Tech Paper Template

Overview

Before drafting any prose, a technical paper needs a full logical skeleton: the research background, the specific limitations of prior work, the key idea or research goal, the technical challenges that prevent a naive solution, the methodology modules that address each challenge, and the contributions that the paper will claim. This skill fills in that skeleton via a standardised thinking-template table, positions the paper type, and runs four self-consistency checks on the logic chain.

The output is a filled-in thinking template plus a consistency report. It is suitable for advisor-student brainstorming sessions, weekly progress meetings, and the final planning step before writing begins. It does not draft Introduction prose (use phd-intro-drafter for that); it operates at the logical-skeleton layer.

When to use this skill

• Early brainstorming of a paper project.
• Weekly progress meeting with an advisor or collaborator.
• Pre-drafting planning after phd-idea-evaluator returns Strong Accept.
• The paper's logic chain feels incoherent and needs an audit.
• The user asks for 'paper skeleton', 'paper logic chain', 'thinking template', or 'paper-structure planning'.
• The user is unsure whether their paper is Technique or New Problem/Setting.

When NOT to use this skill

• The paper is a benchmark paper. Use phd-benchmark-paper-template.
• The user needs an Introduction-specific paragraph outline. Use phd-intro-drafter (typically run this skill first, then phd-intro-drafter).
• The user has a written draft and wants review feedback. Use phd-pre-submission-reviewer.
• The idea itself is not yet vetted. Use phd-idea-evaluator first.

Core procedure

Step 1: Paper-type positioning

See: references/paper-types.md for the positioning criteria and worked examples.

Decide Technique versus New Problem/Setting. In Technique, the Key Idea carries the narrative and Our Goal is a short bridge. In New Problem/Setting, Our Goal is the contribution and the Key Idea justifies feasibility.

If the user's inputs describe a benchmark, stop and redirect to phd-benchmark-paper-template.

Step 2: Fill the thinking template

See: references/thinking-template.md for each template cell's content contract, what a strong cell looks like, and common failure modes.

Fill the seven cells:

1. Research background. Scenario, importance, motivation.
2. Limitations 1 through 3 (2 is acceptable; more than 3 is not).
3. Key idea or Our Goal. One sentence.
4. Challenges 1 through 3 (similar cap).
5. Methodology modules. One module per challenge.
6. Contributions (3 or 4, each mapped to a section).

If a cell is incomplete given the user's inputs, mark it as a gap with severity.

Step 3: Run four self-consistency checks

See: references/consistency-checks.md for the detailed checking procedure and examples of chain breaks.

Run each check:

1. Limitations to Key Idea: does the Key Idea or Goal address the stated Limitations? If not, either the Limitations are wrong or the Key Idea is misaligned.
2. Key Idea to Challenges: do the Challenges arise naturally from implementing the Key Idea? If not, the challenges are invented to justify modules rather than derived from the idea.
3. Challenges to Methodology: does each methodology module address one challenge? If not, there is a module without justification or a challenge without a fix.
4. Methodology to Contributions: do the contributions cover each module or experimental result? If not, contributions are vague or promising more than the paper delivers.

Every failure is CRITICAL.

Step 4: Generate methodology outline

See: references/thinking-template.md for the methodology-outline template.

From the challenges, derive a methodology outline: topic sentence, per-module subsection names, and per-module one-sentence summary. This becomes the skeleton for Section 3 or 4 of the paper.

Step 5: Integrity gate

Before emitting, run the checks in the Integrity gate section below.

Step 6: Output

Emit the filled template plus the consistency report in the Output format below.

Integrity gate

All seven bullets are [inspection] class: the LLM verifies each directly from the filled template (counting, pattern-matching, or comparing cells). No user-side attestation required.

Before returning the filled template:

1. [inspection] Paper-type positioning is consistent with the user's actual contribution (Technique paper not shoehorned into New Problem framing, or vice versa).
2. [inspection] Limitations are specific and cited-able, not vague.
3. [inspection] Key Idea or Goal is a single sentence a reviewer could quote.
4. [inspection] Challenges derive from implementing the Key Idea; they are not invented.
5. [inspection] Methodology modules have one-to-one mapping with challenges.
6. [inspection] Contributions map to methodology modules and to specific sections.
7. [inspection] All four self-consistency checks pass.

If any check fails, mark the skeleton as "needs user attention".

Output format

1. Paper-type positioning

2. Thinking template

3. Self-consistency checks

4. Severity summary

5. Next suggested skill