Research

Investigate a question and produce an evidence-backed synthesis with visible uncertainty.

Purpose

Investigate a question and produce an evidence-backed synthesis with visible uncertainty.

Recommended

  • Turn a broad topic into a concrete research question whose answer could change a decision.
  • State the scope, freshness requirement, and source-quality requirement before collecting evidence.
  • Prefer primary or first-party sources for factual claims, and record the source and date for each material finding.
  • Distinguish sourced facts, interpretation, and inference; preserve relevant competing explanations or conflicting evidence.
  • Explain what the evidence does not establish, including context limits, uncertainty, and unresolved gaps.
  • End with a concise synthesis and a deliverable that maps conclusions back to the evidence collected.

Avoid

  • Filling evidence gaps silently or presenting an inference as a sourced fact.
  • Treating a search result, benchmark, anecdote, or single source as universally decisive without checking scope and method.
  • Ignoring source freshness when the question concerns changing products, policies, prices, or capabilities.
  • Collecting citations without explaining how they support the conclusion.

Prompt skeleton

Prompt skeleton — deterministic, no model call

Research question
[State the precise question and the decision or action it informs.]

Scope
[Define included systems, versions, populations, dates, and exclusions.]

Freshness requirements
[State the relevant as-of date, update window, or version boundary.]

Known context
[Record verified background, prior findings, and assumptions before searching.]

Source requirements
[Specify preferred source types, authority, independence, and citation needs.]

Evidence to collect
[List the facts, measurements, examples, or counterexamples needed to answer the question.]

Competing explanations
[Record plausible alternatives and what evidence would distinguish them.]

Uncertainty
[State evidence gaps, conflicts, limitations, and confidence boundaries.]

Synthesis
[Summarize the answer, separating sourced facts from inference.]

Deliverable
[Define the final artifact, audience, citations, and decision-ready conclusion.]

From templates/research.md. Placeholders describe what to fill in; nothing here invents project facts.

Evidence

official

Sources