Alexyskoutnev Introduction + Related Work (master method)
Follow intro-related-guide.md in this folder, the complete plain-English method.
This file is the operating summary.
Process
- Contributions first. Before any intro prose, write the contribution bullets: each one a refutable claim with a strong bold opening line, not a parts list. The intro is then built backwards from them, every paragraph earns a bullet.
- Draft the funnel: seven reader questions, in order: why care (hook) / what world (shared ground) / what is missing and what it costs (the gap, named as concrete costs) / what you built (the artifact, named once) / how it works (ONE mechanism, concept only, details go in Method) / what you found (one headline number, stated early, never saved for a surprise) / how it differs (one clause; the full comparison lives in Related Work).
- Weave related work by theme, far to near. Group by idea, not by paper; order groups from distant background to the closest rival, closest LAST. For engaged rivals make the system the sentence subject; for background use citation clusters. Every rival gets credit-then-contrast: name what they introduced (warmly), state what you keep, then the one difference and its consequence. Never write an annotated bibliography (a list of papers with no relation to your work).
- Run the checklists in the guide (intro + related work), then read both cold, in one pass, as a stranger.
Hard rules
- The intro and the abstract must tell the same story; if the abstract's thesis changed, the intro's prose funnel changes with it, not only the bullets.
- Attach every number to the exact claim it measures; numbers travel in pairs.
- One named axis for your key idea, coined once and reused verbatim.
- Your closest rival is your likeliest reviewer: credit their paper warmly and place its group last, immediately before your differentiation.
- Mechanism details (constants, per-step mechanics) belong in Method; the intro keeps only the concept.
Reference file
intro-related-guide.md: full guide: term translations, the funnel, three intro recipes with fill-in templates, the related-work recipe with worked credit-then-contrast examples, checklists, tense table, assembly line.