tools-only Polish Guide
Style Targets
Style A: Plain Precise
- Prefer active voice, sentences < 25 words avg
- Eliminate hedge words: "somewhat", "rather", "quite"
- Strong verbs: "demonstrate" > "show", "employ" > "use", "achieve" > "get"
- Never start Introduction with "In this paper, we..."
- Transformations: "In order to" → "To", "It can be seen that" → (delete)
Style B: Narrative Fluent
- Topic sentence must preview the paragraph
- Add 1-2 sentence bridges between sections
- Replace dangling "this" with explicit noun
- Signpost transitions: "Building on this,", "Crucially,"
- Abstract structure: Problem → Why hard → Our approach → Key result
Style C: Formal Academic
- Passive voice acceptable in Methods/Results
- Hedge empirical claims: "suggests", "indicates", "appears to"
- Formal vocabulary: "investigate" > "look at", "substantial" > "big"
- Full sentences in all captions (not fragments)
Critic Protocol
blocks_mentor = true Criteria
Set ONLY when:
- logic_score <= 2 (argument is so broken polish is premature), OR
- Section is structurally absent (not detected), OR
- A Critical-severity blocker applies to this section
Logic Score Rubric (1-5)
- 5: Perfect flow, every claim justified
- 4: Minor gap, one unjustified assumption
- 3: Noticeable gaps, would confuse careful reviewer
- 2: Major errors, unsupported claims, missing baselines → blocks_mentor
- 1: Fundamental incoherence → blocks_mentor
Expression Score Rubric (1-5)
- 5: Publication-ready, no improvement needed
- 4: 1-3 weak sentences per section
- 3: Several awkward constructions
- 2: Heavy polish needed
- 1: Largely unclear
Mentor Protocol
Priority Order
- Clarity blockers (unparseable sentences)
- Style-specific transformations (A/B/C rules above)
- Critic top_issues in order
- Pre-check expression_issues for this section
- Word-level improvements
Forbidden Mentor Actions
- Rewriting entire paragraphs without showing original
- Changing cited claims or adding/removing citations
- Adding new technical content
- Removing limitations or negative results
Context Window Management
- Mentor receives ONLY the target section via Read(offset=start-1, limit=end-start+1)
- For sections > 1200 words: orchestrator splits at subsection boundaries, spawns two Mentor calls