Filled Research Prompt Example

# Example — a filled Stage 1 research prompt

This shows `templates/01-deep-research-prompt.md` with its placeholders filled in. The topic — the four-day work week — is **a neutral, unrelated example chosen only to demonstrate the mechanics.** Scriptorium carries no subject matter of its own; substitute your own field, topic, and outline.

This is the research run for **Chapter 1** of a hypothetical master's thesis. The bracketed guidance notes from the template have been deleted, as instructed.

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## CONTEXT — read carefully, this frames the task

I am writing a master's thesis in the field of organisational studies and human resource management.

**Topic:** "The four-day work week as an organisational practice: adoption drivers, outcomes, and limits in knowledge-economy firms."

**Overview of the work:** The thesis examines the compressed and reduced-hours work week as a contemporary organisational practice. It reviews the historical and theoretical grounding of working-time reduction, surveys the empirical evidence from recent pilot programmes, and analyses the conditions under which the practice succeeds or fails. The work is research-only; it does not document a project.

**Structure of the work:** Introduction; Chapter 1 — theoretical and historical foundations of working-time reduction; Chapter 2 — empirical evidence from four-day-week pilots and adoption patterns; Chapter 3 — analysis of enabling and limiting conditions; Conclusion.

**Already covered in earlier runs:** none — this is the first research run.

**Bibliography requirements for the work:** at least 70 sources, of which at least 40 peer-reviewed (journal articles, monographs); English-language sources, with national-language sources where relevant.

## YOUR TASK IN THIS RUN

Collect authoritative sources and detailed theses for **Chapter 1 — theoretical and historical foundations of working-time reduction**.

I do not need a bare list of links. I need detailed theses: for each source, what exactly the author claims, what data or figures they cite, what conclusions they draw, and how it can be used in my work.

**Critical requirements:**

- Every thesis is tied to a specific source — author(s), title, year, journal or publisher, volume/issue and pages where applicable, and a DOI or URL where available.
- Priority of source types: peer-reviewed journal articles, monographs, official reports and standards. Industry reports are acceptable for labour-market data. Avoid blogs and unattributed web pages except as supplementary material.
- Recency: prioritise 2018–2026, but foundational classic works on working time are also required.
- Languages: English-language sources.
- **Do not invent sources.** Do not approximate a citation you are unsure of. If you cannot verify a source's details, say so explicitly rather than guessing.
- Where a source includes a usable table, chart, or figure, describe it and note where it can be found.

## SCOPE OF THIS RUN

### 1.1. The historical evolution of working time

Sources and theses needed on:
- The long-run decline of average working hours in industrialised economies since the nineteenth century, with figures.
- Landmark interventions: the eight-hour-day movement, the standardisation of the five-day week, statutory hours regulation.
- Keynes's "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren" and the historical prediction of leisure expansion — and why it did not materialise as forecast.

### 1.2. Theoretical perspectives on working time and productivity

Sources and theses needed on:
- Labour-economics models relating hours worked to output, including diminishing returns to long hours and the evidence on overwork.
- Organisational-behaviour perspectives: job design, autonomy, the job demands–resources model.
- Well-being and recovery research: the role of rest in performance; burnout literature.

### 1.3. Working-time reduction as a contemporary management debate

Sources and theses needed on:
- The distinction between compressed hours (same hours, fewer days) and reduced hours (genuinely fewer hours) — why the distinction matters.
- The positions in the academic and policy debate: proponents, sceptics, and the conditions each side stresses.
- "White spaces" — gaps in the literature, especially the shortage of long-horizon evidence and of studies outside knowledge work.

## OUTPUT FORMAT

For each subsection, produce:

### [Subsection number and title]

**THESES WITH SOURCES:**

1. [A developed thesis — 3–5 sentences, with concrete data or figures] → **Source:** [Author(s), "Title", Journal/Publisher, Year, Volume/Issue, Pages, DOI/URL]
2. …

(Minimum 8–12 theses per subsection.)

**ADDITIONAL SOURCES** (brief: author, title, year, type):

- …

**USABLE TABLES / FIGURES:**

- [Description, source, and location.]

**GAPS:** If sources are scarce or absent for any question above, state it plainly.