Checklists

Read the finished draft with its sources beside it. A checked box means you examined the passage and its evidence. It does not mean the sentence sounded plausible.

Use the checks that fit the surface. A button has no paragraph rhythm to review; a long explanation has no excuse for losing its subject.

Check, repair, check again

A rule you have read is not yet a rule you have followed. Run the checks as a loop, and run it while the work is still small.

1. Check each portion as soon as it exists: a section, one deliverable, a batch of release entries. A label or tooltip is a single portion. Errors found in the first section stop spreading into the next.
2. Take the "Every piece" list and the list for the passage's register. Skip an item that cannot apply; a tooltip has no ending to check.
3. Answer each item on its own, against the text and its evidence. Quote the words that fail. For a pass, point to the passage that satisfies the item; for an item about something absent, such as invented urgency, search the whole portion before ticking it. A box ticked with nothing behind it has not been checked.
4. Repair only what failed. A passing item needs no edit, and a correct sentence can stay exactly as it is.
5. Check the repaired passages again, together with every fact the repair touched. A smoother sentence can carry a new causal claim.
6. If an item fails again after its repair, stop working on it and mark it; a third attempt at the same sentence rarely helps. Stop after three rounds in all. Mark anything still failing with a specific marker, such as [VERIFY CLAIM], and report it. The piece is not finished, and the report should not say it is.

Keep the record private when the output is copy only. The checklist is how you produce the text; it is not part of the text.

Ask a second reader

A writer reviewing their own draft reads what they meant to write. When you can, give the draft, its evidence and these lists to a reader who did not write it: a colleague, a fresh chat or a separate agent. Leave out the reasoning that produced the draft, so the reviewer judges the page rather than the intention. Ask for failures with locations, not for a verdict on quality.

A reviewer told to find problems will find some. Fix the ones that name a rule and a passage. Treat taste without a rule as a suggestion.

Let a script count what can be counted

Unresolved markers, heading case, unspaced dashes, product-name spellings and listed stock phrases can be found by a script. A script reports candidates; a person decides. Whether a claim is true, a warning sits before its action or an ending earns its place still needs a reader with the evidence open.

Every piece

• The opening answers a real question or establishes a relevant situation.
• The reader can identify the object, action and consequence without guessing.
• Each paragraph develops the explanation, evidence or decision.
• Sentence shape follows the thought; repeated fragments or balanced phrases have a purpose.
• Concrete details come from evidence or a clearly labeled fictional example.
• Conditions, timing, uncertainty and negation retain their meaning.
• Names, numbers, quotations, labels, identifiers and versions match their sources.
• Application and reader actions have accurate subjects; fonts and files remain data.
• Shared nouns identify their application where needed.
• New headings use sentence case; exact labels retain their original case.
• Punctuation clarifies the sentence; dashes are spaced where used in house prose.
• The ending supplies a needed fact, check or action without a ceremonial extra paragraph.
• A second pass checks what a reader would infer, as well as what each sentence literally says.
• Expressive wording can be traced to a useful observation, relationship or supplied voice; it has not been added merely to make the text busier.

Marketing

• The situation is recognizable without invented customer feelings or pressure.
• A benefit connects to a supported mechanism.
• Evidence earns the strength and scope of the claim.
• The swap and negation tests exposed empty praise without removing useful facts.
• Any surprise comes from the material, rather than a fabricated obstacle or result.
• Humor targets a predicament or pretension, and survives a literal-truth check.
• The copy makes sense without the joke; the joke needs no explanation afterward.
• Customer stories and quotations have provenance.
• The call to action accurately describes the next step.
• No invented urgency, scarcity, social proof or guarantee remains.
• The reader's starting point is clear, and the opening answers the question that reader already has.
• The headline or first frame makes a promise the next screen pays, and selects the reader by task or situation rather than status.
• Price, eligibility, term, limits, deadlines and exit terms sit together before the decision; the price is not followed by an apology or a minimizing comparison.
• The likeliest objections are answered beside the decision they block.
• Where research exists, headings and openings use readers' words, and no phrase is presented as a testimonial.
• In lookup passages, the answer comes first and names the product, so it stays true when quoted alone.
• Ad, email or link text and the landing headline make the same promise.
• An AI-assisted draft passed the strip pass and a separate review, and a person cleared every marker and checked every fact.

Technical

• The section's purpose is clear: procedure, reference, concept or troubleshooting.
• Prerequisites and warnings precede the actions they govern.
• Each action is easy to track, with exact labels and a clear target.
• Outcomes and the final success condition let the reader check progress.
• Recovery follows supported behavior; unknown causes remain unknown.
• An analogy maps a specific relationship and states any consequential limit.
• Steps, warnings and recovery stay literal.
• A longer explanatory sentence keeps its subject and condition clear.
• A behavior statement names the reader's action in its condition and the most specific responding surface in its result.
• Domain terms link to the glossary instead of carrying a definition inside the sentence.
• Commands and examples were run in the declared environment, or their untested status is recorded.
• The ending supplies verification or a necessary next task.

Neutral

• The opening states the subject or concrete change.
• Useful detail and natural rhythm supply interest without a sales claim.
• An aside answers a likely question without interrupting the main relationship.
• A before-and-after comparison has evidence for both states.
• Fixes preserve the observed symptom, scope and uncertainty.
• Limitations, price, licensing, compatibility, security and migration stay plain.
• Warmth comes from attention to the reader's situation; their feelings are not invented.

Before it goes to translation

• Each pronoun has a clear referent.
• Conditions and subjects survive the sentence's length.
• Dense noun phrases have been unpacked where needed.
• Instructions retain literal meaning; images and jokes have a usable factual reading.
• Necessary meaning does not depend on a pun, cultural reference or English word order.
• If, when and while preserve their distinct intended meanings.
• Whole messages preserve placeholder syntax, reordering and plural behavior.
• Approved terminology, proposed translations and protected spellings remain distinct.
• The document handoff includes usable segment boundaries, surrounding text, media and required outputs.
• Interactive surfaces have a runtime review covering interpreted values, resource fallback and the relevant locale settings.

Record the repair

A useful review note identifies a passage and a change: “Moved the overwrite warning before the command; kept the longer sentence because it ties the exception to the result.”

Avoid verdicts such as “more human” or “less robotic.” They give the next editor nothing to check. Name the unsupported claim, delayed condition, vague noun or repeated pattern, then inspect the repaired passage again.