academic-paper-writer_skill

Overview

This skill drafts, structures, and polishes economics research papers with conventions expected by academic journals. It provides templates for introductions, results, and conclusions, plus guidance on framing, tense usage, and causal claims. Use it to produce clear, submission-ready sections or to reorganize an existing draft.

How this skill works

I first identify the paper type (empirical or theoretical), target journal/audience, stage of the manuscript, and which sections need help. For empirical work I follow an IMRAD-like flow (Introduction, Literature, Data & Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion) and generate text that leads with the main finding, explains identification, and guides readers through tables and robustness checks. I also apply economics-specific conventions: precise causal language, tense rules, citation guidance, and magnitude-focused interpretation.

When to use it

• Starting a new paper and drafting a structured introduction and roadmap
• Rewriting or restructuring an existing draft for clarity and journal norms
• Generating or polishing specific sections (literature review, data & methods, results, conclusion)
• Preparing a manuscript for submission or responding to reviewer requests
• Turning empirical outputs (tables/coefficients) into readable results text

Best practices

• Begin the introduction with the research question and the main result in the first paragraph
• State magnitudes and economic significance, not just statistical significance
• Be conservative with causal claims; explicitly state identification assumptions
• Lead the results section with numbers and interpret them in plain language
• Structure the literature review to position your contribution, not just list papers

Example use cases

• Generate a one-paragraph hook + three-paragraph introduction for an empirical paper
• Convert regression table outputs into a concise results section that references columns and robustness
• Rewrite a literature review to emphasize gaps and how the paper contributes
• Draft a conclusion that restates findings, lists limitations, and proposes future directions
• Produce a methods subsection that clearly describes identification strategy and data