Academic Paper Skill

Create formally structured Word documents with Table of Contents, equations (LaTeX to OMML), footnotes/endnotes, bibliography, and scholarly formatting. Output is a single .docx file. This skill supersedes the docx creating.md Academic Paper recipe -- use THIS skill for any document requiring TOC + equations + footnotes + formal structure.

BEFORE YOU START (CRITICAL)

If officecli is not installed:

macOS / Linux

if ! command -v officecli >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.sh | bash
fi

Windows (PowerShell)

if (-not (Get-Command officecli -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
    irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.ps1 | iex
}

Verify: officecli --version

If officecli is still not found after first install, open a new terminal and run the verify command again.

Use When

• User wants to create a research paper, journal manuscript, or conference paper with academic structure (abstract, numbered sections, references)
• User wants a white paper, policy brief, or technical report with formal structure (executive summary, TOC, branded headers)
• User needs math equations (LaTeX to OMML) in a Word document
• User needs footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography with hanging indent
• User needs a Table of Contents that auto-updates in Word
• User mentions "APA", "MLA", "Chicago", or any citation style formatting
• User needs multi-column abstract or mixed portrait/landscape sections

Don't Use When

• User wants a general letter, memo, contract, or simple report -- use docx skill
• User wants a presentation -- use pptx skill
• User wants a spreadsheet or dashboard -- use xlsx or data-dashboard skill
• User needs LaTeX output (.tex file) -- this skill produces .docx only
• User needs graduate thesis with Roman numeral front-matter pagination -- deferred to Phase 2
• User needs tracked changes or collaborative editing markup -- use docx skill with raw-set

What This Skill Produces

A single .docx file with:

Core Concepts

Style-First Architecture (NON-NEGOTIABLE)

Define ALL styles before adding ANY content. Skipping style definitions causes formatting failures in 100% of cases. Different Word versions define Heading1 as 14pt, 16pt, or 13pt -- explicit style setup eliminates this variance.

Font Size Hierarchy

Verified LaTeX Subset

Footnote Behavior

Footnotes are inline reference runs within the target paragraph. They do NOT create new paragraphs and do NOT shift paragraph indices. You can add footnotes in any order -- forward, reverse, or arbitrary. The old "reverse order" advice is obsolete as of v1.0.24.

Hard Rules (H1–H8)

The following rules are non-negotiable. Any violation constitutes a delivery failure.

Workflow Overview

Phase 1: Analyze Input

Classify paper type (social science, physics/math, white paper). Look up the Feature Selection Table in creating.md Section A. Plan which sections to follow.

Phase 2: Setup

Create document, set defaults + margins, define ALL styles upfront. Plan section breaks if multi-column or landscape is needed.

Phase 3: Build

Add content in order: cover, TOC, abstract, body sections, equations, tables, footnotes, bibliography, headers/footers, watermark.

Phase 4: QA

Run verification loop: validate, view outline, view issues, view text. Fix and re-verify.

Quick Reference: Key Warnings

Quick Start (Social Science Paper Skeleton)

officecli create paper.docx
officecli set paper.docx / --prop defaultFont="Times New Roman"
officecli set paper.docx '/section[1]' --prop marginTop=1440 --prop marginBottom=1440 --prop marginLeft=1440 --prop marginRight=1440
officecli add paper.docx /styles --type style --prop id=Heading1 --prop name="Heading 1" --prop type=paragraph --prop font="Times New Roman" --prop size=20 --prop bold=true --prop spaceBefore=360 --prop spaceAfter=120 --prop keepNext=true
officecli add paper.docx /body --type toc --prop levels=1-3 --prop title="Table of Contents"
officecli add paper.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="Introduction" --prop style=Heading1
officecli add paper.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="This paper examines..." --prop size=12 --prop lineSpacing=2x

Follow creating.md for the full step-by-step guide.

Adjustments After Creation

When the user requests changes after the paper is built:

After any swap or move, paragraph indices shift — re-query with officecli get paper.docx /body --depth 1 before further edits.

References

• creating.md -- Complete academic paper creation guide
• docx SKILL.md -- General docx reading, editing, and QA reference
• docx creating.md -- General building blocks (paragraphs, tables, images, etc.)