workspace-course-topics

Assignment: Create Prior-Literature Notebook

Due: Before next class

Prerequisites:

Create Intro Notebook — {BALLPARK}_intro.ipynb exists

Throughout this document, {BALLPARK} stands for your paper’s folder name (e.g. OptimumDebt, HKMOHousingChannelMP). Always replace it with your actual folder name.

Objective

Create a prior-literature notebook that summarizes the foundational literature your ballpark paper builds on, with proper MyST citations resolving against references.bib.

This step benefits from a premium AI model (Claude Opus 4.6 or ChatGPT 5.3), since it requires real knowledge of economics literature.

Where to work

Work in your fork, on the same branch as your other ballpark work:

cd ~/github/<your-username>/ballpark/models/We-Would-Like-In-Econ-ARK/{BALLPARK}/

Steps

1. Ensure `references.bib` is present

You should already have a .bib file from your earlier PaperPile assignment. Make sure it is in your paper folder and named references.bib:

ls *.bib

If it has a different name (e.g. bibliography.bib, paperpile-export.bib), rename it:

mv <your-file>.bib references.bib

Don’t have a references .bib file at all? The AI can create one for you in the next steps — but the result will be significantly better with a premium model (Opus 4.6 or ChatGPT 5.3).

2. Create `self.bib`

Create a file called self.bib in the paper folder containing a single BibTeX entry for the subject paper itself (the paper your ballpark entry is about). This entry must not appear in references.bib — if it is already there, move it to self.bib. The self.bib file holds only the paper that this ballpark entry summarizes.

3. Create the notebook

Create {BALLPARK}_prior-literature.ipynb (e.g. if the summary notebook is OptimumDebt_summary.ipynb, create OptimumDebt_prior-literature.ipynb).

4. Transfer your prior-literature summary

If you have a prior-literature.md working document from earlier work, copy its content into markdown cells in the notebook. If you don’t have one, the AI can generate the content — use a premium model for better results.

Organize into sections:

Overview of the prior literature
Key foundational papers and their contributions

5. Insert MyST citations

Where you mention foundational papers, add MyST citations. See MyST Citations and Bibliography:

{cite:t}smith2023`` — narrative citation (e.g. “Smith (2023)”)
{cite:p}smith2023`` — parenthetical citation (e.g. “(Smith, 2023)”)

The citation key must exactly match an entry in references.bib or self.bib. (self.bib contains the subject paper’s own entry — use it when you refer to the paper this ballpark summarizes.)

Tip: Open references.bib and self.bib in Cursor and look for the keys (the first item after @article{ or @book{).

6. Commit

git add self.bib references.bib {BALLPARK}_prior-literature.ipynb
git commit -m "Add self.bib and prior-literature notebook with citations"

Deliverable

self.bib and {BALLPARK}_prior-literature.ipynb with MyST citations resolving against references.bib and self.bib.

What to check:

The notebook discusses at least 3-5 foundational papers
Citations use {cite:t} or {cite:p} syntax with keys that match entries in references.bib or self.bib
self.bib contains exactly one entry — for the subject paper
The subject paper does not also appear in references.bib

If citations don’t resolve: Check that the citation key matches an entry in references.bib or self.bib, and that both .bib files are listed in myst.yml (configured in the MyST assembly assignment).

If You Get Stuck

Ask Cursor AI. If the “auto” model is inadequate, try Claude Opus 4.6 or ChatGPT 5.3.

Next Step

Create Subsequent-Literature Notebook