research-proposal

Files (8)

• SKILL.md
• proposal_scaffold_en.md · assets/
• proposal_scaffold_zh.md · assets/
• DOMAIN_TEMPLATES.md · references/
• LITERATURE_WORKFLOW.md · references/
• QUALITY_CHECKLIST.md · references/
• STRUCTURE_GUIDE.md · references/
• WRITING_STYLE_GUIDE.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Research Proposal Generator

Generate high-quality academic research proposals for PhD applications following Nature Reviews-style academic writing conventions.

## Overview

This skill guides the generation of research proposals through a structured 5-phase workflow:

1. **Requirements Gathering** - Collect research topic, domain, language preferences
2. **Literature Collection** - Gather relevant literature from multiple sources
3. **Outline Generation** - Create structured outline for user approval
4. **Content Writing** - Generate full proposal based on approved outline
5. **Output & Review** - Deliver Markdown file with quality checklist

**Target Output**: 2,000-4,000 words (default ~3,000 words) for PhD applications.

---

## Phase 1: Requirements Gathering

Use `AskUserQuestion` to collect the following information:

### Required Information

1. **Research Topic/Direction**
   - What is the core research question or area?
   - Any specific problems to address?

2. **Academic Domain**
   - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
   - Humanities (History, Philosophy, Literature, Languages)
   - Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, Economics, Political Science)

3. **Output Language**
   - English
   - 中文 (Chinese)

4. **Target Word Count**
   - Default: 3,000 words
   - Range: 2,000-4,000 words (humanities may extend to 10,000)

### Optional Information

5. **Target Institution(s)**
   - University/research group names
   - Specific faculty members of interest

6. **Existing Materials**
   - User's prior research or publications
   - Relevant literature already collected in Zotero

### Example Questions

```
Questions to ask the user:

1. "What is your research topic or direction? Please describe the core question or problem you want to investigate."

2. "Which academic domain does your research belong to?"
   - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
   - Humanities (History, Philosophy, Literature)
   - Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, Economics)

3. "What language should the proposal be written in?"
   - English
   - 中文 (Chinese)

4. "Do you have a target word count? (Default: ~3,000 words)"

5. "Are you applying to specific institutions or working with particular faculty?"

6. "Have you uploaded relevant literature to your Zotero library that I should reference?"
```

---

## Phase 2: Literature Collection

### Literature Sources Strategy

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Literature Sources                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  General Info    →  WebSearch (trends, news, reviews)   │
│  Open Access     →  arXiv, PubMed (preprints, OA papers)│
│  Closed Access   →  Zotero MCP (user's uploaded papers) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### Using WebSearch

Search for:
- Recent review articles and meta-analyses
- Research trends and emerging topics
- News about breakthroughs in the field
- Methodological advances

Example searches:
```
"{topic} systematic review 2024 2025"
"{topic} research trends future directions"
"{topic} methodology recent advances"
```

### Using Zotero MCP

**IMPORTANT**: Remind users to upload relevant closed-access literature to Zotero before starting.

#### Search User's Library

```
# Search by topic keywords
Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_search_items
Parameters: query = "{research topic keywords}"

# Advanced search with filters
Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_advanced_search
Parameters: conditions based on author, title, year, tags

From qinyan-ai/qinyan-academic-skills, MIT.

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