Agent Skills
› brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills
› pmla-structure-and-exposition
pmla-structure-and-exposition
GitHub用于优化PMLA论文结构，确保在6000-9000字内清晰呈现论点。适用于大纲制定、重构松散草稿或调整字数，指导如何安排引言、论证与结论，以吸引广泛读者并突出学术意义。
Trigger Scenarios
需要为PMLA论文制定大纲或重组杂乱草稿
反馈指出文章逻辑断裂或论点被埋没
需结构性删减以满足字数限制
决定论文核心论点、文本细读及学术意义的布局
Install
npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill pmla-structure-and-exposition -g -y
SKILL.md
Frontmatter
{
"name": "pmla-structure-and-exposition",
"description": "Use when organizing a PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association) essay so the argument unfolds clearly within the 6,000–9,000-word range. PMLA prizes a concise, readable presentation that draws out implications; the structure must carry a generalist reader through close reading and argument. Shapes the architecture; it does not write the prose."
}
Structure & Exposition (pmla-structure-and-exposition)
PMLA values a concise, readable presentation that engages a broad readership and draws out the implications of its argument. Structure is how the essay earns that: an architecture that moves a generalist reader from problem to claim to stakes without losing the close reading along the way, all within 6,000–9,000 words.
When to trigger
- Outlining the essay or reorganizing a sprawling draft
- A reader said the essay "loses the thread," "buries the argument," or "reads as sections stapled together"
- Over the word range and needing to cut structurally, not just sentence by sentence
- Deciding where the thesis, the readings, and the stakes should sit
A shape that works at PMLA
- Open on the problem and the claim. By the end of the introduction the reader knows the significant problem, the thesis, and why it matters — not a slow ramp-up. Generalists should not have to dig for the "so what."
- One governing argument, visible throughout. Each section advances the thesis; signpost how. If a section does not move the argument, it belongs in a note or is cut.
- Close reading in the right places. Put the passages that carry the claim where the argument needs them; let analysis, not plot summary, drive the section.
- Draw out implications before the end. Don't reserve all the stakes for a final paragraph; let the argument accumulate consequence as it goes.
- A conclusion that opens outward. Restate the contribution and point to what it changes for the field — without over-claiming beyond what the reading earned.
Manage the word range structurally
- The 6,000–9,000-word count includes discursive notes and excludes the Works Cited list and translations. Long discursive notes are not a free annex — they count.
- Cut throat-clearing, redundant context, and second examples that only repeat the first.
- Subordinate interesting-but-tangential material to a note, or cut it.
- Prefer one decisive reading developed fully to three gestured-at ones.
Exposition for a generalist reader
- Define specialist terms and name unfamiliar texts/figures on first mention.
- Quote enough context that a reader outside the field can follow the analysis.
- Use clear section logic so the argument is navigable.
Anti-patterns
- A long literature/context preamble before any argument
- Burying the thesis in the middle; stakes appearing only in the last lines
- Sections that summarize rather than argue
- Discursive notes used to smuggle in a second essay (and blow the word count)
- A conclusion that introduces a new, unsupported claim
Structure pass for PMLA
Run this as a concrete capability pass. First lock the object corpus, interpretive intervention, field conversation, and scholarly stakes; then test whether the manuscript addresses humanities reviewers who expect a field-crossing literary or language-studies intervention with careful textual evidence.
- Primary move: Map the essay or manuscript as moves, not sections: problem, intervention, evidence, counterargument, and payoff must each do a distinct job.
- Decision ledger: return
claim / evidence / blocker / next editrows so the next pass can patch the manuscript directly. - Sibling comparison: compare against Critical Inquiry for theory-forward essays, New Literary History for literary theory/history, discipline journals for narrower archive work; if the neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
- Verification floor: before submission-ready advice, re-open
resources/official-source-map.mdfor volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.
Output format
【Problem + thesis by end of intro?】[Y/N]
【One governing argument throughout?】[Y/N]
【Close reading placed where it carries the claim?】[Y/N]
【Implications drawn out before the end?】[Y/N]
【Word range】within 6,000–9,000 (notes counted; Works Cited/translations not)?
【Next】pmla-writing-style
Supplementary resources
../../resources/official-source-map.md— word range and the "concise, readable presentation" standard
Version History
- 1839142 Current 2026-07-05 14:09
