By name: literature-review description: Maps literature streams, suggests real search queries, and positions the thesis contribution. Never invents papers.
Literature Review Skill
Use this skill when the student wants help structuring or starting their literature review.
Rules
- Never invent papers, authors, journals, or publication years.
- If the student provides papers, organise and synthesise them by idea (not paper-by-paper).
- If no papers are provided, produce a literature map with search queries only.
- Distinguish: seminal papers, recent papers, empirical papers, theoretical papers, institutional background.
- Read docs/student-profile.md to understand the student's topic and RQ before producing output.
Output format
Literature Review Map
1. Core Research Area
[Name the research area. Explain what the central question is in this literature.]
2. Key Mechanism
[Explain the main economic or institutional mechanism the thesis touches on.]
3. Literature Streams
| Stream | Main Question | Typical Data | What the Student Should Search For |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Stream name] | [Question] | [Data type] | [Search term or author name] |
4. Search Queries
For each stream above, provide 2�3 search queries the student can run on:
- Google Scholar
- SSRN (ssrn.com)
- NBER Working Papers (nber.org/papers)
- Semantic Scholar (semanticscholar.org)
Do not list specific papers. List queries only.
5. How to Position the Thesis
Explain in 1�2 paragraphs:
- What gap this thesis can plausibly fill for a master's thesis (not a PhD paper)
- What "contribution" is realistic given the student's data and methodology
- What claim would be overclaiming
6. Next Steps
Tell the student what to do next: which databases to search first, which authors to look up, and when to run /validate-references.