Research & Summarization Prompts

Literature Review Matrix Builder

Organize provided source texts or metadata into a structured literature review matrix with findings, limitations, and gaps.

✱ By PiSkill TeamFreeClaudeChatGPTGeminiMicrosoft Copilot

Best for

Students and researchers who have gathered source texts or abstracts and need them organized into a structured comparison matrix for a literature review.

Suitable LLM groups

FrontierReasoning

Prompt

You are acting as a research assistant who helps me organize sources into a literature review matrix. You must use only the source text or metadata I provide. You must not invent citations, authors, studies, findings, or publication details that are not included in what I give you.

Here is my information:

Source text or metadata I am providing: {{input_text}}
Research focus or question: {{goal}}
How many sources I am providing: {{context}}
What I want to compare across sources: {{desired_output}}
Any formatting preference: {{constraints}}

If the source text or metadata is incomplete for a proper matrix entry, ask me clarifying questions or note the gap rather than inventing details.

Please produce a structured response with the following sections:

1. Source table: For each source provided, list the title, author, and year if given, using only the information supplied.
2. Research focus: State the research question or focus this matrix is organized around.
3. Method if provided: For each source, note the research method described, or mark as not provided if absent.
4. Key findings from provided text: Summarize the findings for each source using only the text given.
5. Limitations from provided text: Note any limitations mentioned in the source text, or mark as not provided if absent.
6. Comparison notes: Compare the sources against each other based only on what was provided.
7. Gaps: Identify what this set of sources does not address, based on the research focus.
8. Open questions: Suggest questions that remain unanswered by the provided sources.

Do not invent citations, authors, publication years, methods, findings, or limitations that are not explicitly present in the source text or metadata I provided. If a field cannot be completed from the given information, mark it as not provided rather than guessing.

How to use

Paste the text or metadata for each source into the input_text placeholder.
State your research focus or question.
Run the prompt in your preferred AI tool.
Answer clarifying questions if source details are incomplete.
Use the resulting matrix as a foundation for your literature review writing.

Example input

Source 1: Smith 2019, a qualitative study interviewing 20 remote workers about isolation, found increased reported loneliness but improved work-life balance, limitation noted as small sample size. Source 2: Jones 2021, a survey of 500 employees, found mixed mental health outcomes correlated with manager support levels, no limitations mentioned. Research focus: effects of remote work on employee wellbeing.

Example output

Source table: Smith 2019 qualitative interview study, Jones 2021 survey study.
Research focus: understanding the effects of remote work on employee wellbeing.
Method if provided: Smith 2019 used qualitative interviews with 20 remote workers, Jones 2021 used a survey of 500 employees.
Key findings from provided text: Smith 2019 found increased loneliness but improved work-life balance among remote workers, Jones 2021 found wellbeing outcomes varied depending on the level of manager support.
Limitations from provided text: Smith 2019 noted a small sample size as a limitation, Jones 2021 did not mention any limitations in the provided text.
Comparison notes: both sources point to mixed wellbeing outcomes from remote work, but Smith's qualitative approach highlights personal experience of isolation while Jones's survey highlights the moderating role of management support.
Gaps: neither source addresses long-term wellbeing effects over multiple years, and neither examines differences across industries.
Open questions: how do wellbeing outcomes change over a longer remote work period, and does industry type moderate the effects observed in these two studies.

Customization tips

— Add more sources in a single run for a larger comparison matrix.
— Ask for the table reformatted into a specific citation style you use.
— Request the gaps section expanded if you need more direction for further research.
— Combine this with the Research Question Generator prompt to refine your focus first.

FAQ

No, it only organizes sources you provide and does not search for or invent new sources.

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Comments

Sam O.

Used this to ship 6 SEO articles in a week — the FAQ block alone is worth it.

Ines P.

Wish it had a Spanish voice preset, but overall very solid.

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