Academic Defensive Writing Auditor skill
A skill that spots defensive academic prose: pre-emptive replies to reviewers, stacked caveats and excuses for weak results.
- 125 ★ on the repository
- Last commit
- MIT
Minimal access
Why this level
- The skill edits manuscript text, so every replacement should be reviewed.
Install
- Works in
In your terminal, with SkillFoxx CLI
npx skillfoxx add skills/academic-defensive-writing-auditorDetects the agents on your machine, shows the access level and pins the version.
Other ways to install
Access and checks
How we reviewMinimal accessThe tool runs nothing and makes no network calls.
- The skill edits manuscript text, so every replacement should be reviewed.
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
A skill and a command-line installer for checking research manuscripts for defensive style. The taxonomy covers 14 patterns: pre-emptive replies to reviewers, repeated non-claim disclaimers, caveat stacking, excusing weak results, defending omitted experiments, legalistic tone and AI-style summary sentences. The agent separates necessary scientific caveats from defensive ones. It ranks findings by likely impact on a reviewer's impression and, on request, rewrites paragraphs without strengthening claims. Modes include audit-only and a full manuscript cleanup.
Who it is for. PhD students and researchers preparing a conference paper or rebuttal who want to cut needless excuses without losing honest limitations.
Good fit when
- A manuscript reads like a reply to reviewers written in advance.
- A weak number in the results comes with three apologies.
- A rebuttal needs its needless defensive tone removed.
- Text from an AI assistant must lose its automatic summary sentences.
Not a fit when
- You need general spelling and style review rather than defensive-pattern review.
- The paper has no contested results and its caveats are honest.
- You want to strengthen claimed results: the skill forbids inflating claims.
Example request
Audit the introduction and results section for defensive writing, rank issues by reviewer impact and rewrite nothing.Limitations
The skill looks for defensive patterns, not grammar errors, and does not check that results are sound. The taxonomy is tuned to English research writing. Review every edit, since the agent may remove a caveat that is in fact necessary. Installation copies a folder into `./skills/`, and `--dir` changes the path. Running the utility needs Node.js 18 or newer. The reviewer-impact ranking comes from the model and remains an opinion, not a measurement. The last commit dates from August 2026.
How to disable. Delete the `academic-defensive-writing-auditor` folder from the project's skills directory. If installed as a dependency, run `npm uninstall academic-defensive-writing-auditor`.
FAQ
Does it remove every caveat?
No. By the author's description it is not a hedge-word remover; it distinguishes necessary scientific caveats from defensive ones.
Where does the skill install?
`npx academic-defensive-writing-auditor` copies it to `./skills/academic-defensive-writing-auditor/`. The `--dir` flag sets another path.
How do I overwrite an installed copy?
Add `--force`, for example `npx academic-defensive-writing-auditor --dir ./.agents/skills --force`.
Is there an audit-only mode?
Yes, `prompts/audit-only.md`. A full cleanup uses `full-paper-cleanup.md`.
Are there examples?
Yes, `examples/before-after.md` shows phrases before and after editing.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
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Comparison with similar tools
Cards that share the main search query, and how they differ.
| Tool | Official | Repository stars | Main difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Defensive Writing Auditor (this card) | no | 125 | |
| Anti-Defensive Writing | no | 1,948 | strips defensive hedges from general text; here 14 patterns tuned to research manuscripts and reviewer reactions |
| Anti-Defensive Writing | no | 5,926 | a general anti-defensive writing skill; this one separates necessary scientific limits from needless excuses |
README in short
The README lists fourteen defensive-writing patterns, install options and two ready prompts. A before-and-after example shows how a softened claim becomes direct without losing its limits.