Agent Skills
› brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills
› bjps-writing-style
bjps-writing-style
GitHub用于起草或润色《英国政治科学杂志》稿件，确保符合剑桥出版社哈佛著者-日期格式、双盲评审要求及字数限制。通过前置核心贡献、减少行话、精简内容，提升文章对国际广泛读者的可读性与规范性，不生成新内容。
Trigger Scenarios
撰写引言或最终润色
超过字数限制需精简
撰写150词以内摘要
调整引用和格式以符合投稿规范
Install
npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill bjps-writing-style -g -y
SKILL.md
Frontmatter
{
"name": "bjps-writing-style",
"description": "Use when drafting or polishing a British Journal of Political Science (BJPS) manuscript so it reads for a broad, international political-science audience, follows Cambridge's house (Harvard author-date) style, and fits the word caps (Research Articles ~10,000 words; Letters ~4,000; abstract <= 150 words). Tightens prose and format; it does not invent content."
}
Writing Style (bjps-writing-style)
A BJPS paper must be readable by a political scientist outside its subfield and outside its country of study, formatted to Cambridge's house style (Harvard author-date referencing), and disciplined to the word cap. This skill is about reaching a broad, international readership and respecting the format — not about generating claims.
When to trigger
- Drafting the introduction, framing the contribution, or final polish
- Over the word cap and needing to cut without losing the argument
- Writing the ≤ 150-word abstract
- Aligning citations/headings/format to Cambridge's house style before submission
Reach the broad, international reader
- Front-load the contribution. By the end of the introduction the reader knows the question, the argument, the evidence, and why it matters to political science broadly. Don't make a generalist dig for the "so what."
- Don't assume the country context. A reader unfamiliar with your case should follow the paper; gloss country-specific institutions and acronyms on first use.
- Minimize subfield jargon or define it on first use; an IR reader should follow a behaviour paper.
- Argument-first prose. Lead with claims; use evidence to support them. Avoid "the data show…" without saying what they show and why it matters.
- Signpost. Clear section structure so a reader can navigate the argument.
Format to Cambridge house style
- Citations: Harvard author-date in text (e.g.,
(Elster 1983, 174)); reference list with the Cambridge format (Elster J (1983) Explaining Technical Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.). Keep one consistent style (manage with Zotero/BibTeX). References excluded from the word count. - Manuscript prep: double spacing, ≥ 12-point type, generous margins; accepted in MS Word or LaTeX (待核实 current specifics).
- Anonymize: BJPS is double-blind — no author names/affiliations/acknowledgments or funding notes in the manuscript, no obvious self-references ("as we showed in…"), strip identifying file metadata, and prepare a separate title page.
- Abstract: ≤ 150 words, stating question, approach, and finding.
Fit the word cap (Research Article ~10,000; Letter ~4,000; caps 待核实)
- Move balance tables, full specs, and extended robustness to the online appendix.
- Cut throat-clearing and literature dumps; engage the debate, not every paper (see
bjps-literature-positioning). - Tighten footnotes — keep them substantive.
- Prefer one decisive figure to three redundant tables.
Anti-patterns
- A subfield- or country-insider intro that never states wide significance
- Burying the contribution in the middle of the paper
- An abstract over 150 words or one that hides the finding
- Mixed citation styles; acknowledgments or self-references that break anonymity
- Padding a Letter toward Article length
Output format
【Contribution stated by end of intro?】[Y/N]
【Reads past subfield + country?】jargon/institutions glossed? [Y/N]
【Abstract】word count (≤150)
【Word count】Article ~10,000 / Letter ~4,000?
【Harvard author-date + anonymized】[Y/N]
【Next】bjps-transparency-and-data
Writing for two readers at once (BJPS-specific)
Every paragraph in the introduction has two readers: the specialist who knows the frontier, and the generalist from another subfield or country who must be told why it matters. Satisfy both — name the frontier and the broad stake. A common failure is writing only for the specialist (the paper reads as parochial) or only for the generalist (the paper reads as thin). The fix is the wide-interest sentence early, followed by the precise contribution against the literature.
Calibration anchors (hedged)
- BJPS is international: do not assume the reader knows your country's institutions, parties, or acronyms — gloss them on first use without padding the word count.
- House style is Harvard author-date, not APSA or Chicago-generic; keep one consistent style, and remember references are excluded from the word count while footnotes and exhibits are not (待核实 exact counting rule on the live page).
Supplementary resources
../../resources/worked-examples/01-introduction.md— a before→after BJPS-style introduction../../resources/official-source-map.md— word/abstract caps, Cambridge house style, anonymity
Version History
- 1839142 Current 2026-07-05 12:26
