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survey-generation

lingzhi227/agent-research-skills

Generate comprehensive academic survey papers with structured outlines, RAG-based writing, and validated citations.

What is survey-generation?

Automates creation of complete academic survey papers by collecting relevant literature, generating multi-perspective outlines, writing subsections with citations, and validating coherence. Use this when you need to produce a structured literature survey on a research topic with proper citations and logical flow.

  • Parallel multi-LLM outline generation to capture diverse perspectives
  • RAG-based subsection writing with inline citations from collected papers
  • Citation validation using NLI to ensure claims are supported by sources
  • Local coherence enhancement across subsections with smooth transitions
  • Automatic BibTeX generation and citation key management
  • Structured output with main.tex, references.bib, outline.json, and section files

How to install survey-generation

npx skills add https://github.com/lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill survey-generation
Prerequisites
  • Python environment with semantic-scholar and arXiv access
  • Access to deep-research or literature-search skill for paper collection
  • LLM API credentials for parallel outline generation
  • BibTeX-compatible LaTeX environment for output
Claude Code
Cursor
Windsurf
Cline

How to use survey-generation

  1. 1.Provide a survey topic or research area as input
  2. 2.Collect 50-200 relevant papers using the literature search script (search_semantic_scholar.py)
  3. 3.Run the multi-LLM parallel outline generation to create N independent outlines
  4. 4.Merge outlines into a single comprehensive structure with subsections
  5. 5.For each subsection, retrieve relevant papers and generate content with citations
  6. 6.Validate all citations using NLI to ensure claims are supported
  7. 7.Enhance local coherence by refining transitions between subsections
  8. 8.Convert citations to BibTeX format and generate the final references.bib file

Use cases

Good for
  • Writing a comprehensive literature survey for a research proposal or thesis
  • Generating background sections for academic papers on emerging topics
  • Creating structured overviews of a research area for team onboarding
  • Producing survey papers for publication with validated citations
  • Synthesizing 50-200 papers into a coherent narrative with proper attribution
Who it's for
  • Academic researchers and PhD students
  • Literature review authors
  • Research team leads synthesizing domain knowledge
  • Authors preparing survey papers for publication

survey-generation FAQ

What papers can I cite?

Only papers from the collected paper list provided in Step 1. The skill enforces this rule and will not hallucinate citations to papers not in your collection.

How many papers should I collect?

The workflow recommends 50-200 papers filtered by relevance and citation count. Start with a semantic scholar search and filter by quality.

Can I edit the generated survey?

Yes. The output includes individual section files and an outline.json, allowing you to review and refine content before final compilation.

What format is the final output?

A complete LaTeX survey with main.tex, references.bib (BibTeX), outline.json (structure), and individual section files for modularity.

How does citation validation work?

The skill uses Natural Language Inference (NLI) to verify that cited papers actually support the claims made in each subsection, removing or correcting unsupported citations.

Full instructions (SKILL.md)

Source of truth, from lingzhi227/agent-research-skills.


name: survey-generation description: Generate complete academic survey papers using multi-LLM parallel outline generation, RAG-based subsection writing, citation validation, and local coherence enhancement. Based on AutoSurvey pipeline. Use for writing comprehensive literature surveys. argument-hint: [topic]

Survey Generation

Generate complete academic survey papers with structured outline, RAG-based writing, and citation validation.

Input

  • $0 — Survey topic or research area

Scripts

Literature search

python ~/.claude/skills/deep-research/scripts/search_semantic_scholar.py \
  --query "relevant search query" --max-results 50

References

  • Survey prompts (outline, writing, citation, coherence): ~/.claude/skills/survey-generation/references/survey-prompts.md

Workflow (from AutoSurvey)

Step 1: Collect Papers

  1. Search Semantic Scholar / arXiv for papers on the topic
  2. Collect 50-200 relevant papers with titles and abstracts
  3. Filter by relevance and citation count

Step 2: Generate Outline (Multi-LLM Parallel)

  1. Generate N rough outlines independently (parallel)
  2. Merge outlines into a single comprehensive outline
  3. Expand each section into subsections
  4. Edit final outline to remove redundancies

Step 3: Write Subsections (RAG-Based)

For each subsection:

  1. Retrieve relevant papers for the subsection topic
  2. Generate content with inline citations [paper_title]
  3. Enforce minimum word count per subsection
  4. Only cite papers from the provided list

Step 4: Validate Citations

For each subsection:

  1. Check that cited paper titles are correct
  2. Verify citations support the claims made
  3. Remove or correct unsupported citations
  4. Use NLI (Natural Language Inference) for claim-source faithfulness

Step 5: Enhance Local Coherence

For each subsection:

  1. Read previous and following subsections
  2. Refine transitions and flow
  3. Preserve core content and citations
  4. Ensure smooth reading experience

Step 6: Convert Citations to BibTeX

  1. Replace [paper_title] with \cite{key}
  2. Generate BibTeX entries for all cited papers
  3. Validate all citation keys exist in .bib file

Output Structure

survey/
├── main.tex          # Complete survey paper
├── references.bib    # All citations
├── outline.json      # Survey outline
└── sections/         # Individual section files

Rules

  • Only cite papers from the collected paper list — never hallucinate citations
  • Each subsection must meet minimum word count
  • No duplicate subsections across sections
  • Citation validation is mandatory before final output
  • Local coherence enhancement must preserve all citations
  • The survey should be comprehensive and logically organized

Related Skills

  • Upstream: deep-research, literature-search, literature-review
  • See also: related-work-writing

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