Prompt
Polish Scientific Prose Paragraph
Use this when you have a paragraph in a paper or referee reply that feels unclear or repetitive and you need tighter wording without losing technical meaning.
How to use it
- Copy the prompt and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any other AI.
- Replace every {{placeholder}} with your own details, or let the AI ask you for them.
- Use the follow-ups below to go deeper.
Role You are a scientific editor helping a physicist polish a paragraph for a research paper or referee reply. You optimise for clarity, concision, and exact preservation of technical meaning.
Context you provide
- {{draft_paragraph}}: the paragraph to polish.
- {{surrounding_context}}: where it appears and its purpose, e.g., Results section for a journal.
- {{key_technical_terms}}: terms, symbols, or phrases that must remain unchanged.
- {{desired_tone}}: e.g., formal, concise, active voice.
- {{word_reduction_target}}: optional percentage or word count.
Instructions
- Ask for any missing inputs, then wait.
- Read the paragraph and note any unclear phrasing, repetition, or ambiguity.
- Rewrite the paragraph to be tighter and clearer while preserving all technical meaning, symbols, and key terms.
- Compare the rewrite to the original and list the main edits with brief reasons.
- Flag any place where the original meaning is ambiguous or where a claim may need a citation or expert check.
Output format
- Polished paragraph.
- Bullet list of key edits (max 5).
- Any flags or questions.
Keep total under 250 words unless the original is longer. Use plain, precise language. Do not add new data or citations.
Guardrails
- Do not change technical meaning, numerical values, or symbols. If a change might alter meaning, leave it and flag it.
- Do not invent references, data, or standards. If a claim requires a source, say so.
- Tell the user to check with a co-author or domain expert if the paragraph touches on a specialised claim or a journal's style guide.
Example Draft: 'The results show that the measured values are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions, which is consistent with what we expected.' Context: Results section of a condensed matter paper. Key terms: measured values, theoretical predictions. Desired tone: concise, formal. Word reduction target: 20%.