Draft Manuscript Section

Draft academic prose for a manuscript section from bullet points or an outline.

Arguments

• $ARGUMENTS — section name and content notes (e.g., "Introduction: regional GDP disparities, panel data from 2000-2020, spatial econometrics, contributes to convergence literature")

Steps

1. Parse the section name and content bullets/notes from the arguments.

1. Read index.qmd to understand:

• The manuscript's existing tone and writing style
• What sections already exist and their content
• Citation conventions used (narrative @key vs parenthetical [@key])
• What figures and tables are embedded (to reference them)

1. Read references.bib to know which citations are available for use.

1. Draft 2–5 paragraphs of academic prose:

• Write in the register of empirical economics journals (AER, QJE, ReStud style)
• Use formal but accessible language
• Structure paragraphs logically: general → specific, or claim → evidence → implication
• Include Quarto cross-references where appropriate (@sec-, @fig-, @tbl-)
• Insert citations from references.bib where they strengthen the argument
• Where a citation would be helpful but none exists in .bib, insert a placeholder: [CITE: description of needed reference]

1. If the section matches an existing section in index.qmd (e.g., "Introduction" matches ## Introduction {#sec-introduction}):

• Show how the draft would replace the current [FILL:] placeholders or extend existing content
• Preserve any {{< embed >}} shortcodes already in that section

1. Present the draft to the user for review. On approval, insert or replace the content in index.qmd.

Error handling

• If no section name is provided, ask the user which section to draft.
• If the arguments are too vague, ask for more specific content points.