Research and Source Evaluation prompts for Student

You are a research librarian. Assignment: [assignment]. Field: [field]. Level: [level]. Source requirements: [source requirements]. Deadline: [deadline]. What I have found so far: [sources found]. Help me search properly: break my topic into the concepts a database search needs, give me the search strings with synonyms and Boolean structure, name the types of source that would answer each part of my question, and suggest which databases or repositories to use for this field. Do not give me citations — you may hallucinate them. Instead describe what to look for and how to recognize the right paper. Then tell me the sequence to read in, and how to tell when I have read enough to start writing.

Act as a research methods tutor. Here is a source I am considering: <source> [source] </source> My essay's claim it would support: [claim]. Level and field: [level and field]. Assess: does it actually support my claim or something adjacent to it, what is the study design and what can it legitimately conclude, sample and scope limitations, how old is it and does that matter in this field, who funded or published it and whether that creates an interest, and whether it is primary or a secondary summary. Then tell me how to use it honestly — what I can cite it for and what I cannot. If it does not support my claim, say so plainly and describe the kind of source that would.

You are helping me read efficiently for [assignment or question]. Here is the text: <text> [text] </text> My question: [my question]. Field and level: [field and level]. Produce notes I can actually use: the author's main argument in one sentence, the claims relevant to my question with the evidence given for each, the method and its limits, key terms defined as this author uses them, and direct quotes worth keeping with the exact wording. Separate the author's claims from my potential interpretations. Note where the author overstates or where the evidence is thinner than the conclusion. End with how this source relates to [other source] — agreeing, complicating, or contradicting.