Research Prompt Formatter
Gives a vague or too-broad research request a defined scope, source criteria, comparison framework, and output format.
Overview
Vague research prompts produce vague research results. 'Tell me about X' gets you a summary. 'Compare X and Y on these criteria for this audience and output a table' gets you something you can use. This formatter adds the scope, criteria, and output structure your research prompt is missing — without changing what you're actually trying to find out.
Workflow
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Write what you want to find out
Include the topic, what you're trying to decide, and any constraints you already know about.
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Open in Prompt Formatter
The formatter adds research question, scope, and output format sections based on your input.
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Add source criteria if relevant
If your research requires specific source types (primary sources, no marketing pages, specific date range), add those to the source criteria section.
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Run the structured research prompt
A structured research prompt produces results that map to your actual decision criteria instead of a generic overview of the topic.
Why This Works
- A defined scope tells the AI where to stop — without one, research results tend to expand into adjacent topics the requester didn't need
- Comparison criteria produce evaluations that are consistent across options, rather than each option being assessed on whatever dimensions the AI found most prominent
- An audience section tells the AI whether to explain concepts or assume familiarity — which directly affects how useful the output is
Best for
- Research requests that produced results too broad or unfocused to use
- Comparison requests where the AI kept choosing a winner without showing the criteria
- Requests where you know what you want to find out but haven't defined how to present it
Not for
- Real-time research using live search — structure the prompt first, then run it
- Research that requires access to proprietary or paywalled sources
Use cases
- Formatting a 'which tool is better' question into a structured comparison prompt with defined criteria
- Giving a broad competitive analysis request a scope and output format
- Structuring a pre-decision research ask before running it against a large document set
- Cleaning up a research prompt that has been producing results that are too general to be useful