academic-writing-standards

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---
name: academic-writing-standards
description: Expert knowledge of academic writing standards for peer-reviewed papers, including citation integrity, style compliance, clarity, and scientific writing best practices. Use when reviewing or editing academic manuscripts, papers, or research documentation.
---

# Academic Writing Standards

This skill provides expertise in academic writing standards for peer-reviewed research papers, ensuring clarity, rigour, and adherence to scientific writing conventions.

## Core Writing Principles

### Clarity and Directness

**Prioritise:**
- Clarity over eloquence
- Precision over persuasion
- Simple constructions over complex ones
- Active voice wherever possible

**Avoid:**
- Unnecessary adjectives and adverbs
- Overstatement and hyperbole
- Excessive qualification ("very", "clearly", "significantly", "novel")
- Complex punctuation where simpler alternatives work

### Style Transformations

**Examples of preferred style:**

```
Wordy: "The results clearly demonstrate that the novel approach significantly outperforms existing methods"
Better: "The approach outperforms existing methods"

Complex: "The model—which incorporates multiple data sources; including case counts, hospitalisations, and genomic data—provides insights"
Better: "The model incorporates case counts, hospitalisations, and genomic data. It provides insights"

Passive: "It was found that the infection rate was increasing"
Active: "We found the infection rate increased"

Hedged: "It appears that the results seem to suggest that there might be a relationship"
Direct: "The results suggest a relationship"
```

### Punctuation Simplification

**Avoid semicolons** when possible:
```
Avoid: "The model includes three components; case counts, delays, and reporting rates"
Better: "The model includes three components: case counts, delays, and reporting rates"
Or: "The model includes three components. These are case counts, delays, and reporting rates"
```

**Avoid excessive em-dashes:**
```
Avoid: "The approach—which we developed over three years—shows promise"
Better: "The approach shows promise. We developed it over three years"
```

**Simplify nested clauses:**
```
Avoid: "The method, which incorporates data from multiple sources, including surveillance systems, which track cases daily, and laboratory reports, provides estimates"
Better: "The method incorporates data from surveillance systems and laboratory reports. It provides estimates"
```

## Formatting Standards

### Document Structure

- **One sentence per line** in markdown format
- **Maximum 80 characters per line**
- **UK English** spelling (favour, colour, modelling, analyse)
- No trailing whitespace
- No spurious blank lines

### Mathematical Notation

- Use proper LaTeX formatting in appropriate contexts
- Define all notation clearly on first use
- Keep mathematical exposition accessible

## Citation and Reference Standards

### Citation Format Checking

**Common formats to verify:**
- Pandoc markdown: `[@author2024]`, `[@author2024; @other2023]`
- Multiple citations: `[@first2024; @second2024]`
- In-text citations: `@author2024 showed that...`

### Reference Integrity

**Check for:**
- Placeholder citations: `[@placeholder]`, `[@TODO]`, `[@CITE]`
- Malformed citations: Missing brackets, typos in citation keys
- Dangling references: Citations in text without corresponding bibliography entries
- Unused references: Bibliography entries never cited

**Citation consistency:**
- Verify citation keys follow consistent naming (e.g., `authorYear`, `author_year`)
- Check citation formatting matches throughout document
- Ensure proper use of et al. in multi-author citations

### Bibliography Verification

**When .bib file available:**
- Cross-reference every citation against bibliography
- Check for missing entries
- Verify citation keys match exactly
- Note any formatting inconsistencies in bibliography

**When .bib file unavailable:**
- Flag that references cannot be fully veri