Paper Plan

Outcome: a written plan the author can draft from, and, when a draft exists, a critique of the draft against that plan. Writing is not sequential; deciding what goes where, for whom, and why is the work. The agent does that work with the author and leaves the sentences to them unless asked otherwise.

Scope: long-horizon work only (an uncertain claim or direction, a quarter or longer or a multi-month improvement the user owns, no deadline inside the next few weeks). A short report or a deliverable due this month is not planned here; say so and stop.

Adapted from the writing sections of Carlini's essay. The episodes referred to below are in the credo-taste package, file episodes.md under its references; read one only when you cite it.

Build the plan

Ask in this order, one at a time, and write the plan as answers arrive.

1. The one idea, in one sentence. An "and" means two papers; settle which one before continuing. If two attempts do not produce one sentence, stop the plan and say the project needs the credo-taste gate first.
2. The reader. Default: the author six months ago. What did that person believe? What would they have needed to hear to think this idea was worth pursuing? If the paper argues against a community's belief, the reader is one member of that community, and the claim may need to arrive last (see episode E8 in the credo-taste references).
3. The best-case conclusion. What does the reader take away beyond the results? If it restates the abstract, the plan is not done.
4. The introduction as a story. Where does the reader stand in paragraph one? How far is the journey to the setting where the idea makes sense: one sentence, a paragraph, or two pages? Two pages is the ceiling.
5. The figure storyboard. Which figure shows the problem, which the method, which the results? Each must carry a one-sentence takeaway in its caption and be understood without the text.
6. Section order with reasons. For each section, one line: what it does for this reader and why it sits here. Background exists to widen who "the reader" is; after it, assume they know what it taught.
7. Abstract shape. Topic, problem, result or method, the one not yet covered, why it matters; or claim, evidence, impact for a broad topic or narrow audience. It will contain at least one specific number and no hedge the evidence does not require.