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lit-review

Summarize academic papers, extract key findings, and identify research gaps

Published by brycewang-stanford ↗brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills

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lit-review

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Use lit-review to produce a structured literature-review summary and BibTeX entry for [paper PDF, URL, or description], covering its research question, data, methodology, findings, limitations, and relevance to [my research project].

Required inputs

  • [paper PDF, URL, or description]
  • [my research project]

User-approved starter prompt based on a pinned source version; check current skill requirements before running. Task evidence ↗

SKILL.md

name: lit-reviewdescription: Summarize academic papers, extract key findings, and identify research gaps

Literature Review Assistant

When the user provides a paper (PDF, URL, or description), help them systematically analyze and document it for their research.

Paper Summary Template

When summarizing a paper, extract and organize the following:

1. Basic Information

  • Citation: Authors (Year). "Title." Journal, Volume(Issue), Pages.
  • Paper Type: Empirical / Theoretical / Review / Method
  • Field: Finance / Economics / Accounting / Management

2. Research Question

  • What is the main question or hypothesis?
  • What gap in the literature does it address?

3. Data & Sample

  • Data sources: (e.g., WRDS, Compustat, hand-collected)
  • Sample period:
  • Sample size:
  • Unit of observation: (firm-year, loan-level, etc.)
  • Key filters/restrictions:

4. Methodology

  • Identification strategy: (DiD, RDD, IV, matching, etc.)
  • Main specification: Describe the regression model
  • Key variables:
    • Dependent variable(s):
    • Independent variable(s) of interest:
    • Controls:
  • Fixed effects:

5. Main Findings

  • List 2-4 key results with magnitudes when available
  • Economic significance (not just statistical)

6. Robustness & Limitations

  • What robustness checks do they perform?
  • Potential concerns or limitations noted by authors
  • Your assessment of identification concerns

7. Relevance to My Research

  • How does this relate to your current project?
  • What can you cite this paper for?
  • Any data/methods you could adopt?

Quick Commands

When the user says:

  • "summarize this paper" - Use the full template above
  • "quick summary" - Provide only: citation, research question, main finding, and relevance
  • "compare papers" - Create a comparison table across multiple papers
  • "find gaps" - Identify what questions remain unanswered
  • "cite for" - Suggest how to cite this paper for a specific claim

Comparison Table Format

When comparing multiple papers on a topic:

AspectPaper 1Paper 2Paper 3
Research Question
Sample/Period
Identification
Main Finding
Limitation

Literature Gap Analysis

When asked to identify gaps, consider:

  1. Unexplored settings: Are there contexts where this hasn't been studied?
  2. Mechanism: Is the channel well-identified or just a black box?
  3. Heterogeneity: Which cross-sectional variations are unexplored?
  4. External validity: Does it generalize beyond the specific sample?
  5. Time period: Are findings stable across different periods/regimes?
  6. Data limitations: What would better data reveal?

BibTeX Generation

When summarizing, also provide a BibTeX entry:

@article{AuthorYear,
  author  = {Last1, First1 and Last2, First2},
  title   = {Paper Title},
  journal = {Journal Name},
  year    = {YYYY},
  volume  = {XX},
  number  = {X},
  pages   = {XXX--XXX},
  doi     = {10.xxxx/xxxxx}
}

Notes

  • Always note if a paper is published vs. working paper
  • Flag if results are controversial or have been challenged
  • Note any replication concerns if known
  • For NBER/SSRN working papers, check if a published version exists