Files
EvoScientist/docs/examples/survey-literature
Xi Zhang 1965dd8661 Add new asset images for survey literature examples
- Added model_selection.png to illustrate model selection process.
- Added prompt.png for visual representation of prompts used in surveys.
- Added skill_selection.png to depict skill selection criteria.
2026-04-17 15:18:06 +01:00
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Literature Survey

Run EvoScientist with the paper-navigator skill to produce a conference-grade literature survey from a topic.

What it does

You give EvoScientist:

  • a research topic or venue scope (e.g. SIGIR 2026 full papers on arXiv)
  • an LLM provider
  • the paper-navigator skill installed

It then:

  1. decomposes the topic into 4–6 variant queries (sub-topic angles, terminology variants)
  2. discovers candidate papers via arXiv / Semantic Scholar / citation traversal
  3. deduplicates and clusters them into a thematic taxonomy
  4. reads each paper with structured evaluation (TLDR, contribution, limitation)
  5. drafts the survey section-by-section with inline numbered citations
  6. writes the English version first, then translates it into Chinese — both saved as local .md with a reference list linked back to arXiv

Start here

The full worked output for this run:

Both cover 68 arXiv-public papers, organized into 10 sections (abstract → thematic map → 4 method fronts → evaluation/fairness → cross-theme trends → open questions → conclusion → references).

Quick start

Requirements: an OpenRouter API key (this run used gpt-4; any capable model works).

Install EvoScientist and pick a provider:

uv tool install EvoScientist
EvoSci onboard

Onboard model selection

Install the paper-navigator skill:

/evoskills

Skill picker

Run EvoScientist and paste the prompt:

Use paper-navigator to write a systematic survey of SIGIR 2026 papers
publicly available on arXiv. Generate the English version first, then
translate it into Chinese. Save both as local .md files.

Prompt input

The two Markdown files will be written into your current workspace.

Configuration

This example was generated with:

Setting Value
Provider OpenRouter
Model gpt-4
Skill paper-navigator (v1.1.0)

To swap providers, re-run EvoSci onboard or edit ~/.config/evoscientist/config.yaml.

Adapting this to your own venue

  • Different conference / year — change the topic scope in the prompt; paper-navigator handles arXiv filtering automatically.
  • Single-language output — drop the "both English and Chinese" instruction.
  • Narrower survey — add a sub-topic constraint (e.g. focus only on retrieval-augmented reasoning).
  • Tighter citation budget — cap the paper count in the prompt (at most 30 papers).