/paper-writing

name: paper-writing
description: "Guides writing academic papers section by section using an 11-step workflow with LaTeX templates and counterintuitive writing tactics. Covers Abstract, Introduction, Method, Experiments, Related Work, Conclusion, and Supplementary. Use when: user asks to write or draft a paper section, needs LaTeX templates, wants to improve academic writing quality, optimize novelty framing, or mentions 'write introduction', 'draft method', 'paper writing'. Do NOT use for pre-submission review (use paper-review), experiment execution (use experiment-pipeline), or paper planning/story design (use paper-planning)."
allowed-tools: "write_file edit_file read_file think_tool"
metadata:
  author: EvoScientist
  version: '1.0.0'
  tags: [core, research, writing, academic-writing, latex]

Paper Writing

A systematic 11-step workflow for writing academic papers, with section-specific templates and battle-tested writing principles.

When to Use This Skill

• User asks to write or draft a paper or paper section
• User needs LaTeX templates for Abstract, Introduction, Method, Experiments, etc.
• User wants to improve academic writing quality
• User mentions "paper writing", "write introduction", "draft method section", etc.

Artifact Sources

If you used upstream EvoSkills, pull these artifacts before writing:

| Source Skill | Artifact | Used In | |-------------|----------|---------| | `paper-planning` | Story summary (task → challenge → insight → contribution → advantage) | Steps 1-2 (Introduction writing plan) | | `paper-planning` | Module Motivation Mapping table | Step 3 (Method subsections) | | `paper-planning` | Experiment plan (comparisons + ablations + demos) | Step 5 (Experiments section) | | `paper-planning` | Pipeline figure sketch | Steps 1, 6 (Method overview figure) | | `paper-planning` | Claim-to-experiment mapping | Steps 2, 5 (Abstract, Introduction, Experiments) | | `paper-planning` | Fallback narrative (if planned) | Steps 7-8 (Introduction / Conclusion pivot) | | `experiment-pipeline` | Stage 1-4 results, ablation tables, trajectory logs | Step 5 (write experiments) | | `experiment-craft` | Failure analysis, implementation tricks | Step 3 (Method section), Step 9 (limitations) |

The 11-Step Writing Process

Follow these steps in order. Each step builds on the previous one.

1. **Draw a pipeline figure sketch** — Sketch the method's pipeline figure to clarify the overall approach. The figure highlights novelty, not just explanation. 2. **Design the story and plan experiments** — Outline the paper's story (core contribution, module motivations). List comparison experiments and ablation studies. Draft an Introduction writing plan. 3. **Write Method** — Organize the Method writing plan, then draft Method. Run experiments in parallel. 4. **Revise Introduction and Method** — Iterate on both sections while experiments continue. 5. **Write Experiments** — Once experiments are mostly done, organize the Experiments writing plan, then draft. 6. **Polish figures** — Finalize the pipeline figure. Create the teaser figure. 7. **Write Related Work** — List related papers, group into topics, write paragraphs. 8. **Review the paper** — Self-review Introduction, Method, and Experiments. Use the `paper-review` skill. 9. **Write Abstract** — Organize the Abstract writing plan, then draft. 10. **Choose the title** — List important keywords, then compose an informative title. 11. **Iterate** — Repeatedly review and revise the entire paper.

Counterintuitive Writing Rules

Apply these rules when aiming for higher acceptance probability:

1. **Underclaim in prose, overdeliver in evidence**: Reduce adjective intensity in Abstract/Introduction; let tables and figures carry the strength. 2. **State one meaningful limitation early**: A controlled limitation statement increases credibility and lowers reviewer suspicion. 3. **Lead with mechanism, not only metric**: Explain why the method works before listing numbers; reviewers trust causal logic more than isolated gains. 4. **Prefer one decisive figure over many average figures**: Build one "cannot-ignore" figure that validates the central claim under hard conditions. 5. **Remove weak but flashy claims**: Any claim without direct evidence should be deleted, even if it sounds impressive. 6. **Declare scope boundaries explicitly**: One sentence in Introduction and Conclusion stating what your method targets reduces reviewer fear of hidden assumptions. 7. **Show one failure case**: Include one representative failure with diagnosis — it signals competence, not weakness.

See [references/counterintuitive-writing.md](references/counterintuitive-writing.md) for all 7 tactics with before/after examples.

Section Quick Reference

Abstract

Answer these questions before drafting: 1. What technical problem do we solve, and why is there no well-established solution? 2. What is our technical contribution? 3. Why does our method fundamentally work? 4. What is our technical advantage / new insight?

Three template versions: challenge-first, insight-bridge, multi-contribution. See [references/abstract-templates.md](references/abstract-templates.md)

Introduction

**Thinking process** (reverse then forward):

• Reverse: (1) What is the technical problem? (2) What are our contributions? (3) Benefits and new insights? (4) How to lead into the challenge?
• Forward: (1) Task → (2) Previous methods → challenge → (3) Our contributions → (4) Technical advantages and insights

Four ways to introduce the task, three ways to present challenges, four ways to describe the pipeline. See [references/introduction-templates.md](references/introduction-templates.md)

**Anti-pattern**: Never write "here is a naive solution, then our improvement" — this makes the work appear incremental.

Method

Every pipeline module needs three elements: 1. **Module design** — Data structure, network design, forward process (given X input, step 1..., ste