$npx -y skills add LeonChaoX/qinyan-academic-skills --skill research-proposalGenerate academic research proposals for PhD applications. Use when user asks to "write a research proposal", "create PhD proposal", "generate research plan", "撰写研究计划", "写博士申请", "doctoral proposal", or mentions specific research topics for PhD application. Supports STEM, humaniti
| 1 | # Research Proposal Generator |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Generate high-quality academic research proposals for PhD applications following Nature Reviews-style academic writing conventions. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ## Overview |
| 6 | |
| 7 | This skill guides the generation of research proposals through a structured 5-phase workflow: |
| 8 | |
| 9 | 1. **Requirements Gathering** - Collect research topic, domain, language preferences |
| 10 | 2. **Literature Collection** - Gather relevant literature from multiple sources |
| 11 | 3. **Outline Generation** - Create structured outline for user approval |
| 12 | 4. **Content Writing** - Generate full proposal based on approved outline |
| 13 | 5. **Output & Review** - Deliver Markdown file with quality checklist |
| 14 | |
| 15 | **Target Output**: 2,000-4,000 words (default ~3,000 words) for PhD applications. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | --- |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ## Phase 1: Requirements Gathering |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Use `AskUserQuestion` to collect the following information: |
| 22 | |
| 23 | ### Required Information |
| 24 | |
| 25 | 1. **Research Topic/Direction** |
| 26 | - What is the core research question or area? |
| 27 | - Any specific problems to address? |
| 28 | |
| 29 | 2. **Academic Domain** |
| 30 | - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) |
| 31 | - Humanities (History, Philosophy, Literature, Languages) |
| 32 | - Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, Economics, Political Science) |
| 33 | |
| 34 | 3. **Output Language** |
| 35 | - English |
| 36 | - 中文 (Chinese) |
| 37 | |
| 38 | 4. **Target Word Count** |
| 39 | - Default: 3,000 words |
| 40 | - Range: 2,000-4,000 words (humanities may extend to 10,000) |
| 41 | |
| 42 | ### Optional Information |
| 43 | |
| 44 | 5. **Target Institution(s)** |
| 45 | - University/research group names |
| 46 | - Specific faculty members of interest |
| 47 | |
| 48 | 6. **Existing Materials** |
| 49 | - User's prior research or publications |
| 50 | - Relevant literature already collected in Zotero |
| 51 | |
| 52 | ### Example Questions |
| 53 | |
| 54 | ``` |
| 55 | Questions to ask the user: |
| 56 | |
| 57 | 1. "What is your research topic or direction? Please describe the core question or problem you want to investigate." |
| 58 | |
| 59 | 2. "Which academic domain does your research belong to?" |
| 60 | - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) |
| 61 | - Humanities (History, Philosophy, Literature) |
| 62 | - Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, Economics) |
| 63 | |
| 64 | 3. "What language should the proposal be written in?" |
| 65 | - English |
| 66 | - 中文 (Chinese) |
| 67 | |
| 68 | 4. "Do you have a target word count? (Default: ~3,000 words)" |
| 69 | |
| 70 | 5. "Are you applying to specific institutions or working with particular faculty?" |
| 71 | |
| 72 | 6. "Have you uploaded relevant literature to your Zotero library that I should reference?" |
| 73 | ``` |
| 74 | |
| 75 | --- |
| 76 | |
| 77 | ## Phase 2: Literature Collection |
| 78 | |
| 79 | ### Literature Sources Strategy |
| 80 | |
| 81 | ``` |
| 82 | ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ |
| 83 | │ Literature Sources │ |
| 84 | ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ |
| 85 | │ General Info → WebSearch (trends, news, reviews) │ |
| 86 | │ Open Access → arXiv, PubMed (preprints, OA papers)│ |
| 87 | │ Closed Access → Zotero MCP (user's uploaded papers) │ |
| 88 | └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ |
| 89 | ``` |
| 90 | |
| 91 | ### Using WebSearch |
| 92 | |
| 93 | Search for: |
| 94 | - Recent review articles and meta-analyses |
| 95 | - Research trends and emerging topics |
| 96 | - News about breakthroughs in the field |
| 97 | - Methodological advances |
| 98 | |
| 99 | Example searches: |
| 100 | ``` |
| 101 | "{topic} systematic review 2024 2025" |
| 102 | "{topic} research trends future directions" |
| 103 | "{topic} methodology recent advances" |
| 104 | ``` |
| 105 | |
| 106 | ### Using Zotero MCP |
| 107 | |
| 108 | **IMPORTANT**: Remind users to upload relevant closed-access literature to Zotero before starting. |
| 109 | |
| 110 | #### Search User's Library |
| 111 | |
| 112 | ``` |
| 113 | # Search by topic keywords |
| 114 | Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_search_items |
| 115 | Parameters: query = "{research topic keywords}" |
| 116 | |
| 117 | # Advanced search with filters |
| 118 | Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_advanced_search |
| 119 | Parameters: conditions based on author, title, year, tags |
| 120 | |
| 121 | # Semantic search for related papers |
| 122 | Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_semantic_search |
| 123 | Parameters: query = "{research question}" |
| 124 | ``` |
| 125 | |
| 126 | #### Retrieve Paper Content |
| 127 | |
| 128 | ``` |
| 129 | # Get full text content |
| 130 | Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_get_item_fulltext |
| 131 | Parameters: item_key = "{item key from search}" |
| 132 | |
| 133 | # Get user's annotations and highlights |
| 134 | Use: mcp__zotero__zotero_get_annotations |
| 135 | Parameters: item_key = "{item key}" |
| 136 | |
| 137 | # Get user's notes |
| 138 | Use: mcp__zotero_ |