scholarly-writing-refiner

name scholarly-writing-refiner description Polishes academic English paragraph by paragraph, reviewing grammar, word choice, voice, coherence, and sentence structure. Outputs revision suggestions alongside polished text. Triggered by phrases like 'polish this paragraph,' 'check the grammar,' 'rewrite in academic English,' or keywords like manuscript editing, SCI polishing, and journal submission editing. license MIT Scholarly Writing Refiner — Academic Paper English Polishing Knowledge Base Helps users review and polish English papers paragraph by paragraph according to international academic journal standards. Covers grammar correction, academic word choice optimization, voice normalization, coherence strengthening, sentence variety, and more. Outputs revision suggestions along with the polished text. Quick Start Users only need to provide: Text to polish : One or more paragraphs of English paper content Paper type (optional): Journal article / Conference paper / Thesis or dissertation / Review article Target journal/field (optional): e.g., Nature, IEEE, AAAI, Medicine, Computer Science, etc. Polishing focus (optional): Comprehensive polish / Grammar only / Word choice only / Coherence only Example: "Polish this Introduction for me. The target venue is NeurIPS, and I'd like the language to sound more natural with better logical flow." 1. Review Dimensions Overview Polishing is carried out across 5 dimensions. Each dimension is rated independently with specific revision suggestions: Dimension Label Review Focus Grammar Grammar Subject-verb agreement, tense, articles, prepositions, clause structure, punctuation Word Choice Word Choice Academic register, precision, collocation, avoidance of colloquialisms Voice Voice & Tense Active/passive voice selection, tense consistency Coherence Coherence & Cohesion Intra-paragraph and inter-paragraph transitions, argumentation chain, use of signaling words Sentence Structure Sentence Structure Sentence variety, balance of long and short sentences, coordination and subordination 2. Grammar Review Rules 2.1 Common Grammar Errors Checklist Error Type Incorrect Example Correction Explanation Subject-verb disagreement The results of the experiment shows ... The results of the experiment show ... Subject is "results" (plural) Missing/misused article We propose method to solve... We propose a method to solve... Singular countable nouns require an article Dangling modifier Using the proposed method, the accuracy was improved. Using the proposed method, we improved the accuracy. The implied subject of a participial phrase must match the main clause subject Run-on sentence The model performs well , it achieves 95% accuracy. The model performs well**;** it achieves 95% accuracy. / The model performs well**. It** achieves 95% accuracy. A comma cannot join two independent clauses Incomplete comparison Our method is more efficient . Our method is more efficient than the baseline . Comparatives require an explicit object of comparison Broken parallelism The system can detect, classify, and is able to segment ... The system can detect, classify, and segment ... Coordinated elements must share the same grammatical form that/which confusion The model which we proposed... The model that we proposed... Restrictive relative clauses use "that" Irregular plurals These phenomenon indicate... These phenomena indicate... Watch for irregular plural forms 2.2 Punctuation Rules Rule Correct Usage Common Mistake Serial comma (Oxford comma) A, B**,** and C A, B and C (the Oxford comma is recommended in academic writing) Em dash We used three models — A, B, and C — for comparison. An em dash with spaces on both sides, or without spaces (depends on journal style) Capitalization after colon Capitalize if a complete sentence follows: The result is clear: The model outperforms... Do not capitalize if a fragment follows Quotation marks and periods American style: period inside quotes. British style: period outside quotes. Choose based on the target journal's regional convention Abbreviation periods e.g., i.e., et al., etc. Note the comma: e.g. , / i.e. , 2.3 Tense Guidelines by Paper Section Section Recommended Tense Example Abstract Past tense (what was done) + present tense (conclusions) "We proposed a method... The results show that..." Introduction Present tense (current knowledge/consensus) + past tense (prior work) "Deep learning has become ... Smith et al. demonstrated that..." Methods Past tense (experimental procedures) "We trained the model on... The data were preprocessed..." Results Past tense (experimental findings) "The model achieved 95% accuracy. Table 2 shows ..." Discussion Present tense (interpreting significance) + past tense (citing results) "This result suggests that... Our findings indicated that..." Conclusion Past tense (summarizing work) + present tense (contributions/significance) "We proposed and evaluated ... This work contributes to..." 3. Word Choice Optimization Rules 3.1 Colloquial → Academic Substitution Table Colloquial Academic Alternative Context Notes a lot of numerous / a substantial number of / considerable Choose based on what is being modified get obtain / acquire / achieve / attain Choose based on collocation show demonstrate / illustrate / indicate / reveal "demonstrate" emphasizes proof; "indicate" emphasizes suggestion big / huge substantial / significant / considerable thing factor / aspect / element / component good effective / favorable / advantageous / robust bad adverse / detrimental / suboptimal / inferior use employ / utilize / leverage / adopt "utilize" is more formal than "use"; "leverage" emphasizes exploiting an advantage about approximately / roughly / circa Use "approximately" for numerical descriptions try attempt / endeavor look at examine / investigate / analyze / explore find out determine / ascertain / identify / discover go up / go down increase / decrease / rise / decline point out highlight / emphasize / underscore deal with address / tackle / handle / mitigate make sure ensure / verify / confirm kind of / sort of somewhat / to some extent / partially start / begin initiate / commence / undertake end / finish conclude / terminate / complete help facilitate / enable / assist / contribute to need require / necessitate can is capable of / is able to / has the potential to Avoid over-substitution — "can" is acceptable in academic writing 3.2 Vague → Precise Expression Vague Expression Precise Alternative Notes very good results statistically significant improvement / a 12% increase in accuracy Replace vague modifiers with concrete data some researchers Several studies (Chen et al., 2023; Li et al., 2024) Replace vague references with specific citations recently In the past five years / Since 2020 Provide a time range a few three / a small number of (n=3) Specify the quantity it is known that Prior work has established that (citation) Support with a citation this is important This is critical for / This has significant implications for Explain why it matters 3.3 Reducing Redundancy Redundant Expression Concise Version in order to to due to the fact that because / since at the present time currently / now it is worth noting that Notably, / Note that it should be pointed out that (state the content directly) a total of 50 samples 50 samples the vast majority of most in the event that if has the ability to can on a daily basis daily in close proximity to near take into consideration consider is in agreement with agrees with serves the function of functions as 4. Voice Guidelines 4.1 Active vs. Passive Voice Selection Scenario Recommended Voice Example Describing the authors' actions Active (We) We trained the model using... Describing general methods/established facts Passive The data were collected from... Emphasizing the object of an action Passive The samples were analyzed using mass spectrometry. Reporting results Prefer active Our method achieves 95% accuracy. Describing equipment/materials Passive The solution was heated to 100°C. 4.2 Common Voice Issues Issue Incorrect Example Correction Overuse of passive It was found by us that the results were improved by the method. We found that our method improved the results. Inconsistent person The author proposes... We then evaluate... Use "We" or "The authors" consistently Meaningless passive It can be seen that accuracy increases. Accuracy increases. / The results show that accuracy increases. 4.3 Academic Person Conventions Person Use Case Notes We Describing the authors' own work (most common) Many journals accept "We" even for single-author papers The authors A more formal alternative Some journals prefer this usage I Single-author theses and dissertations Some journals do not accept this One Generic/hypothetical statements Somewhat old-fashioned; less common in modern academic writing 5. Coherence and Cohesion Rules 5.1 Intra-Paragraph Signaling Words Logical Relationship Signal Words/Phrases Example Addition Furthermore, Moreover, Additionally, In addition Furthermore, our method generalizes well to unseen data. Contrast However, In contrast, Conversely, On the other hand, Nevertheless However, this approach suffers from high computational cost. Cause & Effect Therefore, Consequently, As a result, Hence, Thus Therefore, we adopt a two-stage training strategy. Exemplification For example, For instance, Specifically, In particular Specifically, we focus on the image classification task. Emphasis Indeed, Notably, Importantly, It is worth noting that Notably, the improvement is consistent across all datasets. Concession Although, Despite, Notwithstanding, While, Even though Although the model is simple, it achieves competitive results. Summary In summary, To summarize, Overall, In conclusion Overall, the proposed method outperforms existing baselines. Qualification Yet, Still, Nonetheless, That said That said, there are several limitations to our approach. Sequence First, Second, Finally, Subsequently, Then First, we preprocess the data. Subsequently, we train the model. Condition If, Provided that, Given that, Assuming that Given that the dataset is imbalanced, we apply oversampling. 5.2 Inter-Paragraph Transition Patterns Pattern Description Example Opening Sentence Hook The end of one paragraph leads into the next topic "This raises the question of how to efficiently scale the model." Recap The next paragraph opens by revisiting the prior conclusion "Having established the effectiveness of our approach, we now turn to..." Contrast Bridge Points out the shortcomings of the prior approach, introducing the current one "While these methods achieve reasonable accuracy, they fail to address..." Question Bridge Uses a question to create a transition "How can we overcome this limitation? In this section, we propose..." Topic Sentence The first sentence of each paragraph summarizes the core argument "The key advantage of our method is its ability to..." 5.3 Common Coherence Problems Problem Description Fix Strategy Jumping argumentation Leaping from A to C without the B step Add intermediate reasoning steps or transitional sentences Signal word overuse Starting every sentence with However / Moreover Reduce signal words; use sentence structure to convey logic Signal word misuse Using "Furthermore" to express contrast Use "However" for contrast; "Furthermore" for addition Overly long paragraphs A single paragraph exceeding 8–10 sentences Split into 2–3 paragraphs by argument point Overly short paragraphs A paragraph with only 1–2 sentences Merge into a related paragraph or expand the discussion Unclear reference "This shows..." — what does "this" refer to? "This result shows..." / "This finding indicates..." 6. Sentence Structure Optimization Rules 6.1 Strategies for Sentence Variety