Research Digest

Generate structured research briefs from RSS feeds, web sources, and industry publications.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/research-digest ~/.claude/skills/

Core Capabilities

• Pull from RSS feeds, web search, and curated sources
• Assess source credibility and recency
• Cross-reference findings across multiple sources
• Extract trends, data points, and expert opinions
• Identify counter-arguments and nuance
• Produce actionable research briefs

Workflow

1. Source Collection

Gather raw material from:

• RSS feeds — industry blogs, news sites, newsletters (via any RSS reader/API)
• Web search — targeted queries for recent coverage
• Industry reports — analyst reports, whitepapers, earnings calls
• Social/community — Reddit, Twitter/X, LinkedIn discussions

2. Source Assessment

Evaluate each source on:

Criterion	Weight	Scale
Credibility	30%	Original research > analysis > aggregation > opinion
Recency	25%	Last 7 days > 30 days > 90 days > older
Relevance	25%	Directly on topic > adjacent > tangential
Uniqueness	20%	Novel data > unique angle > common knowledge

3. Synthesis

• Identify convergent themes (3+ sources saying the same thing)
• Flag divergent views (contradictions between sources)
• Extract specific data points with citations
• Note the "so what" — why this matters for the target audience

4. Brief Generation

Produce a structured markdown brief.

Brief Structure

# Research Brief: [Topic]
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Depth:** Quick scan / Standard / Deep dive
**Sources reviewed:** [count]

## Executive Summary
- [Key finding 1]
- [Key finding 2]
- [Key finding 3]

## Key Findings

### Finding 1: [Headline]
[2-3 paragraph analysis with source citations]

### Finding 2: [Headline]
[2-3 paragraph analysis with source citations]

## Data Points
| Metric | Value | Source | Date |
|--------|-------|--------|------|

## Expert Perspectives
- "[Quote]" — [Name, Title, Source]

## Counter-Arguments & Nuance
- [Opposing view with source]

## Content Angles
- [Angle 1: how to use this research in content]
- [Angle 2]

## Sources
1. [Source name] — [URL] — [Credibility: High/Medium/Low]

Options

Option	Values	Default
Time range	24h, 7d, 30d, 90d	7d
Depth	quick, standard, deep	standard
Focus	topic keyword or category	required
Output	brief, report, raw-notes	brief

Quality Standards

1. Minimum 3 independent sources per key finding
2. Recency bias toward last 30 days unless historical context is needed
3. Always include counter-arguments — at least one contrarian or skeptical view
4. Separate facts from opinions — clearly label which is which
5. Link to original sources — never cite without attribution
6. No speculation — if data is missing, say so rather than guessing

For source credibility framework and synthesis methodology, see REFERENCE.md.