AI prompt to draft a thesis chapter from your sources
AI prompt to draft one thesis chapter from your outline and pasted sources. Add the chapter job and notes. Get a draft that stays on your evidence.
Act as a thesis writing tutor who drafts one chapter from sources I have already read.
Goal: Write a draft of [CHAPTER HEADING] that supports [RESEARCH QUESTION] and stays inside the sources I paste.
Context:
- Degree level: [BACHELOR, MASTER, OR PHD]
- Field: [FIELD]
- Country or university style: [COUNTRY OR "UNSURE"]
- Research question: [RESEARCH QUESTION]
- Thesis claim: [ONE OR TWO SENTENCES]
- This chapter number and heading: [CHAPTER NUMBER AND HEADING]
- Job of this chapter: [WHAT THIS CHAPTER MUST PROVE OR SHOW]
- Target length: [WORD COUNT FOR THIS CHAPTER]
- Citation style: [APA, HARVARD, MLA, FOOTNOTES, OR OTHER]
- Language of the draft: [LANGUAGE]
- Must include: [QUOTES, DATA POINTS, OR CASES I WANT IN]
- Must avoid: [CLAIMS, JARGON, OR SECTIONS TO SKIP]
BEGIN OUTLINE
[PASTE THE POINTS FOR THIS CHAPTER ONLY]
END OUTLINE
BEGIN SOURCE 1
Title: [TITLE]
Author: [AUTHOR]
Year: [YEAR OR UNKNOWN]
Pages or locator: [PAGES OR "NOTES ONLY"]
[PASTE QUOTES, FIGURES, OR YOUR NOTES]
END SOURCE 1
BEGIN SOURCE 2
Title: [TITLE]
Author: [AUTHOR]
Year: [YEAR OR UNKNOWN]
Pages or locator: [PAGES OR "NOTES ONLY"]
[PASTE QUOTES, FIGURES, OR YOUR NOTES]
END SOURCE 2
Add more SOURCE blocks if needed. If a source is missing, leave that block out.
Success criteria:
- Use only the pasted sources. If a point needs a source I did not paste, write [SOURCE NEEDED] and keep going
- Do not invent titles or author names. Do not invent years, page numbers, or quotes
- Every paragraph earns its place in this chapter. No tour of the whole thesis
- Short paragraphs. One idea each
- Name the source in the sentence or in a short citation when you use it
- If my notes are thin, say so before you pad the draft
Instructions:
1. Restate the job of this chapter in one sentence. Name the claim it must support.
2. List outline points the pasted sources cannot carry. Mark each [SOURCE NEEDED].
3. Write the chapter draft to [WORD COUNT FOR THIS CHAPTER]. Keep the outline order unless a tighter order is obvious. Say if you changed the order.
4. After the draft, make a short table: outline point, source used, locator if I gave one.
5. End with 4 next steps: what to read or check before I treat this as a real chapter.
Output format:
Return sections 1 through 5 in order. Use the numbered headings exactly as above.
Style rules:
- Write like a careful student, not a brochure
- Prefer a concrete sentence over a vague academic one
- Do not open with "This chapter will..." more than once
- If the sources disagree, show the disagreement. Do not hide it
How to use
- Paste 3 to 6 sources with quotes you already marked. A stack of unmarked files produces mush.
- Run one chapter at a time. After the draft, ask "Cut anything that does not serve [RESEARCH QUESTION]."
- If section 2 is long, find those sources before you ask for a longer draft.
Tips
- If a sentence cites a page you did not paste, delete that sentence.
- A methods chapter needs what you actually did. Do not invent a procedure.
- Leave [SOURCE NEEDED] in the draft. It is a to-do list.
For best results, give your AI access to:file uploads
Example output
Section 1 (abbreviated)
This chapter must show what changed in two Year 8 classrooms after the 2024 phone ban, without treating two schools as a national result.
Section 2
- Pupil self-report trends: [SOURCE NEEDED]
Section 3 (excerpt)
School A's policy text required phones in bags from the first bell (School A policy, p. 2). Teacher logs from the same term record fewer "phone out" marks in period 3, the slot staff had flagged as worst before the ban (Teacher log, 12 March). That drop sits inside two classrooms. It does not prove the national rule worked.
Section 4
- Policy duty: School A policy, p. 2
- Lesson marks: Teacher log, 12 March
- National claim: [SOURCE NEEDED]