Check a Draft for Causal Overclaim
Added 2026-11-06
"Causes" is easier to write than "co-occurs" — and often false.
Here is my draft: [paste passages with causal claims]. Check the causal language: 1) mark every causal word — because, cause, lead to, result in, therefore — and judge whether the evidence supports causation or only correlation; 2) rewrite unsupported causal sentences accurately: correlated, came before, possible mechanism; 3) flag where narrative flow was bought with accuracy; 4) state the minimum evidence each causal claim needs — control, temporal order, mechanism; 5) describe what the reader may now misread; 6) say which causal claims can stay, because a mechanism or experiment supports them.
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Replace these placeholders 1
Swap the bracketed parts for your own details before sending.
[paste passages with causal claims]
How to use
Changing "causes" to "appears alongside" is often the honest fix.
Try tweaking it
- Ask for three openings in different tones, then pick one.
- Replace "make it better" with concrete limits: length, reader, facts to keep.
What you should get
- A publishable draft, not an outline
- A short changelog: what changed and why
Common mistakes
- Letting it guess the facts, so plausible-looking sources get invented.
- Dumping the whole text with just "polish it" — the result still has no point.
How to check the output
- The conclusion comes first; deleting the opening paragraph does not break it.
- Every fact, number and quote traces back to the source text.
Where it works
- Good for: turning a rambling draft into a conclusion-first, shorter version.
- Watch out: keep sources and figures verbatim — do not let it invent citations.