Article writing

Article Writing

A multi-phase workflow for producing articles, papers, and essays with verified citations from ike corpus documents. Orchestrates research, outlining, section-by-section drafting, and citation verification using the MCP tools.

When to Use

Activate for any sustained writing task: articles, papers, review essays, historiographical analyses, research reports. For quick tasks (single search, explore a document, verify a claim), use the relevant command or skill instead.

Before Starting

Call get_server_instructions to load corpus-specific research and writing guidance. This may include domain-specific conventions (e.g., legal citation requirements, medical disclaimers).

Workflow Overview

The workflow progresses through 5 phases. Complete each phase before moving to the next. The user approves progress at each transition.

Phase 0: Assignment Setup

Scope the task through conversation — no tool calls needed.

Establish with the user:

• Topic, boundaries, and central question or thesis
• Target audience and writing style (academic article, review essay, report)
• Word count target
• Citation format: chicago (default), tf-harvard, mhra, or chicago-author-date
• Any required sources or angles to prioritise
• Any sources or angles to avoid

Two modes for scoping:

• Generate mode — infer scope from the user's initial prompt, present a brief for approval
• Conversational mode — walk through questions 2–3 at a time (topic/scope, audience/style, specifications, sources)

Non-negotiable defaults (always included, never asked):

• Accurate citations with page numbers from corpus documents
• All corpus citations verified against source text

Record the agreed scope as an assignment brief before proceeding.

Phase 1: Discovery & Source Selection

Find and evaluate sources relevant to the article topic.

1. Call list_corpora to understand available collections
2. Run search_documents with multiple query angles:
   • Broad topic search (main subject)
   • Specific term search (key names, dates, concepts)
   • Document-scoped search (drill into promising sources)
3. Call list_documents to survey what is available beyond search hits
4. For promising documents, call get_document_metadata for publication details
5. Use get_page_index to explore document structure — identify relevant chapters and sections
6. Retrieve key passages with get_document_section to assess relevance and quotability

Present a summary of available sources with page references. Discuss focus, angle, and source selection with the user before proceeding.

See references/writing-phases.md for detailed search strategies, source evaluation criteria, and decision points.

Phase 2: Outline & Planning

Build an article structure collaboratively.

1. Propose a structure based on discovered sources (introduction, analysis sections, conclusion)
2. Allocate target word counts per section (must sum to overall target)
3. Map sources to sections — which documents and passages support each argument
4. Refine based on user feedback (add/merge sections, shift emphasis, adjust word counts)
5. Verify alignment with the assignment brief (word count, structure, required sources)
6. Confirm the outline before drafting begins — structural changes during drafting are costly

See references/writing-phases.md for structure templates, word count allocation strategies, and source-to-section mapping.

Phase 3: Section-by-Section Drafting

Draft each section with verified citations.

For each section:

1. Retrieve relevant passages using search_documents and get_document_section or get_document_chunk
2. Draft in academic prose with citations in the format from the assignment brief
3. Verify every direct quote against the source text — retrieve the chunk and compare
4. Include page numbers from the chunk metadata
5. Present the draft for user review and feedback
6. Track cumulative word count against the target

Citation insertion: Apply the citation format agreed in Phase 0. For detailed formatting rules, consult the citation-formatting skill's per-format reference files and references/style-guides.md.

Quote verification: Always retrieve the source chunk before including a direct quote. Never paraphrase from memory or approximate a quote. Block quotes (40+ words) use markdown blockquote syntax.

See references/writing-phases.md for citation insertion patterns, quote handling, and revision workflows.

Phase 4: Review & Refinement

Verify citations, ensure consistency, and generate the bibliography.

1. Citation verification — for every citation, re-retrieve the source chunk, compare quoted text and page numbers, check formatting consistency
2. Cross-reference check — verify internal references ("as discussed in Section 2") are accurate
3. Bibliography generation — collect all unique sources, format per the citation style, call get_citation_link for each corpus source to include viewer URLs
4. Consistency check — author name formatting, title italicisation, footnote numbering, terminology
5. Final word count — compare against target, note any significant deviation

The bibliography structure depends on the citation format. Chicago uses Primary Sources (corpus, with viewer links) / Secondary Sources (manual). All other formats use a flat alphabetical list. See the citation-formatting skill's per-format reference files for complete end matter patterns.

Output Format

The article is a single markdown file. See references/article-format.md for the complete structural specification including:

• YAML frontmatter schema (title, author, date, target_words, tags, sources)
• Heading hierarchy rules
• Footnote markup conventions
• Bibliography section structure

Limitations

• Word count tracking is approximate — no server-side word count tool exists yet. Count manually or note the approximation.
• Export formats — output is markdown only. Word (.docx) and Obsidian vault export are not available through the MCP server.
• Diagrams — visual generation is not available through the MCP server.

Additional Resources

Reference Files

• references/writing-phases.md — expanded phase-by-phase guidance: search strategies, structure templates, word count allocation, citation insertion patterns, revision workflows, verification checklists
• references/article-format.md — markdown output conventions: frontmatter schema, heading hierarchy, footnote markup, bibliography structure

Related Skills

• citation-formatting — per-format citation rules in references/chicago.md, references/tf-harvard.md, references/mhra.md, references/chicago-author-date.md, plus shared rules in references/style-guides.md.