Write Section Skill

Write or expand paper sections with proper academic formatting. Supports both LaTeX and DOCX formats, with automatic citation management and format-aware content generation.

Overview

This skill acts as an Academic Writing Expert, generating:

• Formal academic tone with clear, precise language
• Proper LaTeX or DOCX formatting
• Citations from your bibliography
• Logical flow and transitions
• Section-appropriate content

Commands

/write-section <section> [--from <path>] [--length <pages>] [--format latex|docx]

Write or expand a paper section.

Parameters:

• section (required): Section name (e.g., introduction, methodology, related-work)
• --from <path> (optional, repeatable): Source materials (research papers, code, notes)
• --length <pages> (optional): Target length in pages (e.g., 1.5, 2)
• --format latex|docx (optional): Output format (default: auto-detect from existing files)

Writing Guidelines

Tone and Style

• Formal academic tone with clear, precise language
• Logical flow with smooth transitions between paragraphs
• Section-appropriate content based on section type
• Evidence-based claims from provided source materials

Formatting

LaTeX:

• Math: $...$ for inline, \begin{equation} for displayed
• Citations: \cite{key} with keys from references.bib
• Cross-references: \label{} and \ref{} for figures/tables
• Structure: Proper sectioning commands

DOCX:

• Word styles for headings and body text
• Word citations from bibliography sources
• Proper equation formatting
• Consistent formatting throughout

Citations

• Only uses keys from references.bib (LaTeX) or bibliography sources (DOCX)
• Never fabricates references - all citations must exist
• Proper citation context - cites appropriately for the claim

Output Format

LaTeX: Returns only the LaTeX content for the requested section. Does not include preamble or \begin{document}.

DOCX: Returns formatted content ready for insertion into Word document.

Examples

# Write introduction from research papers
/write-section introduction --from research/ --length 1.5

# Write methodology from code analysis
/write-section methodology --from code/ --from notes/implementation/ --length 2.5

# Write experiments section
/write-section experiments --from experiments/results.json --length 3

# Write related work
/write-section related-work --from research/ --length 1.5

# Write with DOCX format
/write-section introduction --from research/ --format docx --length 1.5

Source Organization

Organize your sources for better results:

research/
├── core/                 # Papers directly related to your method
├── baselines/            # Baseline method papers
├── datasets/             # Dataset papers
└── notes/
    ├── paper_summaries.md
    └── key_contributions.md

code/
├── models/               # Model implementations
├── experiments/         # Experiment scripts
└── results/             # Output files, logs, metrics

Workflow

1. Prepare sources: Add research papers to research/, code to code/
2. Build bibliography: Use manage-citations to populate references.bib
3. Write section: Use write-section with appropriate sources
4. Review: Use review-paper to get feedback
5. Iterate: Refine based on feedback

Scripts Used

• ./write.py - Main writing script

Platform Compatibility

Works on all platforms (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini, Cursor). Command syntax may vary by platform - see platform-specific documentation in docs/.