AI prompts for researchers and academics

Research & Summaries prompts

• Plan how to research a questionA research plan: sub-questions, sources, methods, and how you'll know you've got the answer.
• Write an executive research briefTurns research into a short, decision-useful brief for business readers.
• Write a literature reviewOrganizes sources into themes, debates, and gaps, then drafts the review.
• Write a research proposalStructures a proposal with a clear question, rationale, method, and plan.
• Draft an academic paper from my researchStructures and drafts a paper section by section from your data, notes, and findings.
• Peer-review an academic paper or thesisA rigorous reviewer-style critique of a paper's contribution, methods, and clarity.
• Build a timeline of events from my sourcesOrders events chronologically with dates, sources, and gaps.
• Understand a research paper fastExplains what a paper did, found, and how much to trust it — in plain language.
• Synthesize many sources into one clear pictureCombines notes, papers, or articles into themes, insights, and open questions.
• Create a one-page briefing for a busy stakeholderCondenses material into a one-page brief a senior person can absorb in two minutes.
• Ask questions about a document — answers grounded only in itAnswers from the document only, with quotes, and says clearly when the answer isn't there.
• Turn what I read into actions I can takeConverts an article or book chapter into specific actions for your situation.

See all 61 Research & Summaries prompts

Writing & Editing prompts

• Write a well-argued essayPlans and writes an essay with a clear thesis, evidence, and counterarguments.
• Write a paper or conference abstract within the word limitA tight, structured abstract that states the problem, method, key result with numbers, and implication without exceeding the limit.
• Write the discussion and limitations section of my paperDrafts a discussion that interprets results honestly, connects them to prior work, and states limitations without undermining the paper.
• Write a one-page specific aims page for a grantDrafts a tight specific aims page that sells the problem, gap, hypothesis, aims, and payoff on a single page.
• Check whether my paraphrase is too close to the sourceSide-by-side feedback on whether your paraphrase is original enough, plus how to fix it and cite it correctly.
• Write a sole-source justification that passes approvalA clear, defensible case for buying from one supplier without competitive bidding, with the evidence approvers and auditors look for.
• Write a methods section another researcher could replicateTurns my notes into a complete methods section another researcher could replicate, with gaps flagged.
• Develop a stronger thesis statement for my essayCoaching questions and feedback that help you sharpen your own thesis into a clear, arguable claim.
• Write a news analysis article that connects the dotsAn analysis piece that explains a current story by linking it to history, data, and similar events, with every claim sourced.
• Write a lay summary of my research for the public or fundersExplains my study's findings accurately in plain language for funders, press offices, or patients, without overstating results.

Product & UX Design prompts

• Map an opportunity solution treeConnects an outcome to customer opportunities, solutions, and experiments.
• Plan user interviews or usability testsA research plan with goals, participants, discussion guide, and tasks.
• Synthesize customer or user researchTurns interviews, notes, and observations into themes, insights, and opportunities.
• Resolve conflicting stakeholder feedback on a designSorts contradictory feedback from different stakeholders into the real underlying concerns, options, and a reply that moves to a decision.
• Write a design decision record for a key choiceDocuments a design decision with context, options considered, evidence, trade-offs, and reasons, so the team stops reopening it.
• Turn research insights into problem statements and How Might We questionsConverts research findings into sharp problem statements and well-scoped How Might We questions ready for an ideation session.
• Write a screener to recruit the right research participantsBuilds a short screener survey that finds the right people for interviews or tests and filters out poor fits and professional testers.
• Make the business case for a UX improvementBuilds a short, numbers-aware pitch that links a design fix to revenue, cost, or risk so leadership prioritizes it.
• Design an app or website for older adults, children, or other specific usersDesign principles, layout and interaction rules, and a test plan for an interface built for a particular audience, such as older adults or children.

Business Strategy & Startups prompts

• Research a company in depthA company profile: business model, financials, strategy, leadership, risks, and recent news.
• Find grants and funding opportunitiesIdentifies grant types and funders that fit your organization or project, and how to approach them.
• Build a logic model and theory of change for a programA clear chain from inputs to long-term outcomes, with the assumptions underneath it, ready for proposals and evaluation planning.
• Plan the launch of a resale or consignment clothing storeA launch plan covering sourcing, consignor terms, pricing, location, and marketing for a curated secondhand fashion store.
• Turn my analysis into clear strategic choicesConverts research and analysis into a few distinct strategic options, what would have to be true for each, and a recommended direction.
• Make the case for a new academic program or degreeBuilds a program proposal covering demand, fit, cost, outcomes, and approval requirements for a new degree or certificate.

Marketing & Brand prompts

• Research a market and its customersMarket overview, customer needs, pain points, trends, and opportunities — with sources flagged.
• Write an Amazon product listing that follows marketplace rulesTitle options, bullets, description, backend search terms, and A+ content plan that avoid common Amazon policy violations.
• Plan and moderate a focus groupA complete focus group plan: recruiting screener, discussion guide, moderation techniques that get honest opinions, and an analysis template.
• Clean up search terms and build a negative keyword listA review of your paid search terms report with negatives to add, keywords to promote, and wasted spend to cut.
• Plan an account-based marketing program for target accountsAn ABM plan with account selection, tiers, buying-committee messaging, coordinated plays, and measurement.

Content & Social Media prompts

• Write a YouTube video script that keeps viewers watchingA high-retention script: hook, structure, pattern interrupts, and CTA.
• Grow traffic with PinterestBoards, pin designs, keywords, and posting plan to drive traffic from Pinterest.
• Write a law firm client alert on a new law or rulingA timely, skimmable client alert explaining what changed, who it affects, and what to do now, with the disclaimers a law firm needs.
• Turn our survey or proprietary data into a research reportA data-driven content piece with headline findings, charts, and quotable stats from your own data.
• Research a podcast guest and write interview questionsA guest briefing and a set of deep, open-ended interview questions built from the guest's public work, sequenced for a natural conversation.

Legal & Compliance prompts

• Write a legal research memoAn issue–rule–analysis–conclusion memo on a legal question.
• Write a board paper or governance briefingA board paper with context, options, recommendation, and resolution wording.
• Draft an ethics (IRB) application for research with peoplePrepares the core sections of an ethics or IRB application, including risks, consent, data protection, and plain-language participant materials.
• Cite-check a draft brief and list every citation to verifyExtracts every citation and quotation from a draft, checks format and internal consistency, and builds a verification table for the team.
• Review outside counsel invoices against our billing guidelinesChecks law firm bills for guideline breaches, block billing, staffing issues, and budget overruns, and drafts questions for the firm.

Projects & Operations prompts

• Investigate a workplace safety incident or near missA structured investigation that establishes the facts, finds root and contributing causes, and sets corrective actions without blaming individuals.
• Write a sole-source justification that will survive reviewA noncompetitive procurement justification with the legal basis, market research, and price reasonableness that auditors and procurement officers expect.
• Investigate shrink at my store and build a loss prevention planSeparates theft, process errors, and vendor issues using your shrink and exception data, then gives a 30-day reduction plan.
• Find skilled volunteers or pro bono experts for a technical problemA plan to find volunteer or pro bono specialists for a nonprofit or research project, with search channels, a project brief, and outreach messages.
• Agree on authorship and contributions before a collaborationDrafts a fair authorship and contribution agreement using recognized criteria, to prevent disputes on collaborative papers.

Career & Job Search prompts

• Turn my academic CV into an industry resumeConverts a long academic CV into a two-page industry resume that shows research skills as business results.
• Research a company before my interviewA one-page interview briefing on the company, team, and role so you can answer and ask questions with insight.
• Write a UX case study for my design portfolioTurns a past project into a scannable portfolio case study that shows your process, decisions, and impact, not just final screens.
• Write a research statement for an academic job applicationA compelling research statement showing my agenda, past contributions, future plans, and fit with the hiring department.
• Prepare my faculty merit, tenure, or promotion fileOrganizes your teaching, research, and service into a persuasive, evidence-backed academic file with a strong narrative statement.

Learning & Teaching prompts

• Map out a college search plan with my teenA shared college-search timeline that splits tasks between teen and parent, sets cost limits early, and keeps the process low-stress.
• Prepare questions to bring to office hoursA short list of focused questions and what to bring, so a 10-minute office hours visit actually helps.
• Write the report for my capstone or graduation projectA complete, section-by-section structure and drafting plan for a technical final-year project report, built from your own work.
• Generate past-paper-style exam questions with a marking schemeNew questions that match your exam's style and mark allocation, with a marking scheme and model answers at the end.

Presentations & Public Speaking prompts

• Design an academic poster people stop to readPlans poster layout, headline, text, and figures so a passerby gets the main finding in seconds.
• Present my design work and defend key decisionsBuilds a short design review walkthrough that leads with the problem, explains decisions with evidence, and prepares answers to pushback.
• Prepare for my thesis defense or vivaAnticipates likely examiner questions from my thesis, drafts strong answers, and runs a realistic mock defense.
• Turn my paper into a conference talkConverts a written paper into a timed slide-by-slide conference talk with one core message and speaker notes.

Working with AI prompts

• Write a responsible-AI policyAcceptable use, data handling, review requirements, and accountability for AI in your organization.
• List the claims and possible hallucinations to verify in an AI draftExtracts every factual claim, number, quote, and citation from an AI draft, flags likely hallucinations, and gives a verification checklist.
• Write a law firm policy for using generative AI on client workA practical firm policy on generative AI that covers confidentiality, verification of citations, supervision, billing, and client disclosure.

Thinking & Decisions prompts

• Turn research findings into prioritized business recommendationsConverts research or analysis into specific, prioritized recommendations with owners, effort, impact, and how to measure success.
• Find and test the hidden assumptions behind a decision or planLists the assumptions your decision, strategy, options, or problem diagnosis rests on, ranks the riskiest, and shows how to test each one.
• Estimate the impact of a feature before we build itA transparent back-of-envelope impact estimate with ranges, assumptions, and the one number that matters most.

Software Development prompts

• Respond to a security vulnerability report from an outside researcherA triage checklist, severity rating, and replies for a reported vulnerability, from first acknowledgment to fix and disclosure.
• Investigate a suspicious sign-in on a user accountWorks through risky sign-in signals like impossible travel or MFA spam to decide if an account is compromised.
• Make my research analysis reproducible and shareableOrganizes my project's data, code, and documentation so others (and future me) can rerun the analysis and get the same results.

Meetings prompts

• Plan the board pack timeline and chase contributorsA backward-planned schedule for assembling the board pack, with owners, deadlines, and reminder messages that keep it on time.
• Run a weekly growth meeting from my metricsA focused weekly growth meeting agenda, metrics view, and experiment review that ends in clear decisions.
• Prepare for a productive meeting with my research advisorCreates a focused agenda and progress update so advisor meetings end with decisions, feedback, and clear next steps.

Data & Analysis prompts

• Analyze KPI performanceExplains movement in your KPIs: drivers, risks, and actions.
• Build a qualitative codebook from my interview transcriptsDevelops a codebook with definitions, inclusion rules, and examples from my data, ready for consistent coding and thematic analysis.

Sales prompts

• Research a prospect before a sales conversationAn account brief: business context, priorities, likely pains, stakeholders, and conversation angles.
• Write personalized opening lines for a batch of prospectsTurns your research notes on a prospect list into relevant, non-creepy first lines and the angle behind each.

Productivity & Planning prompts

• Plan a research paper with milestones up to the due dateA backward-planned schedule from topic to final draft, with small weekly milestones that fit your other classes.
• Plan my thesis or dissertation timeline to submissionBuilds a realistic backward-planned schedule from submission date, with chapter milestones, buffers, and advisor checkpoints.

Finance & Accounting prompts

• Investigate and clear supplier debit balances in accounts payableFind why vendor accounts show debit balances, decide how to clear each one, and draft the entries and supplier messages.
• Build a research grant budget with personnel effort and indirect costsBuilds an itemized research budget and a funder-ready justification that ties every cost to the project's aims.

Email & Workplace Communication prompts

• Write a journal submission cover letter for my manuscriptA concise cover letter to the editor that states the contribution, fit with the journal, and required declarations.
• Email a potential PhD supervisor or research advisorA short, specific inquiry email that shows fit with the supervisor's work and gets a reply.

SEO & Website prompts

• Do keyword research and find content gapsKeyword clusters by intent, priority topics, and the gaps competitors aren't covering.

Customer Support prompts

• Analyze customer feedback, reviews, or survey commentsFinds themes, sentiment, and priorities in customer feedback, and what to do about them.

Images, Video & Design prompts

• Create a scientific or academic figurePublication-style diagrams and figures for papers, posters, and teaching.

Personal Life & Wellbeing prompts

• Research a car or motorcycle before buying itA plain-language rundown of a vehicle's specs, ownership costs, known issues, and rivals, plus a test-ride checklist.

Leadership & Management prompts

• Equip managers to reinforce training before and afterA manager toolkit with pre-training conversation guide, post-training check-ins, and on-the-job practice ideas to make learning stick.