Research Proposal
Produce Nature Reviews–style PhD research proposals in English or Chinese with literature-backed outlines before applications or grant drafts.
Overview
Research Proposal is an agent skill most often used in Idea (also Validate scope, Build docs) that generates PhD-style research proposals through a 5-phase literature and outline workflow with Zotero and web sources.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/luwill/research-skills --skill research-proposalWhat is this skill?
- Structured 5-phase workflow: requirements, literature, outline approval, drafting, and refinement
- STEM, humanities, and social sciences adaptations with Nature Reviews–style academic tone
- Bilingual output (English or Chinese) driven by user preference
- Zotero MCP integration for search, metadata, full text, annotations, and notes
- Triggers on PhD proposal phrases including 撰写研究计划 and doctoral application topics
- 5-phase structured workflow from requirements through refinement
- Supports STEM, humanities, and social sciences field adaptations
Adoption & trust: 516 installs on skills.sh; 657 GitHub stars; 2/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You must write a credible PhD research proposal but lack time to structure literature, align field norms, and draft in academic English or Chinese from scattered notes.
Who is it for?
Applicants and indie researchers with Zotero libraries who want agent-assisted academic proposals in STEM or humanities.
Skip if: Solo SaaS founders who need landing copy, pitch decks, or lightweight idea validation without academic citation standards.
When should I use this skill?
User asks to write a research proposal, PhD/doctoral proposal, research plan, 撰写研究计划, 写博士申请, or names a PhD application research topic.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You receive an approved-outline-driven proposal draft with literature grounding and field-specific sections ready to edit for submission.
- Structured proposal outline for user approval
- Full research proposal draft in chosen language
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Canonical shelf is Idea because the workflow starts with topic requirements and literature synthesis before any product build; it also supports Validate-style planning artifacts for academic paths. Research subphase matches literature collection, semantic search, and proposal framing—not landing pages or shipping code.
Where it fits
Map gap statements and prior work for a dissertation topic before committing to an application deadline.
Turn a rough research question into a fundable multi-year plan with milestones the committee can evaluate.
Produce a polished long-form research document appendix for a lab wiki or shared repo README.
How it compares
Academic proposal workflow with Zotero—not a generic blog writer or startup PRD generator.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is research-proposal for?
PhD applicants, academic indie researchers, and agent users who need formal research plans in English or Chinese with real literature support.
When should I use research-proposal?
In Idea → research when scoping a doctoral topic; in Validate → scope when turning a hypothesis into a fundable plan; in Build → docs when producing a long-form research appendix for a thesis or lab onboarding.
Is research-proposal safe to install?
Check this page’s Security Audits panel for the source repo; the skill uses WebSearch and Zotero MCP—avoid pointing it at confidential corpora you have not reviewed.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Research Proposal
# Research Proposal Generator Generate high-quality academic research proposals for PhD applications following Nature Reviews-style academic writing conventions. ## Overview This skill guides the generation of research proposals through a structured 5-phase workflow: 1. **Requirements Gathering** - Collect research topic, domain, language preferences 2. **Literature Collection** - Gather relevant literature from multiple sources 3. **Outline Generation** - Create structured outline for user approval 4. **Content Writing** - Generate full proposal based on approved outline 5. **Output & Review** - Deliver Markdown file with quality checklist **Target Output**: 2,000-4,000 words (default ~3,000 words) for PhD applications. --- ## Phase 1: Requirements Gathering Use `AskUserQuestion` to collect the following information: ### Required Information 1. **Research Topic/Direction** - What is the core research question or area? - Any specific problems to address? 2. **Academic Domain** - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) - Humanities (History, Philosophy, Literature, Languages) - Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, Economics, Political Science) 3. **Output Language** - English - 中文 (Chinese) 4. **Target Word Count** - Default: 3,000 words - Range: 2,000-4,000 words (humanities may extend to 10,000) ### Optional Information 5. **Target Institution(s)** - University/research group names - Specific faculty members of interest 6. **Existing Materials** - User's prior research or publications - Relevant literature already collected in Zotero ### Example Questions ``` Questions to ask the user: 1. "What is your research topic or direction? Please describe the core question or problem you want to investigate." 2. "Which academic domain does your research belong to?" - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) - Humanities (History, Philosophy, Literature) - Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, Economics) 3. "What language should the proposal be written in?" - English - 中文 (Chinese) 4. "Do you have a target word count? (Default: ~3,000 words)" 5. "Are you applying to specific institutions or working with particular faculty?" 6. "Have you uploaded relevant literature to your Zotero library that I should reference?" ``` --- ## Phase 2: Literature Collection ### Literature Sources Strategy ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Literature Sources │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ General Info → WebSearch (trends, news, reviews) │ │ Open Access → arXiv, PubMed (preprints, OA papers)│ │ Closed Access → Zotero MCP (user's uploaded papers) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ### Using WebSearch Search for: - Recent review articles and meta-analyses - Research trends and emerging topics - News about breakthroughs in the field -