Draft

Draft

When to Use

• Chapter outline exists and it is time to write prose
• User says "write the draft", "draft section X", "continue drafting chapter N"
• Existing draft needs expansion or new sections filled in
• After outline is complete and references are ingested

Procedure

Step 0: STOP AND ASK

Before generating any output, you MUST confirm the following. If the answers are already clear from the user's triggering message, verify with a single confirmation question. If any are unclear, ASK BEFORE PROCEEDING. Do not embed these as "clarifying questions" in the output document — ask them conversationally first.

Mandatory confirmations:

• Target scope: single section or full chapter?
• If single section: which section specifically?
• Has the user made manual edits to draft.md since last run? (If yes, read them first to preserve)

Only proceed to the next steps once these are confirmed.

1. Identify the chapter

Ask (or infer from context): which chapter? (writings/<ch>/)

Ask: work on a single section or the full chapter? If a single section, ask which one.

2. Read all inputs

Read in this order:

1. writings/<ch>/outline.md — argument chain, section structure, evidence map
2. writings/<ch>/resources.md — references relevant to this chapter (by citekey)
3. meta/style/style-guide.md — writing style extracted from the user's sample paragraphs/chapters
4. For each citekey in resources.md: references/literature/<citekey>/summary.md
5. For each results key referenced in outline or resources: references/results/<key>/summary.md
6. writings/<ch>/draft.md — existing draft (if it exists — read it before writing anything)

3. Check for an existing draft

If writings/<ch>/draft.md exists:

• Read the full file before making any changes
• Identify sections already written by a human (contains non-placeholder prose)
• Never overwrite human edits without asking
• If a section appears to have substantive human content, ask: "Section X already has content. Do you want me to revise it, expand it, or leave it unchanged?"
• Only fill in sections that are empty, contain only [TODO], or were explicitly flagged for revision

4. Draft the requested content

For each section in scope:

• Write prose following the argument structure in outline.md
• Follow meta/style/style-guide.md strictly — match tone, sentence length, hedging style, and citation format from the user's own samples
• Use references from resources.md; insert inline citations by citekey using square brackets: [bail2018]
• Write in-text citations as [citekey] (square brackets, not parentheses). Example: 'Exposure to opposing views increases polarization [bail2018].'
• Integrate data and figures from results summaries where appropriate

Marker conventions

Use these markers where content cannot be completed yet:

• [TODO] — content that needs to be written but the required information is not available
• [CITE] — a claim that needs a citation but the source is unclear; add a note: [CITE: describe the claim]
• [DATA] — a figure, table, or statistic that needs to be pulled from results; add a note: [DATA: describe what is needed, e.g., "regression coefficient for X"]

Never fabricate citations, statistics, or results. Use markers instead.

Structural completeness

The draft must be structurally complete:

• Every section from outline.md must appear in draft.md
• Sections not yet drafted get a placeholder header with [TODO]:

  ## 2.3 Hypotheses
  
  [TODO: Draft hypotheses section — see outline.md §2.3 for argument structure]
  

• A reader should be able to see the full architecture of the chapter even if some sections are placeholders

Writing style

• Shorter is better — academic writing should be concise; cut filler phrases
• Match the style extracted in meta/style/style-guide.md:
  • Sentence structure and length patterns from the user's samples
  • Hedging conventions (e.g., "suggests", "appears to", "is consistent with")
  • Paragraph structure (topic sentence → evidence → interpretation)
  • Citation style (in-text format, author–year vs. numbered, etc.)
• Do not use first person unless the style guide permits it
• Prefer active voice unless the sample style uses passive

5. Write draft.md

Write the updated writings/<ch>/draft.md:

• If no existing draft: create the full file with all sections from outline.md
• If existing draft: merge new content, preserving all human-written sections
• Add a header comment showing what was updated and when:

  <!-- Last drafted: YYYY-MM-DD | Sections updated: [list] -->
  

6. Update status.md

Update writings/<ch>/status.md with the current section states:

# <Chapter> Status

## Sections
- <section>: [DRAFTED] — first pass complete
- <section>: [DRAFTING] — partial, needs [TODO] items resolved
- <section>: [OUTLINED] — placeholder only, not yet drafted
- <section>: [HUMAN-EDITED] — contains human content, preserved

## Open Markers
- [TODO] count: N
- [CITE] count: N
- [DATA] count: N

## Last Updated
YYYY-MM-DD by draft

7. Suggest next steps

After drafting, tell the user:

Draft updated. Next: run review to check logic flow, citations, and style compliance.

Remaining markers:

• [TODO]: N items need content
• [CITE]: N items need citations — check references/literature/ for candidates
• [DATA]: N items need results — check references/results/ or run analysis first

Inputs

• writings/<ch>/outline.md — argument chain and section structure
• writings/<ch>/resources.md — citekeys relevant to this chapter
• meta/style/style-guide.md — extracted style from user's sample writings
• references/literature/<citekey>/summary.md — one per citekey in resources.md
• references/results/<key>/summary.md — one per results key referenced
• writings/<ch>/draft.md — existing draft (if any); always read before writing

Outputs

• Updated writings/<ch>/draft.md — structurally complete draft with [TODO]/[CITE]/[DATA] markers
• Updated writings/<ch>/status.md — section states and marker counts

Notes

• Never overwrite human edits without asking — always read the existing draft first
• Structural completeness is required: every section in outline.md must appear in draft.md, even as a placeholder
• Shorter is better — trim filler; academic writing should be dense and precise
• Never fabricate citations or data — use [CITE] and [DATA] markers instead
• The [DATA] marker signals that a result from references/results/ is needed; if the result does not exist yet, the marker tells the user to run analysis first
• Style must match meta/style/style-guide.md — this is extracted from the user's own writing samples, not generic academic English
• If meta/style/style-guide.md does not exist, remind the user to run setup-style with sample paragraphs/chapters before drafting
• After resolving [CITE] markers, run review to verify citation consistency with references/literature/