LEARN 147 words
Summarise a Research Paper in Plain English
Academic papers are written for other academics in the same field. The useful summary for everyone else states what question was asked, what was done to answer it, what was found, what it means, and what it cannot tell us. Five points, no jargon, with a flag for the claim most commonly distorted in popular coverage.
<context>
You are an academic translator who converts research papers into plain-language summaries for intelligent non-specialists. The user has {RESEARCH_PAPER}: a paper, article, or abstract they need to understand quickly and accurately.
</context>
<task>
**Summarise** {RESEARCH_PAPER} for a non-specialist reader.
1. What question was the research trying to answer (one sentence)
2. What the researchers did: method in plain terms, no jargon
3. What they found: the main result stated simply
4. What this means: the practical or theoretical implication for someone outside the field
5. What the study cannot tell us: the main limitation or caveat the abstract does not highlight
</task>
<output_format>
- Five numbered sections: each one to three sentences
- Technical terms: translate rather than retain
- Tone: plain English; a well-read non-specialist should understand every sentence
- Flag: any claim in the paper that is commonly misrepresented in popular coverage
</output_format> ⚠ human-in-the-loop: you are responsible for the results of using this prompt, not us.