How to Automate a Research Workflow with SciSpace Agent
Quick answer
Use SciSpace Agent when the deliverable requires several connected actions, not for a single lookup. Give it a written brief that names the question, sources, constraints, deliverables, and review checkpoints; inspect its plan and intermediate files before allowing a large search or analysis. Accept the final result only after checking pivotal papers, calculations, exclusions, and missing information.
About this video
This tutorial explains how to utilize the SciSpace Agent to automate complex research workflows, including tasks like performing gap analysis, drafting reports, and extracting data into LaTeX tables. It demonstrates how agents overcome traditional tool limitations by executing multi-step, connected actions rather than single-function lookups for various research use cases [L5-L53].
SciSpace Agent is designed for research tasks that require more than a single answer. This tutorial explains how to give the agent a goal, supply the right context, review its plan, and guide it through connected steps such as searching, extracting, analyzing, and generating a final deliverable.
What this tutorial covers
- Recognize when an agentic workflow is more useful than a one-step chat response.
- Provide files, constraints, databases, and output requirements before the agent begins.
- Follow the agent’s plan and inspect intermediate decisions instead of evaluating only the final answer.
- Use the agent for literature reviews, evidence tables, data analysis, reports, and reproducible research files.
Key concepts explained
- Agentic research
- The system plans and executes multiple actions toward a defined outcome.
- Context engineering
- Files, inclusion criteria, terminology, audience, and output format determine the quality of the workflow.
- Checkpoints
- Sensitive scope or methodology decisions should be confirmed by the researcher.
- Deliverable-first prompting
- Specify what a successful final output should contain and how it should be structured.
How to try it in SciSpace
- 1
Choose a task with a clear endpoint, such as a screened evidence table or a data-analysis report.
Name the exact artifact the agent must produce—such as a screened evidence table, reproducible analysis, or briefing report—and define the fields, format, and acceptance criteria before running the task.
- 2
Describe the research question, purpose, audience, sources, constraints, and required files.
Provide a structured task brief containing the research question, audience, allowed sources, date range, files, exclusions, terminology, and deliverables. State what the agent should do when information is missing.
- 3
Review the proposed plan and correct assumptions before the agent performs large searches or analyses.
Audit the plan for missing databases, hidden assumptions, unnecessary steps, and decisions that should remain human-led. Edit the plan before the agent spends time on large searches or analyses.
- 4
Inspect intermediate results, including selected papers, exclusions, extracted variables, code, or calculations.
Sample the intermediate work instead of waiting for the final report. Check selected papers, exclusion reasons, extracted variables, code, calculations, and source links against the brief.
- 5
Ask for revisions, then validate the final claims and download the useful outputs.
Request revisions with a written change list and recheck the affected evidence. Accept the final package only after pivotal sources, calculations, and unresolved uncertainties have been reviewed.
Worked example
A public-health team needs an evidence brief on text-message reminders for adult vaccination. In SciSpace Agent, they define the population, date range, eligible study designs, extraction columns, and final deliverables: a study table, a short synthesis, and a limitations section. They inspect the first ten records and discover that several studies measure appointment attendance rather than vaccination uptake, so they revise the eligibility rule before rerunning the task. The final brief preserves the search logic, exclusions, and citations, allowing another reviewer to check how each conclusion was reached.
Practice prompt
Investigate [research question]. Search [preferred sources], include [study types/population/date range], exclude [criteria], extract [variables], and deliver a cited report plus a CSV evidence table. Pause for my approval before screening and final synthesis.
Key takeaway
A research agent is most reliable when the goal, boundaries, checkpoints, and deliverables are explicit.
Frequently asked questions
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