/cs:syllabus — Course Supplementary Reading List
Command: /cs:syllabus <syllabus-file-or-paste>
The cs-syllabus persona produces a .docx reading list of recent peer-reviewed research per course section.
When to Run
- Adding supplementary readings to an existing course
- Updating a syllabus with current research
- Checking what's recent in your field for course planning
- Even casual mentions when a syllabus is attached
Forcing Intake (3 Questions, One at a Time)
| Q | Asks | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Syllabus input: file path / pasted content / image | refuses missing syllabus |
| Q2 | Course audience: undergrad-intro / undergrad-advanced / grad-masters / grad-doctoral / professional / mixed | drives summary jargon + discussion-question complexity |
| Q3 | Year range: 1 / 2 / 5 years | drives year_min on every Consensus search; default 2 |
What You Get
reading_list_<course-slug>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.docx
Structure:
- Title page (course name, subtitle, date)
- Introduction (with Consensus app link)
- Course Learning Outcomes (boxed section)
- Sections (6-12, from grouping):
Each section = numbered papers, each with:
- Clickable hyperlinked title
- Author / journal / year (italic)
- Summary (plain language, audience-calibrated)
- Discussion Question (Bloom higher-order, tied to learning outcome)
- Footer (generation metadata)
Grouping Checkpoint (After Phase 2)
After parsing the syllabus, the skill halts with a forcing-options prompt:
Proposed sections: [list with item counts]. Pick one:
1. Looks good — proceed with these sections
2. Merge sections [X] and [Y]
3. Split section [X] into two
4. Add a section for [topic]
5. Remove section [X]
This is the last cheap moment to correct course before search budget is consumed. Refuses to start Phase 3 without explicit user choice.
Discipline
- One intake Q per turn. Never bundle.
- Halt at grouping checkpoint. No Phase 3 without user.
- Sequential Consensus. 1 q/sec.
- Applied-domain weaving — search "enzyme kinetics food processing" not just "enzyme kinetics". Boosts paper relevance dramatically.
- Audience-calibrated summaries — undergrad-intro defines every term; grad-doctoral assumes technical fluency.
- Bloom higher-order discussion questions — apply / analyze / evaluate. NOT recall ("what did the authors find?").
- Source discipline — only Consensus session results. Training knowledge labeled.
- Three-count tracking — sent / received / cited.
- Bundled JS DOCX generator — don't inline 300 lines of layout code.
Quality Bars
Summary
| ✅ Good | ❌ Bad |
|---|---|
| "This review maps how different diets — Mediterranean, Nordic, vegetarian — reshape the types of fat molecules circulating in your blood, with implications for heart disease risk." | "This paper reviews lipidomic profiles across dietary interventions and their cardiometabolic implications." (Too jargon-heavy) |
Discussion Question
| ✅ Good | ❌ Bad |
|---|---|
| "If dietary fat quality can reshape your lipoprotein lipidome, what does this suggest about the biochemical basis for dietary guidelines recommending unsaturated over saturated fats?" | "What did the authors find?" (Just recall) |
Workflow
# Phase 0 intake (Q1-Q3)
python ../skills/syllabus/scripts/citation_tracker.py --action start --session NAME
# Phase 1 parse (PDF/DOCX/text/image-appropriate reader)
# Phase 2 group + CHECKPOINT (wait for user)
python ../skills/syllabus/scripts/topic_grouper.py --topics-file /tmp/topics.json
# Phase 3 search (sequential Consensus 1 q/sec, applied-domain weaving)
# Phase 4 write summaries + discussion questions
python ../skills/syllabus/scripts/discussion_question_validator.py --questions-file /tmp/qs.json
# Phase 5 generate .docx via bundled script
node ../skills/syllabus/scripts/generate_reading_list.js \
--input /tmp/data.json \
--output /path/to/reading_list_<course>_<date>.docx
# Phase 6 deliver
python ../skills/syllabus/scripts/citation_tracker.py --action close --session NAME
Trigger Phrases
- "syllabus reading list"
- "find papers for my course"
- "create a reading list from this syllabus"
- "recent research for my class"
- "supplementary readings"
- "find journal articles for these topics"
- "what recent papers cover this material"
- "any new research on these course topics"
- "update my syllabus with recent papers"
- Casual mentions when syllabus is attached
Anti-Patterns Rejected
- Parallelizing Consensus calls (rate limit)
- Searching topics without applied-domain angle (poor relevance)
- Padding sections with fabricated entries when Consensus thin
- Generic discussion questions ("What did the authors find?")
- Jargon-heavy summaries unsuitable for course audience
- Skipping group-and-confirm step
- Truncating Consensus URLs in hyperlinks
- Inlining 300 lines of docx-generation JavaScript in skill body
Related
- Agent:
cs-syllabus - Skill:
syllabus - Source spec:
megaprompts/10-syllabus-megaprompt.md - Siblings:
/cs:litreview,/cs:grants,/cs:patent,/cs:dossier,/cs:pulse
Version: 1.0.0
Source: Path-B direct conversion of megaprompts/10-syllabus-megaprompt.md