4-step ChatGPT research chain for nuanced, non-generic answers

STEP 1 - Scope I want to research {{topic or question}}. Before diving in, help me scope it. - Restate what I am actually trying to find out, in one line. - Break it into the 4-6 sub-questions I'd need to answer to understand it properly. - Flag what I should decide up front: depth, angle, what "done" looks like. Just the scope. Do not answer the questions yet. STEP 2 - Map Now give me the landscape on each sub-question above. For each: - The key facts or current understanding. - The main viewpoints or approaches, if there is more than one. - Keep it concrete and specific, not a vague overview. Important: where you are not confident, or where this is genuinely contested, say so explicitly instead of stating it as fact. I will verify the specifics. STEP 3 - Tensions Now focus on where it gets interesting, the disagreement and the nuance a summary would skip. - Where do informed people actually disagree, and why? - What are the common misconceptions about this? - What are the important caveats or "it depends" factors I should know? STEP 4 - Synthesize Pull it together into a brief I can act on. - The bottom-line answer to my original question, in a few sentences. - Your confidence in it, and the single biggest source of uncertainty. - The 3 specific things I should verify or read further before relying on this. - If I had to decide or act on this today, what you'd advise and why.