapter 5
- Follow statistical reporting format (APA: *t*(24) = 2.31, *p* = .029)
- Always reference tables/figures in the body text
- Report in the order of research questions/hypotheses

### Chapter 5: Discussion

```
Summary of results -> Comparison with prior studies -> Theoretical implications -> Practical implications -> Limitations -> Future research suggestions
```

## Academic Style Rules

### Expressions to Use

| Situation | Academic Expression | Expression to Avoid |
|-----------|-------------------|-------------------|
| Hedging claims | "may," "suggests that," "it appears that" | Definitive statements (in survey studies) |
| Causal relationships | "was found to be associated with" | "is caused by" (in survey studies) |
| Generalization | "in the context of this study" | "in all cases" |
| Self-reference | "this study," "the present research" | "I think that" |
| Prior research | "According to Kim (2023)" | "Something I read in a paper" |

### Hedging Expression Levels

| Confidence Level | Expression |
|-----------------|-----------|
| High | "demonstrates," "indicates," "shows" |
| Medium | "suggests," "implies," "appears to" |
| Low | "may," "could," "it is possible that" |

## Citation Format (APA 7th Focus)

### In-Text Citations

| T