ahr-writing-style
Use when drafting or polishing the prose of an American Historical Review (AHR) manuscript so it reads with clarity and authority for historians across all fields. The AHR rewards lucid, narrative-aware scholarly prose, not jargon. Tightens voice and readability; it does not invent content or argument.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ahr-writing-style --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Writing Style (ahr-writing-style) The AHR is read by historians of every period and place. Its best articles are written in **clear, authoritative, narrative-aware prose** that a specialist in another field can follow with pleasure. This skill is about voice and readability — not about generating claims (that is `ahr-argument-development`) or formatting notes (that is `ahr-citation-and-style`). ## When to trigger - Drafting the introduction or polishing a full draft - The prose is dense with jargon or buries the argument - Quotations and evidence are dropped in without framing - Aligning tense, voice, and terminology before submission ## Writing for the whole discipline 1. **Lead with the idea.** Each paragraph should advance the argument; the reader should never have to reconstruct your point from a thicket of detail. 2. **Minimize jargon; define terms of art.** A historian of another field should follow your argument. Translate insider vocabulary or explain it on first use. 3. **Frame your evidence.** Introduce a quotation, say what to notice, then interpret it — never let a block quote do the arguing for you. 4. **Control tense and voice.** Narrate the past in the past tense;
- When to trigger
- Writing for the whole discipline
- Mechanics the AHR expects
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the ahr-writing-style skill do?
Use when drafting or polishing the prose of an American Historical Review (AHR) manuscript so it reads with clarity and authority for historians across all fields. The AHR rewards lucid, narrative-aware scholarly prose, not jargon. Tightens voice and readability; it does not invent content or argument.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ahr-writing-style --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.