Worked examples – the fastest way to absorb the voice and the most useful raw material for the LLM system prompt. Each pair is built from a real ELIXIR-UK publication pattern, lightly paraphrased.
Note: Grand statements vs content-heavy copy. Most editorial work is content-heavy – describing a paper, announcing a service, recapping an event. The rules below apply. A small subset of editorial work is grand-statement – hero openers, section titles that need to land, taglines, the approved mission and vision. There, language we’d cut from content-heavy copy (like world-class, world-leading, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art) can earn its place because the job is rhetorical weight, not information. Ask which mode your sentence is in.
Opening a webstory
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| As part of our new UKRI-funded project in FAIR Data Stewardship Training, ELIXIR-UK have launched a new Fellowship programme which aims to improve FAIR data management in the Life Sciences practiced by UK researchers and their research support staff. | ELIXIR-UK has opened applications for the FAIR Data Stewardship Training Fellowship – a new UKRI-funded programme to support FAIR data management across UK life sciences. The deadline is Friday 30 July. |
What changed
- Lead with the action the reader can take (applications open), not with the funding.
- Cut “we have launched” / “aims to” – say what it does.
- Surface the deadline in sentence one.
Announcing new services or partners
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| Following the 2021 call for new services we are pleased to announce seven new ELIXIR-UK services. These were selected by our panel to ensure high service quality and match UK priorities. | Seven new services have joined ELIXIR-UK: Flybase, NEOF, FAIRcookbook, KnetMiner, COPO, VEuPathDB and WorkflowHub. Three of these – KnetMiner, COPO and VEuPathDB – have been elevated from roadmapped to full membership. |
What changed
- Lead with which services, not with who is announcing.
- Drop “pleased to announce” and “ensure high service quality” – neither adds information.
- Concrete detail (elevations from roadmapped to full) replaces vague framing.
A year-end or retrospective opener
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| As 2020 draws to the close it is time to look back on all the achievements of ELIXIR-UK and its members and the progress we made this year. It has been a strange time, but all those involved in ELIXIR-UK have risen to the challenge and have not just adapted, they have made 2020 a fantastic year. | In 2020 ELIXIR-UK welcomed six new services, launched two new working groups (Data Management, Training) and contributed to the COVID-19 response through the COVID WorkflowHub, a FAIRsharing collection of COVID resources and a dedicated UK services webpage. |
What changed
- Cut the throat-clearing date opener.
- Cut “fantastic year” / “risen to the challenge” – say what happened instead.
- One sentence covers what a paragraph of warmth was trying to convey.
Closing a webstory
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| Once again, thank you to all who attended, presented and took part in the discussions. This year’s event looked different to usual but with so much engagement from attendees you made it another successful event. We look forward to welcoming all our attendees back in 2021! | Slides and recordings from the All Hands sessions are on the ELIXIR-UK website. The 2021 All Hands meeting will be confirmed in Spring 2021. |
What changed
- End on what the reader can do next, not on a wave goodbye.
- Cut the thank-you and the “see you next year” line.
- Specific next-step (slides, recordings, date window) gives the closing real work.
Closing-paragraph drift
The subtle one. Even good pieces sometimes lapse in the final paragraph, reaching for institutional brand-language.
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| Carole’s involvement in both events strengthens ELIXIR-UK’s visibility in European discussions and highlights our Node’s ongoing contribution to shaping the future of interoperable, resilient research data infrastructures. | Carole was there as ELIXIR-UK’s Head of Node, bringing UK perspectives to European conversations on workflow research and AI infrastructure. |
What changed
- “Strengthens visibility” → “as Head of Node” – the role earns the mention.
- “Ongoing contribution to shaping the future of” → just say what she did.
- Concrete topics replace abstract framing.
LinkedIn post
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| We are thrilled to share that ELIXIR-UK member Valerie Wood has co-authored an exciting new paper exploring the future of AI in biocuration! This work showcases ELIXIR-UK’s commitment to driving innovation in life sciences data infrastructure. | New Bioinformatics Advances paper on human-in-the-loop AI for literature curation, co-authored by ELIXIR-UK member Valerie Wood (University of Cambridge). The paper explores how AI can support biocuration workflows – from literature screening to quality control – while keeping expert curators at the centre of biological interpretation and trust. A timely perspective for anyone working with biological knowledge bases. 🔗 Read more: [link] #Biocuration #AI #LifeSciences |
What changed
- Drop “thrilled to share”, “exciting new paper”, “showcases ELIXIR-UK’s commitment”.
- Lead with the journal and the substance.
- Member’s affiliation is named once, in parentheses, doing real work.
Bluesky post
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| Big news! ELIXIR-UK member Valerie Wood has co-authored a fantastic new paper on AI in biocuration. Read it now! | New paper: ELIXIR-UK member Valerie Wood co-authors on human-in-the-loop AI for biocuration. How AI can support curators without replacing expert review. 🔗 [link] #AI #Bioinformatics |
What changed
- “Big news!” / “fantastic” / “Read it now!” cut.
- One hook + one context line + link. That’s the form.
Talking about ourselves
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| ELIXIR-UK is committed to fostering a vibrant ecosystem of life science data infrastructure. | ELIXIR-UK connects UK life science data services, training and community engagement to the wider ELIXIR Europe network. |
| We are proud to be representing the best of the UK life science data resources. | ELIXIR-UK currently brings together [N] UK services across genomics, proteomics, structural biology and health data. |
| Our amazing community of researchers and data stewards. | Researchers and data stewards across [N] UK institutions. |
Note: [N] is a placeholder. The number of UK services and member institutions changes over time – check the ELIXIR-UK website for the current count before using these lines in copy.
Talking about our services
We endorse our services; we don’t own them. Always name the host institution and let the work belong to the people who do it.
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| ELIXIR-UK’s FAIRsharing has launched a new policy alignment feature. | FAIRsharing, an ELIXIR-UK service provided by the University of Oxford, has launched a new policy alignment feature. |
| Our service WorkflowHub helps researchers share workflows. | WorkflowHub, hosted at the University of Manchester, is an ELIXIR-UK service that helps researchers share workflows. |
| We developed the Safe People Registry to support data access. | The Safe People Registry was developed by HDR UK (an ELIXIR-UK member). |
Asking for help or signposting
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to the team. | Email the team at [address] with questions. |
| If you would like to learn more, please feel free to visit our website. | More on the [page name] page. |
| We would love to hear from you! | Send feedback to [address]. |
Words to pause on
These aren’t banned – sometimes they are the most precise word for the job. But they’re often defaults reached for out of habit, when a plainer alternative would be clearer. When you find one in your draft, pause and check: is this the most useful word here, or would something else say it more directly?
| Word | When it’s fine | When to reach for an alternative |
|---|---|---|
| leverage / leveraging | rare – usually “use” is clearer | most cases. Use use. |
| cutting-edge | grand statements (hero openers, taglines) where rhetorical weight is the point; or a specific innovation worth pointing to | content-heavy copy – delete |
| state-of-the-art | same as above | content-heavy copy – delete |
| seamless | when describing a genuine integration | when vague – be specific about what’s joined up |
| innovative | when there’s something concretely new | describe what’s new instead |
| robust | when describing measurable resilience | “well-tested”, “reliable”, or just describe how |
| empower | when discussing agency or autonomy | help, support, enable |
| facilitate | when running a workshop or session | help, support, run |
| ecosystem | when describing genuine inter-dependence | network, services, community – pick the precise one |
| journey | rarely | delete it |
| stakeholder | in formal governance contexts where you genuinely mean all parties | partner, member, funder, user – pick the specific one |
| solution | in commercial / procurement contexts | tool, service, method – pick the specific one |
| vibrant | rarely | delete |
| world-class / world-leading | grand statements (hero openers, taglines, the approved mission/vision), or externally-verified contexts | content-heavy copy – delete |
| exciting | when you can justify why | otherwise delete; say why it’s worth attention |
Add your own
Every time you catch a draft that didn’t feel right, add the pair here. This page gets more valuable the more lived-in it is.