academic-style

Academic Style Rules

This skill encodes the writing style preferred for ML / computational biology papers. It is loaded by draft-writer and prose-polisher. Rules here SUPPLEMENT those in CLAUDE.md, they do not replace them.

Voice

Sentence Construction

• Prefer 15-25 word sentences. Break anything over 35 words.
• Lead with the subject of interest, not with throat-clearing.
  • BAD: "It is interesting to note that bag-of-Pfam baselines outperform learned embeddings."
  • GOOD: "Bag-of-Pfam baselines outperform learned embeddings."
• One idea per sentence. If you find yourself writing "; furthermore," consider splitting.

Paragraph Construction

• Do not start every paragraph with a topic sentence. Sometimes lead with the finding, then unpack.
• Paragraphs of 4-7 sentences are typical. Single-sentence paragraphs are acceptable for emphasis, not by default.
• Avoid the rigid "First, ... Second, ... Third, ... Finally," scaffolding more than once per section.

Forbidden Phrases (Replace These)

Forbidden	Why	Replace with
"It is important to note that"	Throat-clearing	(delete entirely)
"delve into"	LLM signature	"examine", "study"
"leverage" (as verb)	Corporate-LLM signature	"use", "apply"
"in the realm of"	Pretentious	"in"
"shed light on"	Cliché	"reveal", "show"
"comprehensive" (as filler adjective)	Unsupported claim	(delete or be specific)
"robust" (as filler adjective)	Same	(delete or specify what's robust)
"It should be noted that"	Same as #1	(delete)
"play a [pivotal/crucial/important] role"	Vague	Be specific about the role
"tapestry", "intricate", "myriad"	LLM tells	(rephrase concretely)
"In conclusion," (mid-paper)	Premature closure	(delete)

Numerical & Citation Format

Figure & Table References

• "Figure 3 shows X" — strong, direct
• "(Fig. 3)" — parenthetical, when X is the focus and figure is supporting evidence
• AVOID: "As can be seen in Figure 3", "It can be observed in Figure 3 that..."

Domain Terminology Discipline

• Define a domain term at first use unless target venue is specialist.
• For BGC / natural product papers: Pfam, antiSMASH, MIBiG, BiG-SLiCE, CORASON, etc. — the venue determines whether you need to define.
• Do not use jargon as decoration. If a simple word works, use it.

Things to Preserve (Do NOT "Polish Away")

• The user's specific phrasings that carry argumentative weight
• Hedging that genuinely reflects uncertainty (not all hedges are bad)
• Repetition that serves emphasis ("not just X — X and Y")
• Sentence fragments used for emphasis (rare, but valid)