Academic Writer Skills

27 specialist skills covering the complete academic writing lifecycle — works with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Cursor IDE.

Supported Tools

Tool	Status	Guide
Claude Code	✅ Full support	See below
Gemini CLI	✅ Full support	GEMINI.md
Cursor IDE	✅ Full support	.cursorrules
OpenCode	🔜 Planned v1.5.0	ROADMAP.md

Skills Overview

#	Skill	What it does
1	academic-writing-core	Master orchestrator — routes to specialist skills
2	abstract-writer	Write and improve abstracts (CONSORT, PRISMA, APA 7th)
3	academic-language-toolkit	Hedging, reporting verbs, nominalization, AWL vocabulary
4	ai-academic-ethics	AI disclosure requirements; 2025 journal policies
5	argumentation-engine	Toulmin/Rogerian models; fallacy detection; counterarguments
6	citation-formatter	APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Vancouver, Harvard, ACS, CSE
7	grammar-style-checker	Voice, tense, parallel structure, wordiness
8	literature-review	Narrative/systematic/scoping reviews; PRISMA; synthesis
9	paper-structure	IMRaD, dissertations, essays, case studies
10	paraphrasing-engine	Paraphrase, summarise, quote; plagiarism avoidance
11	grant-proposal	NIH, NSF, EU Horizon, ERC, Wellcome, UKRI
12	research-proposal	PhD proposals, ethics submissions, Gantt charts
13	lab-report	Full lab report structure for all sciences
14	peer-review-response	Rebuttal letters; point-by-point responses
15	statistical-reporting	APA 7th stats; effect sizes; Bayesian reporting
16	latex-writer	Document classes; BibLaTeX; equations; templates
17	figure-table-checker	APA figure/table compliance; colorblind palettes
18	journal-selection	Journal metrics; predatory journal detection
19	reference-verifier	DOI verification; retraction checking
20	data-management-plan	NIH DMS, FAIR principles, repository selection
21	cover-letter-writer	Journal submission cover letters
22	qualitative-reporting	COREQ, thematic analysis, reflexivity
23	thesis-dissertation-guide	PhD/master's thesis structure; viva prep
24	plain-language-summary	Lay summaries, patient summaries
25	preregistration-guide	OSF, AsPredicted, PROSPERO
26	conference-presentation	Research posters, slides, beamer
27	academic-cv	Academic CVs, research statements, faculty applications

Installation

Claude Code

claude plugin install academic-writer

Or selective install by profile:

# Core (5 essential skills)
./install.sh --profile=core

# Researcher (15 skills, recommended)
./install.sh --profile=researcher

# Full (all 27 skills)
./install.sh --profile=full

Gemini CLI

# Load all context and skills
gemini -p @GEMINI.md "Write a structured abstract for my paper on [topic]"

# Load with writing mode context
gemini -p @contexts/writing.md @GEMINI.md "Help me structure my research paper"

# See the full Gemini guide
cat GEMINI.md

Cursor IDE

Copy .cursorrules to your project root:

cp .cursorrules /path/to/your/project/.cursorrules

Or symlink for automatic updates:

ln -s /path/to/academic-writer-skills/.cursorrules /path/to/your/project/.cursorrules

Node.js Installer

# See what will be installed
node scripts/install-plan.js

# Install researcher profile (default)
node scripts/install.js

# Install specific profile
node scripts/install.js --profile=full

# Dry run to preview
node scripts/install.js --profile=full --dry-run

# Install specific skills
node scripts/install.js --skills=grant-proposal,statistical-reporting

Quick Start

Claude Code

After installation:

write my paper on climate adaptation in coastal cities
help me format my references in APA style
I need to respond to peer reviewers — here are their comments: [paste]
write my NIH Specific Aims page for a study on [topic]

Gemini CLI

gemini -p @GEMINI.md "Help me write a literature review on [topic]"
gemini -p @GEMINI.md "Format this citation in Chicago style: [paste citation]"
gemini -p @GEMINI.md "Is this journal predatory? [journal name]"

Cursor IDE

Open any .tex, .md, or paper file in Cursor. With .cursorrules in your project, Cursor will automatically activate academic writing mode and route to appropriate skill behaviors.

Profiles

Profile	Skills	Best for
core	5	Students, quick start
researcher	15	Active researchers (default)
full	27	Power users, grant writers, PhD students

Multi-Agent Workflows

See AGENTS.md for complete pipeline patterns:

• Full paper pipeline (6 sequential steps)
• Grant application pipeline
• Thesis/dissertation workflow
• Systematic literature review
• Rapid paper revision (post-reviewer)

Contributing

See CLAUDE.md for the full contribution guide, skill format specification, and quality checklist.

• Bug reports
• Skill requests
• Security issues

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for full release history.

Built With

This plugin was developed with the assistance of:

• Claude Code (Anthropic) — AI coding assistant used for skill authoring and plugin architecture
• GLM-5 (Zhipu AI) — AI model used in research and content development

License

MIT — see LICENSE