Agent skill

Hlr Thesis And Contribution

by brycewang-stanford in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

A skill your agent uses when articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution, not a doctrinal survey.

MITAuto-check passedEducation

Install Hlr Thesis And Contribution

skills CLI
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill hlr-thesis-and-contribution -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills hlr-thesis-and-contribution --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/Harvard-Law-Review-Skills/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution .claude/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
hlr-thesis-and-contribution
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
531 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2,387
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution, not a doctrinal survey.

  • Works in 5 steps: The claim is normative or… → It is falsifiable / contestable. A… → It states the payoff. Who acts… → …
  • Articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution
  • SKILL.md covers When to trigger, Anatomy of an HLR thesis, The contribution paragraph… and Kinds of legal contribution…, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Hlr Thesis And Contribution is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution, not a doctrinal survey. Forges the thesis; it does not search for preemption (hlr-preemption-check) or build the argument's internal structure (hlr-argument-structure).

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Education, covering Essays and academic help. The repository describes itself as: Journal-specific Claude Code/Codex skill packs covering mainstream journals — AER, QJE, Nature, Cell, 管理世界, 经济研究 & 200+ more — your fast track to getting published. | 覆盖主流期刊的… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution
  • Not a doctrinal survey

Example prompts

  • “/hlr-thesis-and-contribution”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. The claim is normative or reconstructive, not merely descriptive. "Courts do X" is not a thesis;
  2. It is falsifiable / contestable. A serious reader could disagree. If no one could, it is a truism.
  3. It states the payoff. Who acts differently if you are right — courts, Congress, agencies,
  4. It is original against the literature. Not "first to notice X" but "prior work treats X as A; this
  5. It fits a generalist audience. The stake connects to structural commitments (separation of powers,

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 932eb23. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Hlr Thesis And Contribution loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 85 tokens; SKILL.md has 531 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~85
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills at commit 932eb23, republished under its MIT licence (© brycewang-stanford). 531 words, ~1,139 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
hlr-thesis-and-contribution
description
Use when articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution, not a doctrinal survey. Forges the thesis; it does not search for preemption (hlr-preemption-check) or build the argument's internal structure (hlr-argument-structure).

Thesis and Contribution (hlr-thesis-and-contribution)

In a student-edited generalist review, the single most decisive question is: what is the claim, and why does it matter? HLR editors screen for a thesis that is original, normative, and consequential. A piece that competently describes the state of the law without arguing for something will not clear the screen. This skill turns a topic into a sharp, defensible claim with a stated payoff.

When to trigger

  • You can describe an area of law but cannot state your claim in one sentence
  • A reader asks "so what?" after your introduction
  • Reviewers (or your own gut) say the piece is "descriptive" or "a survey"
  • You need to distinguish your contribution from the closest existing scholarship

Anatomy of an HLR thesis

  1. The claim is normative or reconstructive, not merely descriptive. "Courts do X" is not a thesis; "Courts should do Y instead of X, because Z" is. Even a descriptive reframing must change how readers understand the doctrine.
  2. It is falsifiable / contestable. A serious reader could disagree. If no one could, it is a truism.
  3. It states the payoff. Who acts differently if you are right — courts, Congress, agencies, litigants, scholars? Name the consequence.
  4. It is original against the literature. Not "first to notice X" but "prior work treats X as A; this piece shows X is better understood as B, with consequence C" (verify against hlr-preemption-check).
  5. It fits a generalist audience. The stake connects to structural commitments (separation of powers, federalism, rights, the rule of law) a non-specialist editor recognizes as important.

The contribution paragraph (front of the introduction)

A flagship article states its contribution early — typically by the bottom of the first page or two. Build it from four moves:

MoveSentence it produces
The problemThe live doctrinal/structural problem, stated concretely
The gapWhat existing law or scholarship gets wrong or leaves open
The claimYour thesis, in one declarative sentence
The payoffWhat changes — the prescription and who it binds
Show full SKILL.md (199 more words)Show less
  • Doctrinal: identify a doctrine's incoherence and propose a fix or reconstruction.
  • Normative/theoretical: argue for a value or framework that should govern the area.
  • Descriptive-but-reframing: show the law is not what everyone assumed (a new map that reorders debate).
  • Institutional: argue a different actor (court, agency, Congress) should decide, and why.

Checklist

  • The thesis is one declarative, contestable sentence
  • It is normative or reframing, not a description of current law
  • The payoff names who acts differently if the claim holds
  • The contribution paragraph appears in the first page or two
  • Originality is staked against the closest prior work (cross-check hlr-preemption-check)
  • A generalist editor can see the structural stake in one read

Anti-patterns

  • "This Article surveys/describes/catalogs…" with no argument (the survey trap)
  • Burying the thesis on page 20 after a long doctrinal warm-up
  • "First to address" claims that collapse under a real preemption search
  • A thesis so hedged ("courts might sometimes consider…") that nothing is at stake
  • A payoff aimed at only one specialty bar when HLR wants a generalist stake

Output format

【Thesis】one declarative, contestable sentence
【Type】doctrinal / normative / reframing / institutional
【Gap】what prior law or scholarship gets wrong or leaves open
【Payoff】who acts differently if you are right
【Generalist stake】the structural commitment it touches
【Next】hlr-preemption-check (confirm originality) → hlr-argument-structure

Supplementary resources

© brycewang-stanford, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in Harvard-Law-Review-Skills/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution of brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 932eb23

Compare with similar skills

Hlr Thesis And Contribution next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Hlr Thesis And Contribution compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Hlr Thesis And Contribution this skillbrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills1.2k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
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Humanities Thesisganzhi-black/humanities-thesis-skill637—~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Skill Thesis Writeryanlin-cheng/skill-thesis-writer209—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Thesis CreatorStars-OC/thesis-creator230—~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Hlr Thesis And Contribution

What does Hlr Thesis And Contribution do?

A skill your agent uses when articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution, not a doctrinal survey. Hlr Thesis And Contribution is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution, not a doctrinal survey.

When should I use Hlr Thesis And Contribution?

Hlr Thesis And Contribution fits situations like: articulating the central legal claim and normative payoff of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece so it reads as an original contribution; not a doctrinal survey.

How do I install Hlr Thesis And Contribution in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill hlr-thesis-and-contribution -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (Harvard-Law-Review-Skills/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .claude/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Hlr Thesis And Contribution in Codex?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill hlr-thesis-and-contribution -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (Harvard-Law-Review-Skills/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .agents/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Hlr Thesis And Contribution in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill hlr-thesis-and-contribution -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution, .gemini/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution, .github/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution and .opencode/skills/hlr-thesis-and-contribution in your project.

What does Hlr Thesis And Contribution need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Hlr Thesis And Contribution is instructions for the agent only.

Does Hlr Thesis And Contribution access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Hlr Thesis And Contribution safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Hlr Thesis And Contribution use?

Hlr Thesis And Contribution is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Hlr Thesis And Contribution use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Hlr Thesis And Contribution?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Hlr Thesis And Contribution: Academic Paper Strategist (AAASS554/codex-academic-paper-skills, 539 stars), Modeling Paper Rubric and Model Selector (yushui2022/MathModel-Skill, 454 stars), Humanities Thesis (ganzhi-black/humanities-thesis-skill, 637 stars) and Skill Thesis Writer (yanlin-cheng/skill-thesis-writer, 209 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Hlr Thesis And Contribution?

brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, which has 1,231 GitHub stars. The repository holds 2,387 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 27, 2026.

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.