Transform academic papers into university press releases for general.
46
33%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
Pending
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./scientific-skills/Academic Writing/lay-press-release-writer/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
32%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
The description identifies a clear niche (academic-to-press-release transformation) but is incomplete—'for general' appears truncated, suggesting the full description was cut off. It lacks a 'Use when...' clause, misses common trigger term variations, and does not enumerate specific sub-actions beyond the high-level 'transform' verb.
Suggestions
Complete the truncated sentence and add a 'Use when...' clause, e.g., 'Use when a user asks to convert a research paper into a press release, write a news summary of a study, or create public-facing content from academic work.'
Add more natural trigger terms users might say: 'research paper', 'science communication', 'news release', 'media summary', 'lay summary', 'public outreach'.
List specific concrete actions beyond 'transform', such as 'simplifies technical jargon, highlights key findings, writes attention-grabbing headlines, and formats for media distribution'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (academic papers, university press releases) and one action (transform), but does not list multiple specific concrete actions like summarizing findings, writing headlines, simplifying jargon, etc. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Describes what it does (transforms academic papers into press releases) but has no explicit 'Use when...' clause or equivalent trigger guidance. The description also appears truncated ('for general' seems incomplete). Per rubric, missing 'Use when' caps completeness at 2, and the incomplete sentence further reduces quality. | 1 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes relevant keywords like 'academic papers', 'university', and 'press releases', but misses common variations users might say such as 'research paper', 'news release', 'media release', 'science communication', 'research summary', or 'public outreach'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The combination of 'academic papers' and 'press releases' is fairly specific, but could overlap with general writing/rewriting skills or science communication skills. The incomplete description weakens its distinctiveness. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 7 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
35%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill is heavily padded with generic template boilerplate that adds little value specific to the task of transforming academic papers into press releases. While it has some useful concrete elements (JSON output schema, input parameter table, CLI examples), the core domain-specific guidance is thin—there's no actual instruction on how to write a good press release, what makes scientific communication accessible, or how to maintain accuracy while simplifying. The repetitive cross-references and generic process management sections waste significant token budget.
Suggestions
Remove or consolidate the repetitive boilerplate sections (Risk Assessment, Security Checklist, Evaluation Criteria, Lifecycle Status, Response Template) into a single reference file, keeping SKILL.md focused on the actual task.
Add domain-specific guidance on press release writing: inverted pyramid structure details, how to simplify jargon, headline writing tips, and an example transformation from academic abstract to press release text.
Eliminate circular references ('See ## Usage above', 'See ## Workflow above') and deduplicate the py_compile/--help commands that appear three times.
Add a concrete validation checkpoint for scientific accuracy review after output generation, since misrepresenting research findings is the primary risk of this skill.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose and repetitive. Multiple sections reference each other circularly ('See ## Usage above', 'See ## Workflow above'). Boilerplate sections like Risk Assessment, Security Checklist, Evaluation Criteria, Lifecycle Status, and Response Template add significant token overhead without providing actionable value specific to this skill. The same commands (py_compile, --help) appear three times. Much content is generic template filler that Claude doesn't need. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides concrete CLI commands and a clear JSON output schema, which is useful. However, the actual transformation logic is entirely delegated to scripts/main.py with no visibility into what it does. The workflow steps are generic process management instructions rather than specific guidance on how to transform academic papers into press releases. The input parameter table and output format are concrete and helpful. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The workflow section provides a numbered sequence with a fallback path for failures, and the 'Example run plan' adds some structure. However, validation steps are generic ('validate the request') rather than specific to press release generation. There are no explicit checkpoints for verifying scientific accuracy of the output, which is critical for this domain. The error handling section mentions fallbacks but lacks concrete recovery steps. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | References an external file (references/audit-reference.md) and the main script, which is appropriate. However, the SKILL.md itself is a monolithic wall of text with many sections that could be consolidated or moved to separate files. The massive amount of inline boilerplate (security checklist, evaluation criteria, lifecycle status) should either be removed or placed in a separate reference file. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 7 / 12 Passed |
Validation
90%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 10 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
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