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Research Prompts

Summarize a Research Paper

Extract the key findings, methodology, and implications from any academic paper or study.

beginnerWorks with any modelResearch
Prompt
I need you to summarize the following research paper or abstract for a [YOUR_BACKGROUND] audience.

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[PAPER_TEXT_OR_ABSTRACT]
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Please provide:

1. **One-paragraph plain-English summary** — what this paper is about and why it matters, written so a non-specialist can understand it.

2. **Key findings** — bullet list of the most important results or conclusions (3-6 bullets).

3. **Methodology overview** — in 2-3 sentences, how did the researchers conduct this study? (e.g., sample size, data source, experimental design, statistical methods)

4. **Limitations acknowledged** — what do the authors admit their study cannot fully address? If none are stated, note that.

5. **Practical implications** — who should care about these findings, and how might they act on them?

6. **Confidence in summary** — rate your confidence as High, Medium, or Low based on the completeness of the text provided, and briefly explain why.

How to Use

Paste the full text of a research paper, abstract, or study into the [PAPER_TEXT_OR_ABSTRACT] field. Set [YOUR_BACKGROUND] to either "expert" (assumes domain knowledge) or "generalist" (plain language, no jargon). The AI will return a structured breakdown you can use for note-taking, literature reviews, or deciding whether to read the full paper.

Variables

VariableDescription
[PAPER_TEXT_OR_ABSTRACT]The full paper text, abstract, or as much of the paper as you can provide
[YOUR_BACKGROUND]Your familiarity with the subject — "expert" or "generalist"

Tips

  • Even pasting just the abstract and conclusion gives useful results — the confidence rating will tell you how much to trust the summary.
  • If the paper is long, paste the abstract, introduction, and conclusion sections first; add the methods section if you need more detail on methodology.