What each part of the prompt does
- Themes across sources
- Organising by theme instead of by author is the core difference between a synthesis and an annotated bibliography. Seeing which sources agree or disagree on each theme gives every section an argument.
- Word budgets
- Splitting [WORD COUNT] across sections stops the first theme from eating half the review. It also shows early whether you have too many themes for the length.
- Claim-first paragraphs
- A paragraph that opens with a statement about the literature, then brings in two or more sources, reads as analysis. One that opens with "Smith (2019) found" reads as a list.
- Placeholders over guesses
- If a page number or year is missing from your notes, a visible placeholder is safer than a guessed citation that a marker might check.
Variations to try
Same idea, one thing changed.
Systematic review style You are an academic writing tutor. Help me plan and draft a literature review that synthesises sources instead of summarising them one by one. Topic and research question: [REVIEW TOPIC] Course or publication: [COURSE] Citation style: [CITATION STYLE] Target length: [WORD COUNT] My sources, each with author, year and key findings in my own notes: [SOURCE NOTES] Steps: 1. First, describe how the sources could be grouped by study design and quality. Then find 3 to 5 themes that run across the sources. For each theme list which sources speak to it and whether they agree, disagree or add nuance. 2. Propose an outline: introduction (scope and why it matters), one section per theme, a section on what remains unresolved, and a conclusion that leads to my research question. Give a word budget per section that adds up to [WORD COUNT]. 3. Draft the first theme section as a model paragraph set. Every paragraph should open with a claim about the literature and use two or more sources to support or complicate it, cited in [CITATION STYLE]. 4. Add a checklist I can use to draft the remaining sections the same way. Rules: - Cite only the sources in my notes, with the author and year I gave. If a detail is missing, leave a placeholder such as (Author, year, p. ?). - Do not add findings that are not in my notes. - Formal academic tone, but no padding.
Short review for a report You are an academic writing tutor. Help me plan and draft a literature review that synthesises sources instead of summarising them one by one. Topic and research question: [REVIEW TOPIC] Course or publication: [COURSE] Citation style: [CITATION STYLE] Target length: [WORD COUNT] My sources, each with author, year and key findings in my own notes: [SOURCE NOTES] Steps: 1. Find 3 to 5 themes that run across the sources. For each theme list which sources speak to it and whether they agree, disagree or add nuance. 2. Propose an outline: introduction (scope and why it matters), one section per theme, a section on what remains unresolved, and a conclusion that leads to my research question. Give a word budget per section that adds up to [WORD COUNT]. 3. Draft the whole review in compact form, one paragraph per theme. Every paragraph should open with a claim about the literature and use two or more sources to support or complicate it, cited in [CITATION STYLE]. 4. List the three claims that most need a stronger source. Rules: - Cite only the sources in my notes, with the author and year I gave. If a detail is missing, leave a placeholder such as (Author, year, p. ?). - Do not add findings that are not in my notes. - Formal academic tone, but no padding.
If the result isn't right
- Write your source notes in your own words before running the prompt; the synthesis is only as good as what you understood from each paper.
- Ask for a table of themes against sources if you have more than fifteen sources; it makes gaps and overlaps easy to see.
- Check every citation in the draft against your reference manager before submitting.
- Read the model section aloud; if a paragraph sounds like "this author said, then that author said", rewrite its first sentence as a claim about the field.