research-output-formats

name	research-output-formats
description	Use when selecting the document form and academic or non-academic variant for a research deliverable such as a paper, thesis, policy brief, intelligence report, market analysis, legal opinion, case study, or feasibility study; use report-and-proposal-craft for the persuasion mechanics of business reports and proposals.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"],"priority":"high"}

Research output formats

Use When

• Select a research deliverable family and its academic or non-academic variant after the audience and decision are known.

Do Not Use When

• Do not use for method selection or to override a mandatory commissioning template.

Inputs

Input	Source/provider	If absent
Audience, decision, channel, length, and mandated format	Requester or institution	Stop selection and record the missing constraint.
Verified findings and citation regime	Research registry and style guide	Return an outline with evidence gaps.

Workflow

1. Identify the reader action and check for a mandated form.
2. Select one format and variant; stop if governing requirements conflict.
3. Load that reference, map sections, draft from verified findings, and test compliance.
4. If rendering or citation checks fail, recover through correction and rerun the checks.

Outputs

Artifact	Consumer	Acceptance condition
Format decision and section map	Writer and reviewer	One justified format/variant and all mandatory sections are named.
Formatted deliverable	Intended audience	Voice, evidence density, structure, and citations fit the selected form.

Evidence Produced

Category	Artifact	Acceptance condition
Correctness	Format-compliance checklist	Each mandatory element passes or is marked not applicable with reason.

Capability Contract

Selection and review default to read-only. Editing/rendering requires authority; submission, publication, legal sign-off, or representation as counsel/expert requires explicit authority and qualification.

Degraded Mode

Without the mandate, style guide, sources, or renderer, provide a defensible section map and mark unassessed checks. Do not certify compliance.

Decision Rules

Choice	Action	Failure/risk avoided
Mandatory template exists	Follow it before generic guidance	Administrative rejection
Short decision document needed	Select the matching brief	Academic overproduction
Legal opinion lacks authorised counsel	Provide research support only	Unauthorised claim

Quality Standards

The selected form is explicit, source-traceable, and tested against its governing audience or template.

Anti-Patterns

• Choosing by title alone. Fix: route from audience and decision.
• Mixing two structures. Fix: select one mandate.
• Ignoring a supplied template. Fix: map it first.
• Drafting before citation selection. Fix: choose the variant first.
• Certifying without authority. Fix: state the review boundary.

Worked Example

A ministerial decision request routes to a policy brief rather than an academic paper; map recommendation and evidence sections and reserve technical depth for annexes.

References

• Academic formats
• Advocacy and public formats
• Commercial formats
• Analytical and professional formats
• Academic and non-academic variants

The engine produces many document types. They share evidence discipline but differ in purpose, audience, structure, voice, and citation regime. Picking the wrong format is the most common reason a technically correct piece of research lands badly.

This skill is a router. Use it to:

1. Identify the format the deliverable belongs to.
2. Decide whether the academic or non-academic variant is appropriate.
3. Load the matching reference for structure, length, voice, and citation rules.

It does not replace academic-writing, business-writing, report-and-proposal-craft, analytic-tradecraft, consulting-delivery, or online-legal-research — it sits above them and tells you which to invoke for the given output.

The non-negotiable guardrail

Every format defers to source-evaluation/references/evidence-discipline.md. No format excuses fabrication, even popular ones (op-eds, pamphlets, product descriptions). Format changes the voice, never the truth standard.

The two axes

Every output sits on two axes:

Axis	Question	Drives
Format family	What document type is this?	Structure, length, sections, citation style
Academic vs non-academic variant	Who is the reader and what do they accept as proof?	Voice, citation density, hedging, jargon, design

Resolve both before drafting a single line.

Selection router

Match the deliverable to a row, then load the named reference.

Deliverable signal	Format	Reference
Argues a position in 800–5,000 words for a general or examiner audience	Essay	references/academic-formats.md §Essay
Original empirical or theoretical contribution, journal-shaped	Academic paper	references/academic-formats.md §Paper
Multi-chapter graduate research output (Master's)	Thesis	references/academic-formats.md §Thesis
Multi-chapter doctoral research output, original contribution to knowledge	Dissertation	references/academic-formats.md §Dissertation
Pre-research document seeking funding, ethics approval, or supervisor sign-off	Research proposal	references/academic-formats.md §Research-proposal
Standalone or chapter-length survey of existing scholarship	Literature review	references/academic-formats.md §Literature-review
Short, illustrated, persuasive, mass-distributed	Pamphlet	references/advocacy-and-public-formats.md §Pamphlet
600–1,200 word newspaper or platform commentary, named author voice	Op-ed / commentary	references/advocacy-and-public-formats.md §Op-ed
2–6 page recommendation document for a decision-maker on a specific policy choice	Policy brief	references/advocacy-and-public-formats.md §Policy-brief
Long-form authoritative analysis with thought-leadership intent, often vendor-published	White paper	references/commercial-formats.md §White-paper
Sized-and-segmented industry survey for buyers / investors	Market research report	references/commercial-formats.md §Market-research-report
Specific competitive / strategic question answered from market data	Market analysis	references/commercial-formats.md §Market-analysis
Short marketing copy for a single product or SKU	Product description	references/commercial-formats.md §Product-description

After format is fixed, always load references/academic-vs-nonacademic-variants.md to choose voice and citation regime.

Reference router

references/
  academic-formats.md                   essays, papers, theses, dissertations,
                                        research proposals, literature reviews
  advocacy-and-public-formats.md        pamphlets, op-eds, policy briefs
  commercial-formats.md                 white papers, market research reports,
                                        market analyses, product descriptions,
                                        case studies, feasibility studies
  analytical-and-professional-formats.md intelligence reports, legal opinions
  academic-vs-nonacademic-variants.md   the variant axis applied to every format

Load only the family file relevant to the deliverable, plus the variants reference. Loading every file is wasteful and dilutes attention.

When to invoke this skill

• User asks for "a paper", "a white paper", "a brief", "a report", "an opinion", "a study" — these words map to different formats and you must disambiguate.
• The same research has to be repackaged for a new audience (e.g., an academic paper turned into a policy brief).
• Output is being generated by a sub-agent and you're writing the brief — name the format and variant in the brief.
• Reviewer says "this reads like an essay, not a brief" — you have a format mismatch, not a writing problem.

When NOT to invoke

• Format is obvious and already locked (e.g., the user gave you a journal template, a publisher's house style, or a regulator's prescribed form). Use that template directly.
• The work is internal, throwaway, or conversational. No format selection needed.

Decision flow

deliverable requested
        │
        ▼
  Is the format already prescribed (template, house style, statutory form)?
        │
   yes ─┴─ use that template, ignore this skill
        │
   no   ▼
  Match deliverable signal to selection-router row
        │
        ▼
  Load matching family reference for structure
        │
        ▼
  Load academic-vs-nonacademic-variants.md
        │
        ▼
  Pick variant; lock voice, citation regime, length
        │
        ▼
  Compose deliverable; cite-check against source-evaluation

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why it goes wrong	Fix
Treating "report" as a format	"Report" describes 6+ different documents in this skill alone	Force the user to pick a row in the selection router
Mixing variants in one document	Academic citation density inside a pamphlet voice repels both audiences	Lock variant before drafting
Skipping format selection on sub-agent briefs	Sub-agents default to "academic essay" voice — almost never what you want	Name format and variant verbatim in every brief
Treating a white paper as a longer brochure	A white paper makes an evidenced argument; brochures don't	Load commercial-formats.md §White-paper
Calling everything a "case study"	Case studies have a strict comparative or illustrative role	Load commercial-formats.md §Case-study

See also

• report-and-proposal-craft — long-form structure and proposal-specific patterns
• academic-writing — voice, citation, and argument standards for the academic variants
• business-writing — voice and structure for the non-academic variants
• analytic-tradecraft — drives the intelligence-report family
• online-legal-research — drives the legal-opinion family
• consulting-delivery — drives the market-analysis and feasibility-study families
• professional-word-output / python-document-generation — terminal renderers for any of these formats