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Literature Survey Builder

Builds a complete LaTeX/PDF literature survey on a research topic with 60+ verified citations, 6–10 topic-specific figures, and a classified literature table.

Content & WritingIntermediate★ 237⑂ 23AI score 9/10Last updated: Jul 28, 2026

What it does

  • Clarifies topic, scope, citation budget and language, then scaffolds a timestamped run directory from a bundled LaTeX survey template.
  • Expands bibliography.bib to 60+ (100+ recommended) entries across 12–20 query angles, requiring that every BibTeX entry trace back to a URL fetched in the current session — no memory-based or fabricated references.
  • Applies a recency posture (e.g., ≥60% of references from the last three years for fast-moving fields) and blocks prose drafting until the bibliography passes the freshness check.
  • Produces 6–10 survey figures (taxonomy, timeline, coverage matrix, mechanism diagrams, trend plots) with reproducible sources, plus survey-shaped sections and strict float/cross-reference discipline.
  • Compiles with pdflatex/bibtex and runs a quality gate (≥60 refs, ≥6 pages, no padding, human-review footnote).

Who it's for

  • Graduate students and researchers drafting a thesis background chapter or grant related-work section.
  • R&D engineers mapping an unfamiliar field.
  • Anyone who needs a reproducible LaTeX project rather than a chat-only summary.

Examples

  1. "Write a survey on federated learning in healthcare" → 60+ fetched citations, taxonomy diagram plus timeline, ~10-page PDF.
  2. "Review the latest advances in protein structure prediction" → detects "latest", switches to the recency-led search profile, adds year-over-year trend plots.
  3. "Give me curated background reading for my thesis chapter" → delivers literature_table.md and bibliography.bib first, then the written sections.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ai4s-research/ai4s-skills/HEAD/skills/literature-survey/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the skills/literature-survey folder from the GitHub repo ai4s-research/ai4s-skills into my ~/.claude/skills/literature-survey/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/ai4s-research/ai4s-skills.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r ai4s-skills/skills/literature-survey ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/ai4s-research/ai4s-skills.git
  3. Create the skills folder: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
  4. Copy the skill: cp -r ai4s-skills/skills/literature-survey ~/.claude/skills/
  5. Install a LaTeX distribution (TeX Live or MacTeX) and confirm pdflatex --version and bibtex --version work.
  6. Restart Claude Code and ask: "Use the literature-survey skill to write a survey on <topic>".
  7. Find results at output/literature-survey/<slug>/latest/survey_paper/main.pdf; have a domain expert review before publication.