writing-systems-papers

# Writing Systems Papers: Paragraph-Level Structural Blueprint Fine-grained structural guidance for writing **10–12 page systems papers** targeting top systems venues: OSDI, SOSP, ASPLOS, NSDI, and EuroSys. This skill provides page allocation per section, paragraph-level blueprints, and writing patterns distilled from authoritative guides and best-paper analysis. ## When to Use This Skill | Scenario | Use This Skill | Use ml-paper-writing Instead | |----------|---------------|------------------------------| | Structuring a 12-page OSDI/SOSP paper | ✅ | | | Page budget and paragraph planning | ✅ | | | Systems-specific evaluation structure | ✅ | | | General ML paper writing philosophy | | ✅ | | Citation verification workflow | | ✅ | | LaTeX templates and formatting | | ✅ | | NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR paper structure | | ✅ | **Boundary**: ml-paper-writing provides general writing philosophy, multi-venue templates, and citation verification. This skill focuses exclusively on **paragraph-level structural blueprints** for systems conferences. --- ## Authoritative Sources This blueprint synthesizes guidance from established systems researchers: 1. **Levin & Redell** — "How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper" (SOSP'83 PC Chairs, USENIX/ACM SIGOPS) 2. **Irene Zhang** (MSR/UW) — "Hints on how to write an SOSP paper" (SOSP/OSDI PC) 3. **Gernot Heiser** (UNSW, seL4) — Style Guide + Paper Writing Talk 4. **Timothy Roscoe** (ETH Zürich) — "Writing reviews for systems conferences" ...