Desk Research Plan
Timeboxes and defines done, since desk research otherwise expands to fill the whole project.
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Running it, start to finish
- Set the depth from the consequence of the decision.
- Define what done looks like before you start reading.
- Stop at the timebox and report with stated uncertainty.
What you get back
The output this produces, every time.
- Matches research depth to the consequence of the decision it feeds.
- Defines completion before starting, since desk research has no natural end.
- Names when the answer is not published and primary research is needed instead.
Getting better results
Where this usually goes wrong, and how to avoid it.
- Stop when sources repeat. When three consecutive sources add nothing, further reading is unlikely to change the picture.
- Use the field's own vocabulary. Specialist terminology differs from everyday phrasing, and searching with the wrong words misses the best sources entirely.
- Record uncertainty in the output. Research presented without its limits gets treated as more solid than it is by everyone who receives it.
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Written for The AI University. Every prompt in this library is original work — authored, tested and revised here, not collected from elsewhere. 365 of them, free with an account.