Findings & checks · 0 flagged
Every scanned point with the score it earned and what moved between them.
First recorded scan — no prior version to compare against.
The primary manifest — the file an agent reads to learn what this artifact does.
Critical Inquiry Skills
<p align="center"> <img src="assets/cover.svg" alt="Critical Inquiry cover" width="220"> </p>
English | 简体中文
Agent skill stack for essays targeted at Critical Inquiry (CI) — the leading interdisciplinary journal of criticism and theory in the arts and humanities, founded in 1974 by Wayne Booth, Arthur Heiserman, and Sheldon Sacks, and published by the University of Chicago Press. CI is "associated with no single school of thought, tied to no single discipline." It publishes the best critical thinking across literary theory, art and visual culture, film and media, philosophy and aesthetics, politics and political theory, history, and cultural criticism — and has been called "academe's most prestigious theory journal."
This repository is opinionated. It is not a generic humanities writing toolbox, and it is not a literature-department close-reading pack. CI is interdisciplinary theory: the unit is a bold theoretical intervention that reorients a conversation across fields, tested on objects read closely — texts, images, artworks, films, cases — with theory doing real work and prose worthy of the claim. There are no datasets, no statistics, no replication packages here.
What Is Critical Inquiry, and Why a Dedicated Stack?
CI's constraints differ from a field journal, a methods journal, or a social-science venue:
| Constraint | Critical Inquiry | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Interdisciplinary criticism and theory, arts & humanities | The essay must speak past one department |
| Premium on | A theoretical intervention with cross-field stakes | A competent close reading with no stakes is off-fit |
| Evidence | Objects read closely — texts, images, artworks, films, cases (no data) | No datasets, no statistics, no replication |
| Theory | Used as an instrument that does work on the object | Jargon-as-decoration is the classic failure |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press; CI founded in 1974 | Submitted via Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/ci/) |
| Review model | Peer-reviewed; read by editors-in-chief with the editorial team | Persuade serious generalist critics, not just specialists |
| Submission rule | No multiple / simultaneous submission | Submit to CI alone |
| Length | Article ≤ 9,500 words (incl. discursive notes + all bibliographical info) | Count the notes — they are in the budget |
| Other formats | Critical Response ≤ 3,000; Review ≤ 500 | Choose the right format up front |
| Citations | Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) footnotes; no works-cited list | Not author-date; full info lives in the notes |
| Manuscript / images | Microsoft Word; images as separate 300 ppi JPEG/TIFF, author-cleared | Clear image permissions yourself, early |
| Fee | No separate submission fee listed; optional Gold OA fee $2,500 | Live-check OA only if selecting Gold OA |
resources/official-source-map.md was refreshed on 2026-06-20 from the CI submissions, overview, and editorial-staff pages. It records current editors, caps, Gold OA terms, CMOS wording, permissions, and the live-check items to reopen immediately before upload.
Three submission formats
- Article — the journal's main form: a full interdisciplinary argument, ≤ 9,500 words
(including discursive notes and all bibliographical information).
- Critical Response — a focused reply to or debate with a published CI piece, ≤ 3,000 words.
- Review — a short notice of a book or exhibition, ≤ 500 words.
Quick Start
Option A — Claude Code Plugin (recommended)
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills
/plugin install ci-skills
/reload-pluginsOption B — Manual Copy
git clone https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills.git
cd awesome-journal-skills/Critical-Inquiry-Skills
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -R skills/ci-* ~/.claude/skills/
# or
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills && cp -R skills/ci-* ~/.codex/skills/First Prompt
Use ci-workflow to tell me which skill I should use next for my Critical Inquiry essay.Default Workflow
ci-topic-selection
▼
ci-scholarly-positioning
▼
ci-argument-and-intervention
▼
ci-evidence-and-objects
▼
ci-theory-and-method
▼
ci-structure-and-exposition
▼
ci-writing-style (polish)
▼
ci-citation-and-style
▼
ci-review-process
▼
ci-submission
▼
ci-revision-and-responseci-workflow is the router — it tells you which skill to use next based on where you are. CI essays rarely move in a straight line: most loop argument ↔ objects ↔ theory several times before the prose settles. If you are writing a Critical Response, the argument and positioning skills carry most of the weight; a Review goes almost directly to writing-style and submission.
Skills
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
ci-workflow | Router — decides which sub-skill to invoke next |
ci-topic-selection | CI fit: a theoretical intervention with cross-field stakes; pick the format |
ci-scholarly-positioning | Name the conversation(s) entered across fields; locate the intervention |
ci-argument-and-intervention | Forge the central claim into a real intervention, not a reading |
ci-evidence-and-objects | Choose and read the objects — texts, images, artworks, cases — closely |
ci-theory-and-method | Deploy theory as an instrument that does work; make the method visible |
ci-structure-and-exposition | Architect long-form humanistic prose (not IMRaD) for a cross-field reader |
ci-writing-style | Ambitious, lucid prose within the word cap (notes counted) |
ci-citation-and-style | Chicago (17th ed.) footnotes, no works-cited list; 300 ppi images, permissions |
ci-review-process | Peer + editorial review, the ambition bar, no-simultaneous-submission rule |
ci-submission | Editorial Manager preflight (cap incl. notes, Word file, images, permissions) |
ci-revision-and-response | Revision strategy + response letter to readers and editors |
Resources
resources/external_tools.md— archives, text and image sources (HathiTrust / museum open access / Artstor / EEBO), the theory and criticism reference shelf, Chicago-notes and image-prep toolingresources/official-source-map.md— official CI / University of Chicago Press URLs behind every fact, refreshed 2026-06-20
What This Repo Does Not Do
- It does not write a submittable essay for you
- It does not simulate any specific editor's or reader's taste
- It does not turn criticism into data — no datasets, no statistics, no replication
- It does not freeze volatile metadata forever; reopen the official source map before advising on editors, caps, OA fees, CMOS wording, permissions, or submission routing
- It does not decide whether your idea is a genuine intervention — that is the critic's call
Related
- awesome-journal-skills — Index of journal-specific skill packs
- Critical Inquiry (journal site) — submissions, editors, info
- Critical Inquiry (University of Chicago Press) — publisher home, about, current issue
License
MIT