Use when deciding whether a sociology project fits the American Sociological Review (ASR) and whether to write a full Article or a Comment/Reply. ASR is sociology's general flagship, so the test is broad significance and theoretical payoff across subfields, not novelty within one. Frames the question; it does not collect data.
SkillScore86Maintained
Automatic
◆Research pack
Last verified 8/15/2026
What it changes
Passed 19 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 8 of 22 without it.
Without skill36%
With skill86%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
Includes 【Type】Article.
Includes 【Next】asr-literature-positioning.
Includes the bracketed header 【Fit verdict】.
and 9 more in the full report
12 fixed7 passed either way2 still failing1 broke
Pass-rate lift
+50 pp
Tokens
+8%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-43%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/15/2026v119 of 22 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 12 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 12
Prompt
I got reviewer feedback saying my ethnographic study of gig app delivery drivers in two cities is 'too narrow' for the American Sociological Review. I want to reframe the project to highlight general mechanisms of workplace control and worker autonomy. Could you screen this project for ASR fit? Please structure your analysis by providing: 1) the single-sentence core question, 2) broad disciplinary significance showing why non-subfield sociologists care, 3) the portable theoretical payoff, 4) the methodological tradition, 5) the submission type, 6) a fit verdict explaining whether it works or needs reframing, and 7) the next step in literature positioning.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
Output uses the exact bracketed header 【Question】.
Missed
Passed
Output identifies the method as ethnographic.
Passed
Passed
Output includes 【Next】asr-literature-positioning.
Missed
Passed
case-01 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/15/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md108 linessingle file
Topic Selection & Fit (asr-topic-selection)
ASR is the discipline's general journal. The bar is not "new to my subfield" — it is
"advances how sociology understands something important." Use this skill to pressure-test fit
before investing.
When to trigger
Choosing among possible projects or framings for ASR
A reader said the paper feels "too narrow," "merely descriptive," or "subfield-only"
Deciding between a full Article and a Comment/Reply
The ASR fit test
A strong ASR paper usually clears all four:
Broad significance. A sociologist in another subfield should see why it matters — for
inequality, institutions, culture, social structure, mechanisms of social life. State the stakes.
A theoretical payoff that travels. It changes how the field explains something, not just what
we know about one case. A finding tied only to its setting is a fit risk (see asr-theory-building).
Credible on its own methodological terms. Quantitative, demographic, comparative-historical,
ethnographic, network, or computational — each is welcome, each must be rigorous.
Answerable within scope. Sharp enough to convince within ~15,000 words (an Article includes
references and footnotes in that count).
Subfield framing (write past your home subfield)
Home subfield
Reach the discipline by…
Stratification/mobility
connect to general mechanisms of inequality and opportunity
Demography
draw out the social process, not just the rate or trend
Comparative-historical
extract the portable causal logic, not only the case narrative
Ethnography
theorize the mechanism the case reveals; say what it is a case of
Networks / computational
tie structure or method back to a substantive sociological question
Article vs. Comment/Reply
Article — full study, broad claim, ≤ 15,000 words (incl. references + footnotes).
Comment/Reply — a focused, rigorous critique of, or reply to, a published ASR piece, ≤ 3,000
words. Engage the original on its own terms; do not smuggle a new study into a Comment.
Use when judging whether a sociology literature is an Annual Review of Sociology (ARSoc)-scale review topic — mature, broadly important, and genuinely in need of an authoritative cross-subfield synthesis — and framing the review's animating question. Decides fit; it does not gather the literature (arsoc-literature-synthesis) or pitch the Committee (arsoc-proposal-and-commissioning).