# Related Work Writing Guide

## Goal

Position your work against the most relevant lines of research, and make your novelty easy to verify.

## Workflow

1. List directly competing and recent baseline papers first.
2. Group literature by technical topic (not by publication year alone).
3. For each topic: summarize common paradigm, then key limitation relevant to your challenge.
4. End each topic by clarifying your distinction.

## Topic Design

Use 2-4 focused topics, for example:

1. Task-specific mainstream methods.
2. Methods closest to your core idea.
3. Auxiliary techniques your method builds on.

## Paragraph Template

1. Topic sentence: define scope of this topic.
2. Representative methods: one compact summary.
3. Limitation tied to your target technical challenge.
4. Transition sentence that leads to your method.

## Do and Don't

1. Do compare mechanisms, assumptions, and failure modes.
2. Do emphasize the exact gap your method fills.
3. Do not make Related Work a citation dump.
4. Do not hide strongest baselines.

## Checklist

1. Are all strongest/recent competitors covered?
2. Is each topic connected to your problem setting?
3. Is your difference explained in technical terms, not marketing terms?
4. Is citation coverage complete for all core claims?
