sipengxie2024/helios-writing
Overview
This skill is a comprehensive toolkit for writing high-quality computer science research papers, covering conference papers, journal articles, and thesis chapters. It emphasizes narrative-driven structure, sentence-level clarity principles, CS-specific conventions, and section-by-section quality checklists. Use it to plan, draft, revise, and finalize manuscripts for competitive venues.
How this skill works
The skill guides you through a staged workflow: plan the narrative arc (Problem → Solution → Evidence → Implications), outline each section with explicit purposes and key points, and draft using concrete templates for abstracts, introductions, methods, experiments, discussion, and conclusions. It provides sentence-level editing rules (old-before-new, subject-verb proximity, stress position), CS conventions (notation, figures, citations, reproducibility), and checklists for pre-submission and revision. It also advises how to analyze reviewer feedback and prepare a clear response.
When to use it
- At project start to define the paper’s narrative and main contribution
- When outlining or drafting any section (Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion)
- During revision to improve sentence-level clarity and flow
- To ensure compliance with CS conventions (notation, figures, citations, reproducibility)
- When preparing responses to reviewer comments or planning additional experiments
Best practices
- State a single main contribution clearly in one sentence early in the paper
- Follow funnel structure in the Introduction: broad → narrow → specific → contribution → results
- Use concrete numbers and metrics in Abstract and Results; avoid vague claims
- Apply old-before-new and keep verbs close to subjects for readable sentences
- Include ablation studies and report statistical uncertainty for ML/AI experiments
- Ensure figures/tables are referenced, self-contained, and colorblind-friendly
Example use cases
- Drafting a 6–12 page conference paper with a strong contribution statement and main results table
- Revising paragraphs and sentences to follow Gopen & Swan principles for clarity
- Preparing a systems paper with architecture diagrams, scalability measurements, and reproducibility notes
- Organizing related work thematically and positioning your approach against prior categories
- Responding to reviewer comments by categorizing issues and planning prioritized revisions
FAQ
Use a compact 4-sentence pattern: Context → Gap → Contribution → Impact, and include concrete metrics when possible.
What is the most common sentence-level flaw?
Beginning with vague lead-ins or burying verbs; fix by starting with familiar info, placing the verb near the subject, and ending with the new, important idea.
