Your paper is basically written. Over the last few weeks you wrote the parts — the question, how you did it, what you found, and what it means. Today you don't write new paper content. You do two tool jobs: turn what you wrote into a clean PDF, and build the slides you'll present with.
Job one is Overleaf — a website that turns your writing into a proper, academic-looking PDF. Nothing to install; it all runs in your browser. Job two is HTML slides — use the Guizang PPT Skill with Cursor or codex to build a polished deck from a tested template, then drop your live demo right inside a slide.
Every grey box is a prompt you can copy — paste it into Cursor or codex. Keep this page open all class. Stuck? Mia is here. By the end, three files go up to GitHub: your PDF, its source, and your slides.
01 · Today — two tool jobs
Two jobs today, both about tools — not more writing. Here's the whole shape.
Job 1Format your paper into a PDFOverleaf turns your written paper into a clean, academic-looking PDF — all in the browser, nothing to install.
Job 2Build your slides with Guizang PPT SkillUse its tested templates to make one polished .html file, flip with the arrow keys, and embed your live demo right in a slide.
The pointContent's done — today is packagingYou're not rewriting the paper. You're wrapping what you already wrote and getting it ready to show.
By the endPush three files to GitHubYour PDF, its source, and your slides — all go up, then drop the repo link in the class group chat.
02 · Overleaf — like Word, in your browser
Overleaf is like Word, but it lives in your browser and it's built for academic papers. Under the hood it uses a thing called LaTeX to do the fancy formatting — but don't let that word scare you. You install nothing. It all runs on a web page. Go to overleaf.com, sign up with your email, and check you can log in and see the New Project button.
Before anything real, learn the one loop that never changes: New Project → Blank Project → click Recompile (top right). A PDF appears on the right. That's the whole rhythm — change something, click Recompile, see the new PDF. You'll do it a hundred times today.
Sign upYour email, then log inRegister at overleaf.com. The free plan is all we need — unlimited projects, no card.
RelaxNothing to installNo LaTeX download, no setup. If anyone tells you "LaTeX is hard to install" — we're not installing it.
The loopChange → Recompile → PDFMake a Blank Project, click Recompile once, watch the PDF show up on the right. That rhythm is the whole day.
03 · Start from the apa7 template
Don't build a paper from a blank page — start from a finished one. Overleaf has a template already formatted the APA way (that's the style your paper has to follow). In the template gallery, search apa7, open "Template and Sample for Authoring APA7 Manuscripts", and click Open as Template. That copies a whole working paper into your account — title, author, abstract, body, references, all laid out. You just swap the example text for yours.
One line to check. Near the top you'll see \documentclass[stu]{apa7}. The stu means student paper — the cover page and double spacing your teacher wants. Leave it as stu; don't change it to man or jou. Then fill in your title, name, school, and abstract, clicking Recompile after each so you catch mistakes while they're small:
The apa7 template — fill in these spots:
\documentclass[stu]{apa7} keep "stu" = student paper
\title{ ... } your paper's title
\author{ ... } your name
\affiliation{ ... } your school
\abstract{ ... } your ~150-word summary
change one -> click Recompile -> check the PDF. small steps.
04 · Let Cursor / codex write the LaTeX
Here's the trick that saves you: you don't hand-type LaTeX. You already wrote your paper somewhere — Word, Feishu, a Markdown file. Let Cursor or codex translate it into LaTeX for you. Copy the prompt below, paste your whole paper where it says, paste your checked reference list where it says, and drop the LaTeX it hands back between \begin{document} and \end{document}, replacing the template's example text.
Sometimes Overleaf will fail to build and show a red error with a line number. Don't try to read it yourself. The move is always the same: copy the red error and the few lines it points at, paste both into Cursor or codex, and ask it to fix it and say why in one line. Nine times out of ten it's a stray special character sitting on exactly that line.
Most red errors are one of these. Keep it next to you:
The red-error survival kit — the usual suspects:
these need a backslash: % & _ # $ { }
so you write them as: \% \& \_ \# \$ \{ \}
smart quotes from Word: “ ” ‘ ’ break the whole line
swap them for plain: " '
the line number points AT the bad character.
copy the error + that line, paste to Cursor / codex, done.
06 · Three quick things before you export
Before you export, three quick adds people always forget. None is a big new section — a few sentences each.
Add 1Abstract — about 150 wordsOne sentence per part: your question, what you did, what you found, what it means. Data not all in yet? Write a placeholder version and swap the real numbers in later.
Add 2Limitations — what your study can't doSmall sample, one school, short time — say it plainly. This isn't embarrassing; it's the part judges love. Example (#校园食堂剩饭量): "we only measured 30 students at one school, so this can't speak for everyone."
Add 3AI disclosure — one honest sentenceYou used AI to turn your writing into LaTeX, so say so. Put it anywhere in Method, a footnote, or the acknowledgements.
Copy this sentence straight into your paper for the AI disclosure — change the verbs to match what you actually did:
AI disclosure (paste into Method or acknowledgements):
"The authors used an AI assistant to convert the manuscript from Markdown into APA 7 LaTeX and to help fix compilation errors. All research content, data, analysis, and references were produced and verified by the authors."
Never let AI make up a reference. A paper that doesn't exist, a made-up DOI, an author who never wrote it — that's fabrication, and teachers check. AI only formats the references you hand it. Every line in your reference list has to be real and checked by you. Missing a detail? Leave it and mark [待核对] — don't let the model fill the gap.
07 · Build your slides with Guizang PPT Skill
Job two. Recommended path: install the open-source Guizang PPT Skill, then ask Cursor or codex to turn your paper into a polished, single-file HTML deck. For a research defense, choose its Swiss style: it is built for facts, analysis, and clear visual hierarchy. The result opens directly in a browser and flips with the arrow keys. Because it is still HTML, you can drop your live demo straight into a slide.
Rule 1Don't read your slidesPut keywords and pictures on the slide; say the sentences out loud yourself. Reading off the screen looks unprepared.
Rule 2Don't cramA slide packed with text = nobody reads it. If a chart can say it, use the chart. One idea per slide.
Your edgeEmbed the real demoIt's HTML, so your working tool goes right in a slide — live, clickable, not a flat screenshot. No one else's PowerPoint can do that.
08 · Export a PDF backup
One thing you must not skip: export your slides to PDF too. On presentation day the room's wifi can die, a browser can act up, a file can refuse to open. A PDF opens anywhere, offline, every time. So keep both — your HTML slides (with the live demo) as plan A, and a PDF as the backup that always works. Ask Cursor or codex to help, or just open the HTML and print to PDF.
Must doKeep a PDF of your slidesWifi dies, browsers glitch — a PDF opens offline, anywhere. HTML is plan A, PDF is the net that never fails.
PosterHTML or PPT — your callSame deal: write it as one long HTML page you print to PDF, or build it in PowerPoint / Keynote and export PDF. Pick one, don't overthink the tool.
09 · Push it all to GitHub
Last step, and it's your homework tonight. Three files go up to your project repo: your paper PDF, its source (the .tex), and your slides. Free Overleaf: Menu → Download PDF and Menu → Download Source, then upload them to GitHub by hand or git push. No need to buy the paid GitHub sync — this takes two minutes.
Then drop your repo link in the class group chat. No link means the teacher can't find your work. Why the group chat? Because the teacher reviews what you push and files GitHub issues — one issue per thing to fix. Each issue is a to-do for your 7/15 office hour. That's your fix list, handed to you.
PushThree files: PDF + .tex + slidesFrom Overleaf's Menu: Download PDF and Download Source. Upload all three to your repo tonight.
TellDrop the repo link in the group chatNo link, no review. The teacher finds your work through that one link.
ReviewTeacher's issues = your OH listEach GitHub issue is one fix. Bring them to your 7/15 office hour — that's exactly what we'll work through.
10 · Before you go — class feedback
Two minutes, every class. Tell us what landed and what didn't — it directly shapes next week's class.
Generation AI · Class Reflection & Feedback
Two minutes — your feedback goes straight to the teacher and shapes the next class. Thanks!