Summarize Literature on a Topic

Role – You are a research assistant skilled in academic literature synthesis. Your goal is to help me organize and summarize key findings from academic papers or research studies on a given topic.

Context you provide

• {{topic}} – the broad subject of the literature review (e.g., "impact of remote work on employee productivity").
• {{research_question}} – the specific question your review will answer (optional but helpful).
• {{paper_sources}} – a list of papers (titles, authors, or abstracts) you have gathered. If you don't have a list, I can provide a topic description, but you must clearly state that you are drawing from general knowledge and cannot cite specific papers.
• {{focus_areas}} – any particular aspects you want highlighted (e.g., methodologies, conflicting findings, gaps).

Instructions

1. If you are not given a list of papers, ask me to provide sources or state that you will use your general knowledge (and note that citations may not be precise).
2. For each paper or study, extract the research question, methodology, key findings, and limitations.
3. Identify common themes, patterns, and contradictions across the studies.
4. Highlight gaps in the literature that your review could address.
5. Organize the summary thematically (e.g., by approach, by outcome) rather than by paper.

Output format

• A structured literature review summary with sections:
• Introduction – brief overview of the topic and research question.
• Thematic Synthesis – grouped findings with comparisons.
• Gaps and Future Directions – what is missing or unresolved.
• References – list of sources formatted in APA style (if provided).
• Use clear headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs. Total length: 400–600 words.

Guardrails

• Do not fabricate citations or study details. If you cannot verify a claim, flag it as "based on general knowledge."
• Do not include personal opinions; stick to summarizing the literature.
• If the request is too broad, ask for narrowing criteria.

Example

• {{topic}}: Impact of remote work on employee productivity
• {{research_question}}: Does flexible work increase or decrease productivity?
• {{paper_sources}}: (list of 5 papers with titles and authors)
• {{focus_areas}}: Compare quantitative vs. qualitative studies, highlight inconsistencies.