Related Work Positioning Writer

Write related work as a novelty-boundary argument, not as a citation list. This skill turns literature maps, citation coverage audits, positioning decisions, and paper claims into a related-work plan and, when requested, related-work prose.

Use this skill for:

• creating paper/.agent/related-work-plan.md
• grouping related work by claim-relevant roles
• deciding which work belongs in the introduction vs related work
• writing topic sentences, synthesis sentences, and boundary sentences
• mapping closest work to novelty risks and safe wording
• avoiding unsupported first, novel, unlike prior work, and orthogonal claims
• revising related work after citation coverage or literature review
• aligning related work with the writing contract and paper positioning

Do not use this skill to discover all missing citations from scratch. Use literature-review-sprint for field mapping and citation-coverage-audit for submission-time missing citation checks. Use citation-audit for BibTeX and citation correctness. Use paper-writing-memory-manager to record novelty-boundary dependencies and intro/abstract claim impact. Use paper-writing-assistant for general paper prose outside related work.

Skill Directory Layout

<installed-skill-dir>/
├── SKILL.md
├── references/
│   ├── boundary-patterns.md
│   └── paragraph-recipes.md
└── templates/
    └── related-work-plan.md

Progressive Loading

• Always read references/boundary-patterns.md, references/paragraph-recipes.md, and templates/related-work-plan.md.
• Read paper/.agent/writing-contract.md when present.
• Read paper/.agent/writing-memory/, paper/.agent/paper-evidence-board.md, root memory/claim-board.md, and root memory/risk-board.md when present.
• Read outputs from literature-review-sprint, citation-coverage-audit, paper-positioning-planner, and paper-writing-contract-planner when available.
• Use web search for recent or concurrent work if the user asks for current coverage or if novelty depends on recent papers.

Core Principles

• Related work should protect the novelty boundary, not inflate it.
• Group by reader question and contribution role, not by chronological list.
• Closest work must be acknowledged directly and fairly.
• Every paragraph needs a synthesis sentence and a boundary sentence.
• Do not cite papers only because they share keywords.
• Do not hide strong prior work in a generic group.
• Safe novelty wording is better than broad "first" claims.
• Related work should reinforce the paper's selected archetype and claims.

Step 1 - Gather Inputs

Find:

• paper root: paper/, current directory, or user-provided path
• current sections/related.tex, introduction, contribution bullets, and abstract
• paper/.agent/writing-contract.md
• paper/.agent/related-work-plan.md
• paper/.agent/paper-evidence-board.md
• literature review reports, citation coverage reports, BibTeX files, and citation keys
• closest-work or novelty risks from memory boards

If the literature map is thin and the user asks for a final related-work section, recommend literature-review-sprint or citation-coverage-audit first.

Step 2 - Choose Mode

Use:

• plan: create or update related-work-plan.md
• draft: write related-work prose from a plan
• revise: edit an existing related-work section for boundary clarity
• audit: report novelty-boundary and grouping issues

Default to plan when no related-work plan exists and revise when a related-work section exists.

Step 3 - Build Related-Work Buckets

Read references/boundary-patterns.md.

Classify cited and candidate work into buckets:

• closest direct work
• same problem, different method
• same method family, different problem
• benchmark/dataset/evaluation work
• theory or analysis foundations
• systems/tooling foundations
• application/domain prior work
• concurrent work
• surveys or taxonomies
• citation-only background

For each bucket, state:

• why this bucket matters
• which paper claim it qualifies
• what boundary sentence is needed
• whether it belongs in introduction, related work, experiments, or appendix

Step 4 - Define Paragraph Plan

Read references/paragraph-recipes.md.

For each related-work paragraph:

- Paragraph role:
- Papers included:
- Synthesis sentence:
- Boundary sentence:
- Claim protected:
- Citation keys needed:
- Forbidden wording:

Place the closest-work paragraph early unless venue norms strongly favor a different order.

Step 5 - Write or Update Plan

Use templates/related-work-plan.md.

Save to:

paper/.agent/related-work-plan.md

If the current directory is the paper repo, save to:

.agent/related-work-plan.md

The plan should be useful to paper-writing-assistant and paper-draft-consistency-editor. Record changed novelty boundaries and affected intro/title/abstract locations through paper-writing-memory-manager.

Step 6 - Draft or Revise Prose

When drafting:

• write synthesis, not one sentence per citation
• use citation groups only when they share the same role
• state what prior work establishes before saying what remains different
• use safe boundary language
• keep claims aligned with the writing contract

When editing LaTeX:

• preserve citation keys, labels, refs, macros, and comments
• edit the smallest relevant file
• do not add fake citation keys
• if a needed citation key is missing, insert a clear placeholder or report required BibTeX action

Step 7 - Report Risks and Follow-Ups

Report:

• missing closest-work coverage
• unsafe novelty language
• citation buckets needing more search
• related-work paragraphs that do not protect any claim
• claims that should move to intro, experiments, or limitations

Route:

• citation-coverage-audit: missing or recent citations
• citation-audit: BibTeX/key correctness
• paper-writing-contract-planner: novelty boundary changes the paper contract
• paper-draft-consistency-editor: related work conflicts with title/abstract/intro

Final Sanity Check

• closest work is acknowledged directly
• every paragraph has a synthesis and boundary role
• novelty language is safe and supported
• intro and related work share the same boundary
• no unsupported first, novel, unlike prior work, or orthogonal claim remains
• missing citation keys or BibTeX needs are listed