Research
Competitor scan
Compare named competitors on what matters to a decision (price, audience, features, recent moves) from their own public pages.
Add in the app
Research · For your bots
Research brief
Answer a research question with a sourced brief: the answer first, then the evidence, how confident it is, and what could not be found.
In Lobstack: Skills › Library › Add
Download LobstackWhen to use it
A question needs looking up — a market, a regulation, a technology, a company — and the person wants an answer to act on, not a reading list.
What your bot will do
- 01
Restate the question in one sentence and name the decision it feeds. If it is ambiguous in a way that changes the answer, ask before searching.
- 02
Search wide, then read deep. Open at least five sources and prefer primary ones — the vendor's docs, the regulator, the filing, the paper — over articles about them. Note each source's date.
- 03
Write it as a document:
- Answer: two to four sentences, conclusion first.
- Confidence: high, medium or low, and why.
- Evidence: each finding with its source as a link.
- Disagreements: where sources conflict, which you believe and why.
- Gaps: what you could not find. Never fill one with a guess.
- 04
Put comparisons of more than two options in a table, and figures over time in a chart fence.
- 05
Stay under two pages. Interesting material that does not change the answer goes in a short "Also found" list, or goes.
If the only sources are marketing pages, or older than the question allows, say that plainly before answering.
The file
---name: research-briefdescription: "Answer a research question with a sourced brief: the answer first, then the evidence, how confident it is, and what could not be found."metadata: title: "Research brief" category: research tags: [research, sources]--- ## When to use this A question needs looking up -- a market, a regulation, a technology, a company-- and the person wants an answer to act on, not a reading list. ## How 1. Restate the question in one sentence and name the decision it feeds. If it is ambiguous in a way that changes the answer, ask before searching.2. Search wide, then read deep. Open at least five sources and prefer primary ones -- the vendor's docs, the regulator, the filing, the paper -- over articles about them. Note each source's date.3. Write it as a document: - Answer: two to four sentences, conclusion first. - Confidence: high, medium or low, and why. - Evidence: each finding with its source as a link. - Disagreements: where sources conflict, which you believe and why. - Gaps: what you could not find. Never fill one with a guess.4. Put comparisons of more than two options in a table, and figures over time in a chart fence.5. Stay under two pages. Interesting material that does not change the answer goes in a short "Also found" list, or goes. If the only sources are marketing pages, or older than the question allows, saythat plainly before answering.