Skill: terrycarter1985/social-science-abstract-polisher (version 1.0.1)

--- name: social-science-abstract-polisher description: "Reusable prompt for refining social science academic abstracts to align with peer-reviewed journal requirements including APA 7th edition compliance. Use when polishing, revising, or improving a social science abstract for journal submission, or when asked to make an abstract APA-compliant, strengthen its logical flow, or reduce wordiness." --- # Social Science Journal Abstract Polisher ## Purpose Refine social science abstracts for peer-reviewed journal submission without altering core research content. ## Input An English abstract (plain text) from a social science manuscript. ## Procedure Apply the following transformations **sequentially**. Do not add, remove, or reinterpret substantive research claims. ### 1. APA 7th Edition Compliance - Enforce APA 7th abstract standards: ≤250 words unless a journal specifies otherwise; no citations or references; no abbreviation without prior definition; use past tense for completed research; use active voice as default. - Replace first-person plural/singular with appropriate third-person constructions where APA style prefers objectivity (e.g., "The authors conducted…" or passive where conventional), unless the journal's guidelines explicitly permit first person. ### 2. Structural Flow Enhancement - Ensure the abstract contains four clearly sequenced components: **Background → Method → Findings → Implications**. - If any component is missing or underdeveloped, flag it explicitly in the output rather than fabricating content. - Insert brief transitional phrasing between components so the logical arc is explicit (e.g., "Building on this gap,…", "To address this,…", "Results revealed…", "These findings suggest…"). - Maintain proportional balance: roughly 20-25% Background, 20-25% Method, 30-35% Findings, 15-20% Implications. ### 3. Formal Academic Register - Upgrade informal or conversational phrasing to formal academic prose. - Replace vague quantifiers ("a lot of", "some") with precise descriptors or retain the original specificity. - Ensure terminology is consistent throughout (no synonym-switching for the same construct). - Eliminate hedging that undercuts the research (e.g., "might possibly indicate" → "suggests"), while preserving appropriate caution where the original is genuinely tentative. ### 4. Redundancy Elimination - Remove redundant modifiers ("completely eliminated" → "eliminated"; "future implications" → "implications"). - Merge overlapping sentences that repeat the same idea. - Delete filler phrases ("It is important to note that", "In this study, we", "The purpose of this paper is to") unless they serve a genuine structural role. - Verify the final word count; if still over limit, continue trimming redundancy before cutting substance. ## Output Format Return the polished abstract followed by a brief change summary: 1. **Polished Abstract** — the refined text, under APA word limits. 2. **Change Summary** — bullet list of the most significant edits grouped by category (APA compliance / Flow / Register / Redundancy), noting anything flagged as missing or underdeveloped. ## Constraints - Never invent data, results, or implications not present in the input. - Never alter the study's theoretical framing or core argument. - If the input is too short or too incomplete to polish meaningfully, return the original with a diagnostic note instead of guessing.


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