aw-write-intro — Introduction Section Writer

Purpose

Write introduction section paragraphs as independent wave tasks. Each invocation writes one paragraph file following the ROADMAP task decomposition. Paragraphs are written in parallel when assigned to the same wave (no file overlap), and sequentially when dependencies require it.

When to Trigger

• /aw-execute assigns a wave task with section: introduction
• Wave planner outputs task IDs: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4
• Each task is independent and produces its own paragraph file

Input Sources (read in order)

1. .planning/research-brief.json — Problem statement, novelty claims, contribution bullets, author intent
2. .planning/literature.md — Relevant prior work for background context and gap identification
3. .planning/methodology.md — Technical approach overview for contribution framing
4. templates/elsevier/sections/introduction.tex — LaTeX format reference (Elsevier template)

Output Convention

manuscripts/{paper-name}/sections/intro/
├── 1-1-background.tex     # \paragraph{1.1 Research Background}
├── 1-2-problem.tex        # \paragraph{1.2 Problem Definition}
├── 1-3-contributions.tex  # \paragraph{1.3 Main Contributions}
└── 1-4-structure.tex      # \paragraph{1.4 Paper Structure}

Each file contains exactly one \paragraph{} block with appropriate content.

Task Specifications

Task 1-1: Research Background

Input context: Problem domain, broad research area, recent developments

Output: 2-3 paragraphs establishing the research context

LaTeX structure:

 paragraph{Reviewing Past Work}
\label{sec:intro:background}

[2-3 paragraphs tracing the evolution of the field,
 citing key prior work, narrowing down to the specific
 sub-area the paper addresses]

Coverage:

• Start broad (field-level)
• Narrow to specific sub-area
• Cite foundational and recent work
• Show logical progression toward the gap

Task 1-2: Problem Definition

Input context: Specific gap or limitation identified in research-brief.json

Output: 1 paragraph precisely defining the problem

LaTeX structure:

 paragraph{Problem Statement}
\label{sec:intro:problem}

[1 paragraph clearly stating the specific problem,
 limitation, or gap that motivates the paper.
 Avoid vague language; be precise about what is missing
 or suboptimal in existing work.]

Coverage:

• State the specific gap precisely
• Avoid vague quantifiers (say "X achieves 70% accuracy" not "X achieves good accuracy")
• Connect directly to the gap identified in prior work

Task 1-3: Main Contributions

Input context: Novelty claims and contribution bullets from research-brief.json

Output: 3-4 bullet items summarizing contributions

LaTeX structure:

 paragraph{Main Contributions}
\label{sec:intro:contributions}

\begin{itemize}
    \item We propose \ldots
    \item We demonstrate \ldots
    \item We provide \ldots
\end{itemize}

Coverage:

• Start with "We propose..." or "This paper presents..."
• Be specific: name the method/approach, report key numbers where available
• Avoid generic claims ("significant improvement") without quantification
• Match the contributions to the problem gap stated in 1-2

Task 1-4: Paper Structure

Input context: Section ordering from ROADMAP.md

Output: 1 brief paragraph outlining paper structure

LaTeX structure:

 paragraph{Paper Organization}
\label{sec:intro:structure}

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.
Section~\ref{sec:methodology} describes \ldots
Section~\ref{sec:results} presents \ldots
Section~\ref{sec:discussion} discusses \ldots
Section~\ref{sec:conclusion} concludes \ldots

Coverage:

• Follow standard IMRAD ordering (unless ROADMAP specifies otherwise)
• Reference section labels, not page numbers
• Keep brief (5-7 sentences max)

LaTeX Formatting Rules

Paragraph Block Structure

 paragraph{Title}
\label{sec:intro:task-id}

Content here...

% For contributions, use itemize inside the paragraph block:
\begin{itemize}
    \item First contribution...
    \item Second contribution...
\end{itemize}

Citation Style

• Numbered format: \cite{key1,key2}
• Grouped citations: \citealp{key1,key2,key3}
• In-text citation: \citeauthor{smith2020} found that...

Elsevier Template Reference

From templates/elsevier/main.tex:

\documentclass[review]{elsarticle}
\usepackage{amsmath,amsfonts,amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{cite}

Label Naming Convention

• Background: \label{sec:intro:background}
• Problem: \label{sec:intro:problem}
• Contributions: \label{sec:intro:contributions}
• Structure: \label{sec:intro:structure}

Writing Quality Standards

Do

• Use precise, specific language
• Quantify claims when data is available
• Use hedging appropriately: "suggests", "indicates", "appears"
• Cite foundational and recent relevant work
• Match academic register (formal, objective tone)

Do Not

• Use vague quantifiers ("significant", "many", "various") without context
• Make claims without citation support
• Use first-person if journal prefers passive voice (check research-brief.json)
• Include TODO or FIXME placeholders
• Write in bullet format for background/problem/structure (only contributions may use itemize)

Task Execution Workflow

1. Read inputs in order: research-brief.json → literature.md → methodology.md
2. Identify task ID from the assigned wave task (e.g., 1-1, 1-2, etc.)
3. Write paragraph content following the task specification above
4. Create output directory manuscripts/{paper-name}/sections/intro/ if not exists
5. Write .tex file with correct \paragraph{} block and label
6. Verify file compiles standalone (can be \input{} into main document)

File Output Example

File: manuscripts/my-paper/sections/intro/1-1-background.tex

 paragraph{Reviewing Past Work}
\label{sec:intro:background}

Deep learning has transformed computer vision over the past decade, with
convolutional neural networks achieving human-level performance on benchmark
datasets \cite{lecun2015deep,krizhevsky2012imagenet}. Recent advances in
transformer architectures have further improved results on complex visual
understanding tasks \cite{dosovitskiy2021image,vit2020}. However, despite
these improvements, existing approaches face challenges when applied to
low-resolution medical imaging data \cite{smith2021limitations}. In the
domain of remote sensing, similar limitations have been observed, where
computational costs grow prohibitive for large-scale deployment \cite{chen2022remote}.

The field of low-light image enhancement has seen particular interest,
with traditional histogram equalization methods \cite{pizer1987adaptive}
gradually replaced by learning-based approaches \cite{lorenz2021learning}.
Despite these advances, real-time enhancement for video streams remains
computationally challenging \cite{wang2023real}, motivating the need for
more efficient architectures suitable for edge deployment.

Integration

This skill is spawned by aw-execute (wave executor) for each introduction paragraph task. It is not triggered directly by the user. The wave executor merges all paragraph outputs into sections/introduction.tex after all wave tasks complete.

Usage Example

aw-execute assigns:
  Task: 1-1 | Section: Introduction | Paragraph: Research Background
  → Spawns aw-write-intro for 1-1-background.tex
  → Writes: sections/intro/1-1-background.tex