Academic Research Skill

Systematic literature search with source prioritization and APA 7th edition citations.

Research Workflow

1. Search Strategy (Execute in Order)

Phase 1 – Academic databases (Priority 1-2):

• site:scholar.google.com [topic]
• site:pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [topic]
• site:semanticscholar.org [topic]
• site:arxiv.org [topic]

Phase 2 – Institutional (Priority 3-4):

• site:edu [topic] research
• site:gov [topic]
• site:who.int OR site:un.org [topic]

Phase 3 – General (only if needed):

• Verify author credentials before citing
• Cross-reference with academic sources

2. Classify & Tag Sources

Classify each source by priority (1=highest, 6=lowest). See references/source_hierarchy.md for domain patterns.

Apply uncertainty markers to findings:

• [UNVERIFIED] – single source only
• [CONFLICTING] – sources disagree
• [INDUSTRY SOURCE] – potential commercial bias
• [PREPRINT] – not peer-reviewed
• [OUTDATED] – >5 years old in fast-moving field
• [SECONDARY] – primary source not accessed

3. Generate Report

# Research Report: [Topic]

**Query:** [question]
**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]

## Executive Summary
[2-3 paragraph synthesis]

## Methodology
- Search queries used
- Databases searched
- Inclusion/exclusion criteria

## Findings
### [Theme 1]
[Content with inline citations (Author, Year)]

## Source Quality Assessment
| Source | Type | Priority | Notes |
|--------|------|----------|-------|

## Uncertainties and Limitations
- [conflicts, gaps, biases]

## References
[APA 7th edition, alphabetized]

APA Citation Basics

Inline: (Smith, 2023) or (Smith et al., 2023) for 3+ authors

Common reference formats:

• Journal: Author, A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Vol(Issue), pp–pp. https://doi.org/xxx
• Website: Author. (Year, Month Day). Title. Site Name. https://url
• Report: Organization. (Year). Title of report. https://url

For complete APA 7th edition rules, edge cases, and additional source types, see references/apa_citation.md.

Note: For advanced citation work (complex source types, legal/media citations, batch formatting), the apa-style-citation skill provides enhanced expertise.

Quality Checklist

Before finalizing:

• All claims have citations
• Source hierarchy followed (prioritize peer-reviewed)
• Conflicts noted with [CONFLICTING] marker
• Uncertainties section populated
• References complete in APA format

Core Rules

1. Never fabricate sources – if no evidence exists, say so
2. Acknowledge limitations – be transparent about gaps
3. Maintain objectivity – present conflicting evidence fairly
4. Prioritize recency – prefer recent sources unless historical context needed
5. Weight by priority – higher priority sources trump lower when conflicting

Scripts

Generate search queries: python scripts/research_agent.py generate-queries "topic" Classify a URL: python scripts/research_agent.py classify-url "https://..."