Mark protected elements before editing
Before you edit, mark these as protected unless the task explicitly allows change:
- facts
- numbers and dates
- examples
- causal claims
- epistemic status
- attribution
- quotations
- defined terms
- uncertainty
- thresholds
- checklists
- exception clauses
- point of view
- distinctive but intelligible phrases
Changing "I" to "we", "may" to "will", or "₹50 lakh" to "a large amount" is not stylistic improvement. It changes the document.
Make the smallest effective edit
Prefer edits like these:
- deleting one empty phrase
- moving one condition
- replacing one inflated word
- splitting one overloaded sentence
- clarifying one pronoun
- merging two repetitive sentences
- renaming one vague heading
Do not rewrite a paragraph wholesale because you can produce a smoother paragraph.
AI-writing signals worth removing
Common signals include:
- generic scene-setting
- empty transitions
- symmetrical three-part lists with no real logic
- "It is not X; it is Y" repeated mechanically
- abstract nouns stacked into consultant prose
- unearned aphorisms
- repeated restatement of the same point in increasingly polished language
- conclusions that declare "the key takeaway" after the takeaway was already clear
- fake specificity introduced by an editor rather than the source
The goal is not to make AI detection tools happy. The goal is to remove patterns that make the writing less precise or less recognisably yours.
End with one question
After the pass, ask:
What still feels harder to read than the idea itself requires?
Then fix only that.