Freeze citations, numbers, and formulas while rewriting flagged prose

Charles Li · HumanPen · freeze-citations-numbers-formulas

When an AI writing report marks continuous-prose spans, the productive move is to freeze citations, numbers, and formulas while you rewrite those spans. Leave reference lists, equation blocks, numeric results, and in-text citation strings untouched.

Distinct from flagged-passages-first (priority order) and citations-not-in-rewrite-bill (billing). Here the literacy point is what must stay stable across every edit.

Better order

1. Import the full AI writing report; confirm attempt identity; read the legend once.
2. List the highest-flagged continuous-prose spans.
3. Before editing, mark freeze zones: citations, numbers, formulas, captions, and page layout.
4. Rewrite only the flagged prose around those freezes—do not wash the whole document.
5. Re-export and re-import a fresh report before the next round.

Why this matters

Scrubbing a citation string or rounding a result to “sound more natural” changes evidence reviewers trust and can inflate similarity or authorship questions the AI writing report never raised.

What this is not

• Not a guarantee the next AI percentage will drop or clear.
• Not permission to wash the whole document or to chase “undetectable” output.
• Not a substitute for your course integrity process if one is opened.

Product: humanpen.net. Charles Li · HumanPen.