{"schemaVersion":"1.0","source":"The Workflow Finder","sourceUrl":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com","license":"Free to use with attribution and a link to the cited page","generated":"2026-08-28","workflow":{"title":"Build a Literature Review in Hours Not Weeks","slug":"build-literature-review-in-hours","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/workflows/build-literature-review-in-hours","description":"Conduct a comprehensive literature review for a research paper, thesis section, or evidence brief using AI to handle the reading and synthesis.","difficulty":"Intermediate","timeEstimate":"3–5 hrs","schemaDuration":"PT5H","expectedResult":"A structured literature review covering 30–50 sources with synthesized themes, key findings, and a gap analysis ready for academic or professional use.","tags":["Research","Education","Writing","Academic"]},"steps":[{"position":1,"title":"Define Your Research Questions","instructions":"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.","input":"Workflow inputs: the topic, goal, or raw materials the user is starting from.","output":"Handoff artifact consumed by Step 2 (\"Discover Relevant Papers\").","toolSlots":[{"slug":"claude","name":"Claude","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/tools/claude","category":"Writing","pricing":"freemium","capabilities":["Long-form writing","Code generation","Web research"],"hasApi":true}]},{"position":2,"title":"Discover Relevant Papers","instructions":"Use Elicit to search for papers answering each research question. Use Research Rabbit to find related papers cited by the most important results.","input":"Output of Step 1 (\"Define Your Research Questions\").","output":"Handoff artifact consumed by Step 3 (\"Extract Key Findings at Scale\").","toolSlots":[{"slug":"elicit","name":"Elicit","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/tools/elicit","category":"Research","pricing":"freemium","capabilities":["Web research","Source synthesis"]},{"slug":"research-rabbit","name":"Research Rabbit","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/tools/research-rabbit","category":"Research","pricing":"free","capabilities":["Web research","Source synthesis"]}]},{"position":3,"title":"Extract Key Findings at Scale","instructions":"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.","input":"Output of Step 2 (\"Discover Relevant Papers\").","output":"Handoff artifact consumed by Step 4 (\"Identify Themes and Synthesis\").","toolSlots":[{"slug":"perplexity","name":"Perplexity","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/tools/perplexity","category":"Research","pricing":"freemium","capabilities":["Web research","Source synthesis"],"hasApi":true}]},{"position":4,"title":"Identify Themes and Synthesis","instructions":"Dump all extracted findings into Claude and ask it to identify 5–7 major themes across the literature, with the papers supporting each theme.","input":"Output of Step 3 (\"Extract Key Findings at Scale\").","output":"Handoff artifact consumed by Step 5 (\"Write the Review\").","toolSlots":[{"slug":"claude","name":"Claude","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/tools/claude","category":"Writing","pricing":"freemium","capabilities":["Long-form writing","Code generation","Web research"],"hasApi":true}]},{"position":5,"title":"Write the Review","instructions":"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.","input":"Output of Step 4 (\"Identify Themes and Synthesis\").","output":"Final workflow output: A structured literature review covering 30–50 sources with synthesized themes, key findings, and a gap analysis ready for academic or professional use.","toolSlots":[{"slug":"claude","name":"Claude","url":"https://www.theworkflowfinder.com/tools/claude","category":"Writing","pricing":"freemium","capabilities":["Long-form writing","Code generation","Web research"],"hasApi":true}]}]}