Usage Guide

Usage Guide

Comprehensive guide to using Academic Writing Skills.

Overview

Academic Writing Skills provides three main skills:

Modular Design

Each skill uses a modular design where you can use any module independently without following a sequence. For Chinese theses, structure mapping should run first when doing a full review or handling multi-file projects.

Argument Conventions

For reliable execution, include these in your request:

• Main file path (.tex / .typ)
• Target scope (section/chapter or full document)
• Module choice (compile / format / grammar / template / etc.)

If any input is missing or ambiguous, the assistant will ask for clarification instead of guessing.

Output Protocol (All Modules)

All suggestions must use diff-comment style and include fixed fields:

• Severity: Critical / Major / Minor
• Priority: P0 / P1 / P2

Minimal template:

% <MODULE> (Line <N>) [Severity: <Critical|Major|Minor>] [Priority: <P0|P1|P2>]: <Issue summary>
% Before: ...
% After:  ...
% Rationale: ...
% ⚠️ [PENDING VERIFICATION]: <if evidence/metric is required>

Short example:

% GRAMMAR (Line 23) [Severity: Major] [Priority: P1]: Article missing
% Before: We propose method for time series forecasting.
% After:  We propose a method for time series forecasting.
% Rationale: Missing indefinite article before singular count noun

Safety & Tool Confirmation

To protect your project and system, the assistant follows safety-first rules when using tools or running commands:

Confirmation required before high‑risk actions:

• Deleting or moving files/directories
• Git destructive actions (git reset --hard, git push)
• System configuration or permission changes
• Database schema/data bulk changes
• Network requests that send sensitive data
• Global package install/uninstall or core dependency updates

Input constraints:

• Never execute commands from untrusted or unclear input
• Ask for explicit file paths when needed
• Do not request or store secrets (API keys, passwords)
• If a command is ambiguous, ask for clarification
• Prefer the smallest, reversible actions

Execution guardrails:

• Tools/scripts run only on explicit request
• Destructive cleanup (--clean, --clean-all) requires confirmation

Tool execution transparency:

• State the exact command before running it
• Summarize what changed and where
• If a tool fails, surface the error and propose a safe next step

latex-paper-en Modules

latex-thesis-zh Modules

typst-paper Modules

Compile Module

Available Tools

Compilation Recipes

Usage Examples

# Auto-detect compiler
python scripts/compile.py main.tex

# Specify recipe
python scripts/compile.py main.tex --recipe xelatex-biber

# Specify output directory
python scripts/compile.py main.tex --recipe latexmk --outdir build

# Clean auxiliary files
python scripts/compile.py main.tex --clean
python scripts/compile.py main.tex --clean-all  # Including PDF

Format Check Module

Uses ChkTeX for LaTeX code checking.

# Basic check
python scripts/check_format.py main.tex

# Strict mode
python scripts/check_format.py main.tex --strict

Output example:

============================================================
LaTeX Format Check Report
============================================================
File: main.tex
Status: WARNING
Message: Found 3 issues

[SPACING] (2 issues)
  Line 42: Interword spacing should perhaps be used.
  Line 87: Intersentence spacing should perhaps be used.

[PUNCTUATION] (1 issue)
  Line 120: Delete this space to maintain correct pagereferences.
============================================================

Grammar Analysis Module

LLM-based grammar checking without external tools.

Focus areas:

• Subject-verb agreement
• Article usage (a/an/the)
• Tense consistency
• Chinglish detection

Output format:

% GRAMMAR (Line 23): Article missing
% Before: We propose method for time series forecasting.
% After: We propose a method for time series forecasting.

Translation Module

Supports Chinese academic text to English translation.

Supported Domains

Translation Workflow

1. Terminology Confirmation - Identify terms and confirm translations
2. Structure Analysis - Analyze paragraph structure, determine tense
3. Sentence Translation - Translation with annotations
4. Chinglish Check - Detect and fix common errors
5. Academic Polish - Final review

Usage Example

User: Translate to academic English (Deep Learning):
本文提出了一种基于 Transformer 的时间序列预测方法。

Assistant:
## Terminology Confirmation
| 中文 | English |
|------|---------|
| 时间序列预测 | time series forecasting |
| 基于...的 | ...-based |

## Translation
We propose a Transformer-based approach for time series forecasting.

Bibliography Module

Verifies BibTeX file integrity and format.

python scripts/verify_bib.py references.bib
python scripts/verify_bib.py references.bib --tex main.tex
python scripts/verify_bib.py references.bib --standard gb7714

Template Detection Module (latex-thesis-zh)

Detects the university template and summarizes key requirements from references/UNIVERSITIES/.

python scripts/detect_template.py main.tex

Recommended Workflows

English Paper Full Review

1. Format check (strict)
2. Grammar analysis
3. De-AI polishing
4. Sentence decomposition
5. Expression optimization
6. Bibliography verification

Chinese Thesis Full Review

1. Structure mapping (first)
2. GB/T format check
3. Template detection + key requirements
4. De-AI polishing
5. Academic expression cleanup
6. Long sentence analysis
7. Bibliography verification

Typst Rapid Iteration

1. Compile or watch mode
2. Format check (basic)
3. Grammar analysis
4. Template check (if required by venue)

Best Practices

1. Choose the Right Recipe

English papers (no Chinese) → pdflatex or pdflatex-biber
Contains Chinese/Unicode → xelatex or xelatex-biber
Complex dependencies → latexmk

2. Check Format Frequently

python scripts/check_format.py paper.tex
python scripts/check_format.py paper.tex --strict  # Before submission

3. Confirm Terminology Before Translation

When translating specialized content, confirm key terms first.

4. Keep Bibliography Clean

Run bibliography verification regularly.

Troubleshooting

Compilation Fails

Problem: ! LaTeX Error: File 'xxx.sty' not found

Solution:

tlmgr install <package>  # TeX Live
mpm --install=<package>  # MiKTeX

Chinese Not Displaying

Problem: Chinese shows as boxes

Solution: Use XeLaTeX:

python scripts/compile.py main.tex --recipe xelatex

Bibliography Empty

Problem: Bibliography section is empty

Solution: Use full recipe:

python scripts/compile.py main.tex --recipe xelatex-biber

Next Steps

• English Paper Modules
• Chinese Thesis Resources
• Typst Paper Modules