Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Nature Social Science Topic Workbench agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The nature-social-science skill is a research-topic workbench for social science and adjacent humanities. Once installed, it guides an AI agent through an eight-step process for turning a vague interest into a researchable question, checking the literature, and testing the argument before you commit. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it with plain requests, and what to watch for.
Nature Social Science Topic WorkbenchYuan1z0825/nature-skills · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Install the skill. Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder, or upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
- 2Describe your starting point. Tell the agent whether you have an interest, a broad topic or a tentative research question. Mention any data or method you already have in mind.
- 3Work through the eight steps. Let the agent take you through search space, landscape, unresolved problems, evidence map, candidate questions, academic survival, feasibility and shortlist, one step at a time.
- 4Ask for counter-evidence. Request null results, contradictions and alternative explanations, and ask for a reviewer-style attack on your leading candidate.
- 5Record unknowns and gates. Write each gate result and open unknown into the worksheets, and note which items need a verification action.
- 6Take the shortlist to a human. Bring the shortlist of at most three topics, with trade-offs and open unknowns, to your supervisor for discussion.
What an agent skill is and what this one makes the agent do
An agent skill is a folder of instructions and reference files that an AI agent loads when a request matches the skill's description. This one is aimed at PhD and master's students in social science and related humanities who are choosing or defending a research topic.
The skill routes your request to the right stage: topic ideas, literature mapping, argument organisation or academic expression. It walks through eight steps (search space, research landscape, unresolved problems, evidence map, candidate research questions, academic survival, PhD feasibility and final shortlist). Each step ends with a gate: PASS, REVISE or STOP, with PARK available at the candidate stage.
- Separates interest from a real unresolved problem, and 'few studies' from a genuine knowledge gap.
- Maps competing questions, explanations and counter-evidence in a field.
- Proposes one to three evidence routes and sets a claim ceiling for what the evidence can support.
- Simulates novelty checks and 'Reviewer 2' style objections.
- Flags overclaiming, verbs that outrun the evidence and loosely used terms.
- Records unknowns instead of guessing.
- Does not pick a 'correct' topic for you.
Install the skill from the ZIP download
Download the skill ZIP from this page and unzip it. The folder must contain SKILL.md at its top level, along with the references directory.
For a personal install, place the unzipped folder in ~/.claude/skills/. To limit it to one project, place it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder instead.
If you use the Claude apps rather than a local setup, you can upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
~/.claude/skills/nature-social-science/Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need a special command. Describe your situation in ordinary language and the agent will match the request to the skill's description. The skill covers thesis topic search, literature landscape, research question design, novelty and reviewer checks, feasibility, advisor-meeting wording and overclaim checks.
State your starting point if you have one. The skill asks whether you have only an interest (Mode A), a broad topic or known relationship (Mode B), or a tentative research question you want audited (Mode C). If you only have a dataset or a favourite method, say what phenomenon it might help you understand; if you cannot answer that, start from Mode A.
- 'I want to study the effect of social media on teenagers. Help me find a thesis topic.'
- 'Is this direction already well studied? Is my topic new?'
- 'Think about how a reviewer would attack this research question.'
- 'Is this conclusion overclaimed? My data only shows a correlation.'
- 'Help me tighten the argument section of my proposal.'
Prepare what the skill needs from you
The skill needs no installed tools or packages. Its inputs are the content of your request. Bring whatever you have: your interest, a broad topic or a tentative question, key readings you already know, any data or method preferences, and your constraints such as time, funding, data access, ethical limits and degree level.
Outputs are working documents: a one-page search space, a landscape map, three to seven unresolved-problem cards, candidate research question cards, a novelty audit, a feasibility file and a shortlist of at most three Topic Cards.
- Your starting interest, broad topic or tentative research question
- Literature you have already read, existing data or method preferences (if any)
- Constraints: time, funding, data access, ethics and degree level
Safety notes: scripts and network access
According to the skill's manifest, it does not run scripts and does not use the network. It is a set of written instructions and reference files, so the main risk is trusting its output rather than running code from it.
The skill itself says the agent cannot replace human judgement. Sensitive research, high-stakes material, dependence on an advisor or institution, and unclear methodological costs should go to a real person: your supervisor, ethics board or a human literature reviewer. The skill can prepare questions for them but cannot authorise anything.
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: no
- Requires: nothing listed
- Check every citation the agent suggests against the original source; the skill itself says not to trust unverified sources.
- Treat 'UNKNOWN' as a task to verify, not as a pass.
Tips for getting useful output
Work one step at a time and keep the agent's running state summary. The skill asks the agent to update its Current Research State after each step rather than carrying a long chat forward. Record results in the worksheets rather than treating the conversation as the final record.
Ask directly for counter-evidence, null results and alternative explanations. The skill is designed to look for these, and it helps to request them explicitly. Keep the difference between status labels in mind: SURVIVE does not mean novel, and PARK does not mean a bad idea.
- Give your constraints early, especially data access and time.
- Ask for the Quick Run first if you want less work; it does not lower evidence or ethics standards.
- Keep unknowns written down rather than letting the agent fill them in optimistically.
What people use it for
- Narrowing a vague interest such as social media and teenagers into a bounded, answerable research question.
- Checking whether a proposed topic is already well covered, and identifying the closest existing work.
- Preparing reviewer-style objections to a thesis proposal before submitting it.
- Catching overclaiming, such as a causal verb used for a correlational finding, in a draft paragraph.
- Building a short, honest set of materials for an advisor meeting.
Frequently asked questions
Is the nature-social-science skill free?
The skill is released under the Apache-2.0 licence, as stated on this page. Check the licence file in the source repository for the full terms before redistributing it.
Do I need to install anything else to use it?
The skill lists no requirements and does not run scripts or use the network. You only need a compatible agent environment that can load skill folders.
Where do I put the skill folder?
Place the unzipped folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for a personal install, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project. In the Claude apps, you can upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Will it pick a research topic for me?
No. The skill explicitly does not generate a 'correct' topic or guarantee novelty, acceptance, funding or publication. It helps you narrow, test and compare options, and the final choice stays with you and your supervisor.
Can I use it for fields outside social science?
The content is scoped to social sciences and adjacent humanities, including quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic, archival, documentary, corpus and digital research. Use it outside that scope with caution.
How is it different from just asking a chatbot for a thesis topic?
The skill imposes a fixed eight-step process with gates, evidence levels, reviewer-style attacks and recorded unknowns, instead of a single open-ended answer. It is designed to stress-test ideas rather than make them sound finished.
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Our verdict
This skill suits PhD and master's students in social sciences who need to narrow a vague interest, prepare for reviewer-style objections, or get materials ready for an advisor meeting. It is the wrong tool if you expect a guaranteed novel topic or acceptance, work outside social sciences and humanities, or want a replacement for your advisor, ethics board or a human literature review.
Download the skill