Literature review prompt

What most people type

help me write a literature review on remote work and employee productivity

It works, but the AI has to guess your academic level, field or discipline and audience, so the first answer usually needs another round. The version below asks for exactly what a professional would deliver.

Write a literature review on remote work and employee productivity.

Context: [academic level, e.g. course paper, thesis chapter, journal article] in [field or discipline]. Intended audience: [audience]. Length: [word count]. Citation style: [citation style].

Structure it as an academic literature review would be:
- Introduction: the scope, the research question or aim, and why the topic matters.
- Thematic body sections (not a source-by-source list). Suggest themes such as how productivity is defined and measured, evidence for positive and negative effects, moderating factors (job type, management, individual differences, hybrid vs fully remote), and differences across studies' methods and contexts. Adjust the themes if the literature points elsewhere.
- Critical synthesis: where studies agree, where they conflict, and the methodological limits of the evidence.
- Gaps and directions for future research.
- Conclusion.

Sources: I will supply [list of sources or papers to include]. Use only those. If I haven't supplied any, don't invent citations, authors, statistics or findings. Instead, give a detailed outline with the types of studies to search for, suggested search terms and databases, and mark every claim that needs a citation with [citation needed].

Before drafting, briefly confirm the scope and the missing details above if anything is unclear. Then write in a formal academic tone with clear topic sentences and transitions.

Replace the [brackets] with your details before you send it: field or discipline, audience, word count, citation style, list of sources or papers to include, citation needed.

Why this version works

• Added academic structure for a literature review. Thematic synthesis, gaps and conclusion are what professionals expect.
• Added placeholders for level, field, length, style. These details shape depth and format; none were given.
• Banned invented citations and statistics. Fabricated references are a major risk in literature reviews.
• Added outline fallback when no sources given. Still gives a useful first answer without real sources.

What a professional literature review prompt covers

• Scope such as years and sources placeholder
• Themes or structure
• Asks for real citations only and to flag uncertainty
• Citation style placeholder
• Length

Watch out for

• Permission to invent sources

Best AI model for this prompt

This is a everyday task: needs solid academic writing and synthesis, but no multi-step reasoning or calculation. You don't need the most expensive model. The cheapest model at each company that handles it well:

Pay-per-use list prices for this prompt and its expected answer (about 1,500 tokens). On a monthly chat plan, the same choice shows up as more messages before you hit your limit. See today's AI prices.