ajs-writing-style
Use when shaping the prose, structure, and citations of an American Journal of Sociology (AJS) manuscript to AJS's own author-date house style (NOT the ASA Style Guide). AJS rewards theoretically ambitious, generalist-legible writing and has specific notes/references conventions. Polishes the writing; it does not invent content.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ajs-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 & House Style (ajs-writing-style) AJS uses its **own author-date house style** — documented in the AJS Manuscript Preparation pages and Formatting PDF — **not** the ASA Style Guide that ASA journals (e.g., ASR) require. This is a frequent, avoidable mistake. Beyond mechanics, AJS prose should be **theoretically ambitious and legible to a generalist sociologist**. Verify current style details on the live prep pages before submission. ## When to trigger - Polishing the manuscript before `ajs-submission` - Formatting citations, notes, and references to AJS house style - A reader said the writing was "for specialists only," "buried the contribution," or "mis-styled" - Converting a draft formatted in ASA or another style into AJS house style ## AJS house-style mechanics (verify on the live prep pages / PDF) - **In-text citation:** **author-date**, name + year in parentheses; **"et al." for three or more authors**. (This is AJS's own format — confirm forms against the live pages; it is *not* the ASA Style Guide.) - **Notes:** an **acknowledgment note on the cover sheet marked with an asterisk**; **substantive notes start at "1"** in the text; **footnotes or endnotes are both ac
- When to trigger
- AJS house-style mechanics (verify on the live prep pages / PDF)
- Write for the discipline (AJS voice)
- The AJS sentence-level prose bar (calibration, hedged)
- Writing desk-reject and pushback patterns (AJS-specific fixes)
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the ajs-writing-style skill do?
Use when shaping the prose, structure, and citations of an American Journal of Sociology (AJS) manuscript to AJS's own author-date house style (NOT the ASA Style Guide). AJS rewards theoretically ambitious, generalist-legible writing and has specific notes/references conventions. Polishes the writing; it does not invent content.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ajs-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.