Research Summarizer

What This Skill Does

The Research Summarizer skill provides a structured workflow for summarizing research papers, articles, and reports into actionable briefs. It's designed for product managers, analysts, and founders to efficiently extract key information, compare sources, and properly format citations, saving time and improving comprehension.

When to Use

• Summarize a research paper into a structured brief.
• Compare multiple sources side-by-side with synthesis.
• Extract and format all citations from a document.
• Get a research brief on a specific topic.
• Break down a complex whitepaper.
• Quickly understand the key findings in a document.

Key Features

Summarizes single sources into structured briefs. Compares 2-5 sources side-by-side with synthesis. Extracts and formats citations from documents. Identifies source type (paper, article, report, etc.). Uses appropriate structure based on source type (IMRAD, claim-evidence, etc.). Provides key thesis, findings, and methodology.

Manual Installation

Manual installation## Slash Commands

When This Skill Activates

Recognize these patterns from the user:

"Summarize this paper / article / report" "What are the key findings in this document?" "Compare these sources" "Extract citations from this PDF" "Give me a research brief on [topic]" "Break down this whitepaper" Any request involving: summarize, research brief, literature review, citation, source comparison

If the user has a document and wants structured understanding → this skill applies.

Workflow

/research:summarize — Single Source Summary

Identify source type

• Academic paper → use IMRAD structure (Introduction, Methods, Results, Analysis, Discussion)
• Web article → use claim-evidence-implication structure
• Technical report → use executive summary structure
• Documentation → use reference summary structure

Extract structured brief Title: [exact title] Author(s): [names] Date: [publication date] Source Type: [paper | article | report | documentation]

Key Thesis

[1-2 sentences: the central argument or finding]

Key Findings

1. [Finding with supporting evidence]
2. [Finding with supporting evidence]
3. [Finding with supporting evidence]

Methodology

[How they arrived at these findings — data sources, sample size, approach]

Limitations

• [What the source doesn't cover or gets wrong]

Actionable Takeaways

• [What to do with this information]

Notable Quotes

"[Direct quote]" (p. X)

Assess quality

• Source credibility (peer-reviewed, reputable outlet, primary vs secondary)
• Evidence strength (data-backed, anecdotal, theoretical)
• Recency (when published, still relevant?)
• Bias indicators (funding source, author affiliation, methodology gaps)

/research:compare — Multi-Source Comparison

Collect sources (2-5 documents) Summarize each using the single-source workflow above Build comparison matrix

Synthesize

• Where do sources agree? (convergent findings = stronger signal)
• Where do they disagree? (divergent findings = needs investigation)
• What gaps exist across all sources?
• What's the weight of evidence for each position?

Produce synthesis brief

Consensus Findings

[What most sources agree on]

Contested Points

[Where sources disagree, with strongest evidence for each side]

Gaps

[What none of the sources address]

Recommendation

[Based on weight of evidence, what should the reader believe/do?]

/research:cite — Citation Extraction

Scan document for all references, footnotes, in-text citations Extract and format using the requested style (APA 7 default) Classify citations by type:

• Primary sources (original research, data)
• Secondary sources (reviews, meta-analyses, commentary)
• Tertiary sources (textbooks, encyclopedias) Output sorted bibliography with classification tags

Supported citation formats: APA 7 (default) — social sciences, business IEEE — engineering, computer science Chicago — humanities, history Harvard — general academic MLA 9 — arts, humanities

Tooling

scripts/extract_citations.py

CLI utility for extracting and formatting citations from text.

Features: Regex-based citation detection (DOI, URL, author-year, numbered references) Multiple output formats (APA, IEEE, Chicago, Harvard, MLA) JSON export for integration with reference managers Deduplication of repeated citations

Usage:

Extract citations from a file (APA format, default)

python3 scripts/extract_citations.py document.txt

Specify format python3 scripts/extract_citations.py document.txt --format ieee

JSON output python3 scripts/extract_citations.py document.txt --format apa --output json

From stdin cat paper.txt | python3 scripts/extract_citations.py --stdin

scripts/format_summary.py

CLI utility for generating structured research summaries.

Features: Multiple summary templates (academic, article, report, executive) Configurable output length (brief, standard, detailed) Markdown and plain text output Key findings extraction with evidence tagging

Usage:

Generate structured summary template

python3 scripts/format_summary.py --template academic

Brief executive summary format python3 scripts/format_summary.py --template executive --length brief

All templates listed python3 scripts/format_summary.py --list-templates

JSON output python3 scripts/format_summary.py --template article --output json

Quality Assessment Framework

Rate every source on four dimensions:

Overall Rating: 4 Highs = Strong source — cite with confidence 2+ Mediums = Adequate source — cite with caveats 2+ Lows = Weak source — verify independently before citing

Summary Templates

See references/summary-templates.md for: Academic paper summary template (IMRAD) Web article summary template (claim-evidence-implication) Technical report template (executive summary) Comparative analysis template (matrix + synthesis) Literature review template (thematic organization)

See references/citation-formats.md for: APA 7 formatting rules and examples IEEE formatting rules and examples Chicago, Harvard, MLA quick reference

Proactive Triggers