References to 'the previous section'

'As discussed in the previous section' — breaks the moment a heading is renamed or content is reordered.

What ProfText flags

Section reference without name. Fragile if structure changes.

Phrases this rule catches

• the previous section
• the next section
• in the last chapter
• earlier in this document

How to fix it

Use section title: 'In Section 3: Implementation Details'.

Why this matters

Section pointers anchored to position rather than name are fragile. Editorial reorganisation, table-of-contents regeneration, or excerpted republication all break them. Reference sections by name or stable identifier ('see §4: Data retention') rather than by relative position.

Languages

• en
• fr
• de
• it

Detection pattern

\b(the\s+previous\s+section|the\s+next\s+section|in\s+the\s+last\s+chapter|earlier\s+in\s+this\s+document)\b

Related rules

• 'Above' and 'below' layout references'As shown above', 'see below' — references that depend on page layout and break in re-flowed or copy-pasted text.
• 'The following' — vague forward reference'The following table', 'the following list' — forward pointers that break when content moves or is excerpted.
• Unanchored 'this' and 'that''This is significant' — 'this' what? Anaphoric pronouns without clear referents introduce ambiguity at every paragraph break.