Build a Literature Review in Hours Not Weeks
Conduct a comprehensive literature review for a research paper, thesis section, or evidence brief using AI to handle the reading and synthesis.
Download workflow config (JSON)How the data moves
This is a handoff plan, not an automatic integration. Review outputs before the next step. Unlabeled arrows show order, not a verified data format. Use the capability links to explore tool substitutions.
Step 1
Define Your Research Questions
Write 3–5 precise research questions that the literature review needs to answer. These guide what you search for and what you extract from each paper.
Step 2
Discover Relevant Papers
Use Elicit to search for papers answering each research question. Use Research Rabbit to find related papers cited by the most important results.
Step 3
Extract Key Findings at Scale
Upload batches of PDFs to SciSpace or ChatPDF. For each paper, ask: what is the main finding, method, sample size, and limitation? Export the responses.
Step 4
Identify Themes and Synthesis
Dump all extracted findings into Claude and ask it to identify 5–7 major themes across the literature, with the papers supporting each theme.
Step 5
Write the Review
Use Claude to write the literature review section by section, introduction to the field, theme by theme, and a gap analysis identifying what the literature hasn't addressed.
Time Required
3–5 hrs
Expected Result
A structured literature review covering 30–50 sources with synthesized themes, key findings, and a gap analysis ready for academic or professional use.
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