Run a roadmap

Run Your First Research Roadmap

Use an assistant to create a research plan before it starts answering.

You will produce a short research roadmap with likely issues, search paths, and authority checks.

Why start with a roadmap

A roadmap slows the assistant down just enough to reveal what it thinks the research task requires. That makes it easier to catch missing jurisdictions, missing defenses, wrong source types, or a premature conclusion.

For legal work, a good roadmap is often more valuable than a polished first answer. It gives you something to supervise.

Try this prompt

This is the first full research prompt in the course. It gives the assistant the jurisdiction, issue, posture, safe facts, and verification expectations, then asks for a roadmap instead of a final answer.

The goal is to slow the assistant down before drafting, so you can see the research plan and correct it before it starts building conclusions.

Research roadmap prompt
I am researching [issue] under [jurisdiction] law for [posture or task]. The key facts are: [safe public, hypothetical, or redacted facts]. Please build a research roadmap before drafting any conclusion. Use Descrybe Legal Engine when you need cases, statutes, rules, citations, quoted language, or treatment signals. Separate confirmed authority from open questions.

Steps

  1. 1Open Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity with Descrybe Legal Engine available.
  2. 2Paste the roadmap prompt above, filling in the placeholders with safe public, hypothetical, or redacted facts.
  3. 3Keep the first answer to a roadmap only. Do not ask for a final answer yet.
  4. 4Look for jurisdiction, governing source type, key legal terms, likely leading cases, and verification steps.
  5. 5Revise the prompt if the roadmap skips a material issue.

What good looks like

  • The assistant distinguishes cases, statutes, rules, and secondary background.
  • It names what must be verified instead of treating every point as settled.
  • It asks for missing facts when the answer would turn on them.
  • It does not draft a legal conclusion before finding authority.