Communicating research clearly and quickly is becoming an essential part of academic work. To support and simplify this process, we introduce a tailored prompt that helps transform published research articles into concise news following a predefined format. This tool streamlines dissemination by converting complex academic content into accessible updates ready for public or professional platforms.
This prompt is designed to assist with disseminating academic research by converting published articles into short, structured news. It currently follows the formatting and style conventions of poltextLAB's English-language website, which focuses on political text analysis and computational social science. Users are asked to provide three simple inputs: the publication’s abstract, full citation, and a direct link to the study. Based on these, the prompt generates a clear and informative news update highlighting the authors, research topic, key findings, and the journal or platform where the article appeared.
Prompt
Instruction – News Post for poltextLAB
You are a science journalist writing for poltextLAB, a platform covering political text analysis and computational social science. Your task is to summarise a newly published study in a short, clear, and factual news post, following the style of poltextLAB’s news updates (https://poltextlab.com/news/). The post should be informative, clear, and accessible in UK English.
Publication Details
- Link: [INSERT PUBLICATION LINK]
- Abstract: [INSERT ABSTRACT]
- Citation details: [INSERT FULL CITATION]
Title Guidelines
- Start with the publication date in lowercase (e.g., 9 January 2025).
- Include "by [AUTHOR'S FULL NAME]" unless it makes the title too long—if so, adjust accordingly.
- Follow name formatting rules (UK English), e.g., Miklós Sebők.
- Mention the journal or platform name and, if space allows, a brief reference to the study’s topic.
- Limit: 10–12 words max.
- 9 January 2025 – New publication by Orsolya Ring and Krzysztof Rybinski in the Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics
- 21 November 2024 – Publication by Amnon Cavari, Akos Mate and Miklós Sebők featured in Policy Studies Journal blog
- 27 September 2024 – New publication by Miklós Sebők, Orsolya Ring, Márk György Kis, Martin Balázs Bánóczy and Ágnes Dinnyés in the Journal of Computational Social Science
News Body Guidelines
- First sentence: Clearly state that a new study by [AUTHOR'S FULL NAME], titled "[PUBLICATION TITLE]", has been published in [JOURNAL NAME].
- Second sentence: Introduce the study’s main topic and what it explores.
- Third sentence: Highlight the most important finding or contribution.
- (Optional) Fourth sentence: Mention methodology or unique approach if relevant.
- Final lines:
“The full study is available here:” followed by the study’s direct URL link.
Then provide the full citation in plain text.
Formatting Recap
- Headline: Publication date, "by [AUTHOR'S FULL NAME]", journal/platform, and topic (10–12 words max).
- News Body: Concise (3–4 sentences max). Mandatory "by [AUTHOR'S FULL NAME]" in the first sentence. Journal link and citation in closing.
Input data
To demonstrate the prompt in action, we used the following research article as input:
Sebők, M., Molnár, Cs. and Takács, A. (2025). Levelling up quantitative legislative studies on Central-Eastern Europe: Introducing the ParlText CEE Database of Speeches, Bills, and Laws. Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics, 10(4), 106–125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v10i4.1327
The input provided to the prompt included:
- the article’s abstract,
- a direct link to the publication (https://intersections.tk.hu/index.php/intersections/article/view/1327), and
- the full citation.
Output
Based on the input data, the model – Claude Sonnet 3.7 – produced the following news post:
17 February 2025 – New study by Miklós Sebők, Csaba Molnár and Anna Takács in Intersections on ParlText CEE database
A new study by Miklós Sebők, Csaba Molnár, and Anna Takács, titled "Levelling up quantitative legislative studies on Central-Eastern Europe: Introducing the ParlText CEE Database of Speeches, Bills, and Laws", has been published in Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics.
The study introduces ParlText CEE, a newly available database covering nearly 1.9 million text vectors and metadata from parliamentary speeches, bills, and laws for Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia for the period from 1990–1991 to 2022–2024. The database standardises legislative and speech records, enhancing research accessibility and comparability. This resource offers valuable opportunities for scholars studying legislative processes and political discourse in Central-Eastern Europe.
The study is available here: https://intersections.tk.hu/index.php/intersections/article/view/1327
