Paper Positioning Planner

• a project has enough idea/literature/evidence to ask what the paper should be
• results are mixed and the contribution type may need to change
• a draft feels unfocused or overclaims beyond evidence
• figure review or reviewer simulation suggests the paper story is wrong
• the user needs a primary claim, secondary claims, title/abstract direction, intro thesis, or related-work boundary
• the paper may be a method paper, theory-guided method, empirical analysis, benchmark, diagnostic paper, systems paper, or negative/limitation paper
• the user is deciding between target audiences or venues before polishing the text

conference-writing-adapter

• research-idea-validator

  when the whole project may need pursue/revise/park/kill

• literature-review-sprint

  when closest work or community framing is unclear

• algorithm-design-planner

  when the chosen position changes the method specification

• baseline-selection-audit

  when the position depends on whether comparisons are reviewer-proof

• figure-results-review

  when visual evidence changes claim scope

• paper-evidence-board

  when positioning decisions must update claim/evidence/risk/action links

• paper-reviewer-simulator

  after positioning to stress-test the selected story

• conference-writing-adapter

  after positioning to rewrite sections for the target venue

• research-project-memory

  when positioning decisions should persist across sessions

Skill Directory Layout

<installed-skill-dir>/
├── SKILL.md
└── references/
    ├── audience-venue-fit.md
    ├── contribution-claim-map.md
    ├── decision-rules.md
    ├── memory-writeback.md
    ├── narrative-architecture.md
    ├── positioning-taxonomy.md
    └── report-template.md

Progressive Loading

• Always read

  references/positioning-taxonomy.md

  ,

  references/contribution-claim-map.md

  , and

  references/decision-rules.md

  .
• Read

  references/audience-venue-fit.md

  when target venue, audience, or community framing matters.
• Read

  references/narrative-architecture.md

  when producing title, abstract, intro, related-work, or main-figure direction.
• Read

  references/report-template.md

  before writing the final positioning report.
• Read

  references/memory-writeback.md

  when the project has

  memory/

  , component

  .agent/

  folders, or the user asks for persistent memory.
• If the position depends on current venue expectations or recent accepted papers, verify with current sources, OpenReview, proceedings, or user-provided exemplars.

Core Principles

• Positioning is a decision, not a list of possible stories.
• The primary contribution must be supported by the strongest evidence, not by the user's favorite idea.
• A smaller true claim is stronger than a broad brittle claim.
• Secondary contributions should reinforce the primary story, not compete with it.
• Closest work defines the novelty boundary and the reviewer attack surface.
• The title, abstract, intro thesis, main figure, and result table should all sell the same core story.
• Claims to avoid are as important as claims to emphasize.
• A positioning decision should route concrete changes to writing, experiments, figures, or method design.

Step 1 - Recover Project State

• one-sentence project idea or current paper thesis
• target venue or audience, if known
• current paper draft, outline, abstract, title, figures, or result tables
• literature map and closest-work risks
• baseline audit or missing-comparison risks
• figure/results review outcomes
• reviewer simulation or real review concerns
• available evidence and unsupported claims
• project memory IDs such as

  CLM-###

  ,

  EVD-###

  ,

  RSK-###

  ,

  ACT-###

  ,

  FIG-###

  , or

  TAB-###

This paper sells [primary contribution] to [audience] by showing [evidence] against [closest work], while avoiding the claim that [unsupported overclaim].

revise-positioning

Step 2 - Choose Paper Archetype

references/positioning-taxonomy.md

• method paper
• theory-guided method
• empirical analysis
• benchmark or dataset
• systems or tooling
• application paper
• diagnostic or mechanistic study
• negative result or limitation paper
• position or perspective paper
• hybrid paper

Step 3 - Map Contributions to Evidence

references/contribution-claim-map.md

• primary contribution
• secondary contributions
• claims to keep
• claims to narrow
• claims to cut
• evidence required for each claim
• evidence currently available
• closest-work distinction
• reviewer risk if the claim stays

Step 4 - Decide Audience and Venue Fit

references/audience-venue-fit.md

• who should care first: method researchers, theorists, benchmark users, systems builders, application researchers, or empirical analysts
• which community's standards define novelty and evidence
• whether the target venue is compatible with the strongest story
• what the paper should not try to satisfy
• what related-work boundary is needed to prevent reviewer confusion

Step 5 - Select the Strategic Position

references/decision-rules.md

• lock-position

  : story is coherent; proceed to writing adaptation

• revise-positioning

  : core contribution remains, but title/abstract/claims/figures must shift

• narrow-claim

  : evidence supports a smaller paper than the current draft claims

• change-archetype

  : paper type should change, such as method to empirical analysis or diagnostic study

• need-evidence

  : positioning depends on missing experiment, baseline, figure, theorem, or literature check

• park-paper

  : current evidence does not support a viable paper story yet

lock-position

Step 6 - Build Narrative Architecture

references/narrative-architecture.md

• candidate title direction
• one-sentence thesis
• abstract skeleton
• intro paragraph roles
• main figure or main table role
• result-section ordering
• related-work boundary
• limitations to state proactively
• claims to avoid

conference-writing-adapter

Step 7 - Route Changes

• conference-writing-adapter

  : position is clear and text needs venue-specific rewriting

• paper-evidence-board

  : claims/evidence/figures/risks must be synchronized

• figure-results-review

  : main figure/table does not support the selected story

• baseline-selection-audit

  : selected story needs stronger comparison defense

• experiment-design-planner

  : missing evidence must be planned

• result-diagnosis

  : negative or mixed results threaten the position

• literature-review-sprint

  : closest-work boundary remains unclear

• algorithm-design-planner

  : method needs to change to fit the selected claim

Step 8 - Write the Positioning Report

references/report-template.md

docs/paper/positioning_plan_YYYY-MM-DD_<short-name>.md

• current story diagnosis
• selected paper archetype
• positioning decision
• primary and secondary contributions
• claim/evidence map
• closest-work and audience boundary
• narrative architecture
• claims to avoid
• routed actions and next skills
• memory update section

Step 9 - Write Back to Project Memory

references/memory-writeback.md

• memory/decision-log.md

  : selected paper position, archetype, target audience, and revisit triggers

• memory/claim-board.md

  : claims kept, narrowed, revised, cut, or blocked

• memory/evidence-board.md

  : evidence required by the selected story

• memory/risk-board.md

  : positioning, closest-work, overclaim, audience, and evidence risks

• memory/action-board.md

  : writing, figure, experiment, baseline, or literature actions

• paper/.agent/

  : title/abstract/main-figure/section positioning notes

• verified

  for evidence checked against results, draft text, or sources

• user-stated

  for user goals and constraints

• inferred

  for strategic judgments and reviewer-risk predictions

• unverified

  for positions depending on unchecked current literature or missing results

Final Sanity Check

• one primary story is selected
• paper archetype is explicit
• audience and closest-work boundary are clear
• every primary claim has evidence or a routed action
• unsupported claims are named and removed/narrowed
• title/abstract/main-figure direction match the same story
• next skill is unambiguous
• project memory is updated when present