Research Paper Writer

Overview

This skill guides the creation of formal academic research papers that meet publication standards for IEEE and ACM conferences/journals. It ensures proper structure, formatting, academic writing style, and comprehensive coverage of research topics.

Workflow

1. Understanding the Research Topic

When asked to write a research paper:

1. Clarify the topic and scope with the user:

   • What is the main research question or contribution?
   • What is the target audience (conference, journal, general academic)?
   • What is the desired length (page count or word count)?
   • Are there specific sections required?
   • What formatting standard to use (IEEE or ACM)?

2. Gather context if needed:

   • Review any provided research materials, data, or references
   • Understand the domain and technical background
   • Identify key related work or existing research to reference

2. Paper Structure

Follow this standard academic paper structure:

1. Title and Abstract
   - Concise title reflecting the main contribution
   - Abstract: 150-250 words summarizing purpose, methods, results, conclusions

2. Introduction
   - Motivation and problem statement
   - Research gap and significance
   - Main contributions (typically 3-5 bullet points)
   - Paper organization paragraph

3. Related Work / Background
   - Literature review of relevant research
   - Comparison with existing approaches
   - Positioning of current work

4. Methodology / Approach / System Design
   - Detailed description of proposed method/system
   - Architecture diagrams if applicable
   - Algorithms or procedures
   - Design decisions and rationale

5. Implementation (if applicable)
   - Technical details
   - Tools and technologies used
   - Challenges and solutions

6. Evaluation / Experiments / Results
   - Experimental setup
   - Datasets or test scenarios
   - Performance metrics
   - Results presentation (tables, graphs)
   - Analysis and interpretation

7. Discussion
   - Implications of results
   - Limitations and threats to validity
   - Lessons learned

8. Conclusion and Future Work
   - Summary of contributions
   - Impact and significance
   - Future research directions

9. References
   - Comprehensive bibliography in proper citation format

3. Academic Writing Style

Apply these writing conventions from scholarly research:

Tone and Voice: - Formal, objective, and precise language - Third-person perspective (avoid "I" or "we" unless describing specific contributions) - Present tense for established facts, past tense for specific studies - Clear, direct statements without unnecessary complexity

Technical Precision: - Define all acronyms on first use: "Context-Aware Systems (C-AS)" - Use domain-specific terminology correctly and consistently - Quantify claims with specific metrics or evidence - Avoid vague terms like "very", "many", "significant" without data

Argumentation: - State claims clearly, then support with evidence - Use logical progression: motivation → problem → solution → validation - Compare and contrast with related work explicitly - Address limitations and counterarguments

Section-Specific Guidelines:

Abstract: - First sentence: broad context and motivation - Second/third: specific problem and gap - Middle: approach and methodology - End: key results and contributions - Self-contained (readable without the full paper)

Introduction: - Start with real-world motivation or compelling problem - Build from general to specific (inverted pyramid) - End with clear contribution list and paper roadmap - Use examples to illustrate the problem

Related Work: - Group related work by theme or approach - Compare explicitly: "Unlike [X] which focuses on Y, our approach..." - Identify gaps: "However, these approaches do not address..." - Position your work clearly

Results: - Present data clearly in tables/figures - Describe trends and patterns objectively - Compare with baselines quantitatively - Acknowledge unexpected or negative results

4. Formatting Guidelines

IEEE Format (default): - Page size: A4 (210mm × 297mm) - Margins: Top 19mm, Bottom 43mm, Left/Right 14.32mm - Two-column layout with 4.22mm column separation - Font: Times New Roman throughout - Title: 24pt bold - Author names: 11pt - Section headings: 10pt bold, numbered (1., 1.1, 1.1.1) - Body text: 10pt - Figure/Table captions: 8pt - Line spacing: Single - Paragraph: No indentation, 3pt spacing between paragraphs - Figures: Centered, with captions below - Tables: Centered, with captions above

ACM Format (alternative): - Standard ACM conference proceedings format - Single-column abstract, two-column body - Include CCS Concepts and Keywords sections after abstract - Use ACM reference format for citations

5. Citations and References

In-text citations: - Use numbered citations: "Recent work [1, 2] has shown..." - Multiple citations in chronological order: [3, 7, 12] - Reference specific sections: "As demonstrated in [5, Section 3]..."

Reference formatting (IEEE style): [1] A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, "Title of paper," in Proc. Conference Name, Year, pp. 123-456. [2] D. Author, "Title of journal article," Journal Name, vol. X, no. Y, pp. 123-456, Month Year. [3] E. Author, Book Title, Edition. City: Publisher, Year.

Reference list requirements: - Alphabetically ordered by first author's last name (or numbered by citation order) - Include DOI or URL when available - Minimum 15-20 references for a full paper - Mix of recent (last 5 years) and foundational works

6. Content Generation Process

Step-by-step approach:

1. Create outline

   • Develop detailed section-by-section outline
   • Define key points for each section
   • Identify where figures/tables are needed

2. Draft sections iteratively

   • Start with methodology (core contribution)
   • Then introduction (now that contribution is clear)
   • Related work (to position the contribution)
   • Results and evaluation
   • Discussion and conclusion
   • Abstract last (summary of complete paper)

3. Add citations

   • Reference related work throughout
   • Support claims with evidence from literature
   • Create comprehensive reference list

4. Review and refine

   • Check logical flow between sections
   • Ensure consistency in terminology
   • Verify all figures/tables are referenced in text
   • Confirm abstract matches content
   • Validate citation completeness

Examples

Example 1: User asks for a survey paper ``` User: "Write a research paper surveying recent advances in context-aware systems"

Response: 1. Clarify scope: "I'll create a survey paper on context-aware systems. A few questions: - Should I focus on specific aspects (e.g., requirements engineering, implementation techniques)? - What time period for 'recent' (last 5 years, 10 years)? - Target length: 10-15 pages, or 20-30 pages comprehensive survey? - IEEE or ACM format?"

1. After clarification, create outline showing:

   • Taxonomy of context-aware systems
   • Survey methodology
   • Classification scheme
   • Section-by-section coverage of different aspects
   • Trends and future directions

2. Draft paper following survey structure with extensive related work coverage ```

Example 2: User asks for an experimental paper ``` User: "Write a paper about my new algorithm for detecting hallucinations in vision-language models"

Response: 1. Gather details about: - Algorithm approach and novelty - Experimental setup and datasets used - Results and metrics - Comparison baselines

1. Structure as experimental paper:

   • Introduction: motivation for hallucination detection
   • Related work: existing detection methods
   • Proposed method: detailed algorithm description
   • Experiments: datasets, metrics, setup
   • Results: quantitative comparison with baselines
   • Analysis: ablation studies, error analysis
   • Conclusion: contributions and future work

2. Emphasize reproducibility and empirical validation ```

Resources

references/

• writing_style_guide.md: Detailed academic writing conventions extracted from example papers
• ieee_formatting_specs.md: Complete IEEE formatting specifications
• acm_formatting_specs.md: Complete ACM formatting specifications

assets/

• full_paper_template.pdf: IEEE paper template with formatting examples
• interim-layout.pdf: ACM paper template
• Reference these templates when discussing formatting requirements with users

Important Notes

• Always ask for clarification on topic scope before starting
• Quality over speed: Take time to structure properly and write clearly
• Cite appropriately: Academic integrity requires proper attribution
• Be honest about limitations: Acknowledge gaps or constraints in the research
• Maintain consistency: Terminology, notation, and style throughout
• User provides the research content: This skill structures and writes; the user provides the technical contributions and findings