| name | lit-review |
| description | Structured literature search and synthesis with citation extraction and gap identification |
| argument-hint | [topic, paper title, or research question] |
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Grep","Glob","Write","WebSearch","WebFetch"] |
Literature Review
Conduct a structured literature search and synthesis on the given topic.
Input: $ARGUMENTS — a topic, paper title, research question, or phenomenon to investigate.
Steps
-
Parse the topic from $ARGUMENTS. If a specific paper is named, use it as the anchor.
-
Search for related work using available tools:
- Check
master_supporting_docs/supporting_papers/ for uploaded papers
- Use
WebSearch to find recent publications (if available)
- Use
WebFetch to access working paper repositories (if available)
- Read any existing
.bib file for papers already in the project
-
Organize findings into these categories:
- Theoretical contributions — models, frameworks, mechanisms
- Empirical findings — key results, effect sizes, data sources
- Methodological innovations — new estimators, identification strategies, inference methods
- Open debates — unresolved disagreements in the literature
-
Identify gaps and opportunities:
- What questions remain unanswered?
- What data or methods could address them?
- Where do findings conflict?
-
Extract citations in BibTeX format for all papers discussed.
-
Save the report to quality_reports/lit_review_[sanitized_topic].md
Output Format
# Literature Review: [Topic]
**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Query:** [Original query from user]
## Summary
[2-3 paragraph overview of the state of the literature]
## Key Papers
### [Author (Year)] — [Short Title]
- **Main contribution:** [1-2 sentences]
- **Method:** [Identification strategy / data]
- **Key finding:** [Result with effect size if available]
- **Relevance:** [Why it matters for our research]
[Repeat for 5-15 papers, ordered by relevance]
## Thematic Organization
### Theoretical Contributions
[Grouped discussion]
### Empirical Findings
[Grouped discussion with comparison across studies]
### Methodological Innovations
[Methods relevant to the topic]
## Gaps and Opportunities
1. [Gap 1 — what's missing and why it matters]
2. [Gap 2]
3. [Gap 3]
## Suggested Next Steps
- [Concrete actions: papers to read, data to obtain, methods to consider]
## BibTeX Entries
```bibtex
@article{...}
---
## Important
- **Be honest about uncertainty.** If you cannot verify a citation, say so.
- **Prioritize recent work** (last 5-10 years) unless seminal papers are older.
- **Note working papers vs published papers** — working papers may change.
- **Do NOT fabricate citations.** If you're unsure about a paper's details, flag it for the user to verify.