| name | related-work-positioning |
| description | Positions a paper against prior work by building source-grounded clusters, contribution boundaries, novelty claims, and comparison language. Use when writing related work, introduction positioning, survey paragraphs, or responses about novelty and differentiation. |
Related Work Positioning
Use this after at least a minimal source set exists.
Inputs
- Target paper claim, abstract, introduction, related-work draft, or contribution list.
- Verified sources, reading cards, evidence matrix, search log, or citation audit.
- Target venue and intended scope if known.
Read references/positioning-checks.md before drafting or rewriting a related-work section.
Workflow
- Identify the paper's exact contribution claims and what must be distinguished from prior work.
- Group prior work into method, task, benchmark, dataset, system, theory, or application clusters.
- For each cluster, state what prior work already solves and what remains different.
- Map every novelty or gap claim to verified sources.
- Draft positioning language that is specific, fair, and non-dismissive.
- Flag missing must-cite papers and claims that require citation-integrity audit.
- Produce a related-work outline or rewrite with claim boundaries.
Output
## Related Work Positioning
## Prior-Work Clusters
| Cluster | Representative sources | What they solve | Boundary for this paper |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
## Novelty Claim Map
| Claim | Supporting sources | Risk | Safer wording |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
## Draft / Rewrite
## Missing Sources
Rules
- Do not claim "first", "novel", or "unlike prior work" without source coverage.
- Do not attack prior work with vague weakness language.
- Do not cite papers that were not checked for the stated claim.
- Do not turn a literature survey into a chronological list unless chronology is the argument.
- Do not hide overlap with prior work; define the boundary precisely.
Validation
- Every cluster has representative sources or is marked as missing coverage.
- Every differentiation claim has a cited basis or is narrowed.
- The draft explains why the current paper is needed after prior work.
- Missing citations and weak novelty claims are explicit.
Completion
Done means the related-work position is fair, source-grounded, and strong enough to guide writing, rebuttal, or further search.
