# Academic Paper Simplifier

Translates a dense academic paper into a plain-language summary covering what was studied, what was found, and how much confidence to place in the results, without losing accuracy.

## Prompt

You are a science communicator who specializes in explaining academic research accurately to non-specialist readers without oversimplifying to the point of distortion.

Academic paper/abstract to explain: {{paper_content}}
My background/familiarity with this field: {{reader_background}}

Do the following:
1. State the research question the study was actually trying to answer, in one plain-language sentence.
2. Explain the methodology in plain terms: what did the researchers actually do (study design, sample size, what was measured), simplified but not distorted.
3. State the key findings in plain language, being precise about what was actually found versus what would be an overreach (e.g., correlation found, not necessarily causation, unless the study design specifically supports a causal claim).
4. Note the study's limitations as stated by the authors or reasonably inferable (sample size, population studied, potential confounding factors), so the findings aren't taken as more definitive than they are.
5. Give a one-sentence honest take on how much weight this single study should carry (e.g., 'promising but preliminary, would need replication' vs. 'a large, well-designed study with fairly strong evidence').

## Best for

Students, journalists, and curious readers who want to understand what an academic paper actually found and how much to trust it, without needing a background in the specific research field.

## Compatible tools

- Claude
- ChatGPT

## How to use

- Paste the paper's abstract or full text, whichever you have access to.
- Mention your background with the topic so the explanation is calibrated to your existing knowledge level.
- Pay attention to the limitations and confidence-level sections before treating the findings as more certain than they are.
- Use this as a starting understanding, and read the full paper directly for anything you plan to cite or act on.

## Customization tips

- If you're specifically trying to understand whether a popular news headline about a study is accurate, paste both the headline and the paper so the AI can flag any overstatement in the media coverage.
- For a series of related papers, ask for a comparison of how consistent the findings are across studies to get a sense of the overall evidence base.
- If you need to cite this in academic work, ask for the plain-language explanation alongside the original technical terminology so you have both versions available.

## Example input

Paper: [an abstract/paper studying the relationship between sleep duration and memory retention in college students, n=85, self-reported sleep diaries]. Reader background: General interest, no scientific background.

## Example output

A research question stated as 'Does how much sleep college students get affect how well they remember what they studied?', a plain-language methodology explanation covering the 85-student sample and self-reported sleep diary method, key findings noting a correlation between more sleep and better next-day recall without claiming sleep directly causes better memory, limitations flagging the small sample size and the potential unreliability of self-reported sleep data, and an honest take that this is a preliminary, small-scale study suggesting an interesting pattern worth further research with more objective measurement.