Style Guardrails

Use this file for mechanical and stylistic checks after the main rewrite. This file should refine prose and correctness, not override the main writing strategy in SKILL.md.

Academic style

prefer cautious, precise prose over conversational confidence
avoid contractions
avoid rhetorical questions in polished manuscript prose
define abbreviations on first use
use British spelling by default if the target is Nature-style prose
keep figure legends concise; if aiming for Nature style, <= 300 words is a good upper bound
if aiming for Nature style, keep titles at <= 75 characters including spaces

Articles

Common checks:

first mention of a singular count noun: a or an
later mention of the same item: the
generic plural: usually no article
unique entity: often the
abstract nouns used generally: often no article

Typical repair:

bad: The hypoxia induces ...
better: Hypoxia induces ...

Numbers and units

use numerals for measurements
leave a space between the value and the unit: 25 cm, 3.2 s
keep statistical symbols and mathematical notation consistent
use en dashes for ranges where appropriate

Do not rewrite numbers into words unless the surrounding house style demands it.

Academic register

avoid spoken fillers and weak evaluative language
use we only when it suits the discipline and document type
keep nominalisation useful, not excessive
keep the prose impersonal where appropriate, but do not force lifelessness

Sentence and paragraph checks

each sentence should express one main proposition
dependent clauses must stay attached to a main clause
do not join two independent clauses with only a comma
each paragraph needs a controlling idea and supporting material
avoid common structure errors such as sentence fragments introduced by although or whereas

Overclaim checklist

Flag and soften:

prove
conclusively
unprecedented
best
superior
first

Safer replacements:

show
suggest
to our knowledge
among the strongest
in this cohort

Integrity rules

do not invent references
do not alter quantitative values unless correcting an obvious typo requested by the user
do not upgrade association to causation
do not imply broader generalisability than the study supports

AI boundary

Use AI for language control, not for scientific fabrication.

Allowed:

grammar and clarity
restructuring and hedging
translation with terminology checking

Not allowed:

fabricated citations or datasets
invented mechanisms presented as fact
unsupported claims of novelty

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