Responding to reviewers: point by point

One job: make the reader believe the claim is warranted. Every paragraph offers a reason or rules out an alternative.

Task: A long list of reviewer comments.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - all comments
   - my handling of each
   - where the change is
   - items I dispute
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- numbered point-by-point, restate then answer
- mark revised, partly, or not, with page numbers
- for the one I dispute, give evidence and an alternative
- open with a summary paragraph

[Process]
1. Conclusion first, then support
2. One point per paragraph, stated in its first sentence
3. Address alternative explanations and limits
4. Cut sentences that do not advance the argument
5. Check every number has a source

[Output]
Claim, reason, evidence, alternative, limitation.

[Do not]
- No 'obviously' or 'as we all know'
- Never state a fact without a citation
- Do not repeat results in the discussion
- Do not inflate practical implications