Skip to main content

Deep Research — Multi-Source Synthesis

Compile a research brief from both internal M365 data and external sources on a specific topic, company, or technology.

The prompt
I need a research brief on [topic, company, or technology]. Do the following in sequence:

Step 1: Search my emails, Teams, and SharePoint for any internal content we already have on this topic. Show me what you found before continuing.

Step 2: Search external sources for recent developments — focus on facts, announcements, and concrete data. No opinion pieces.

Step 3: Synthesise both into a research brief with:
- What we already know internally (from Step 1)
- What is new or has changed recently (from Step 2)
- The 3 most important things to understand about this topic right now
- Gaps — what we do not know that we should

Cite every source. Flag any claim you are not confident about with [VERIFY]. Do not send or post anything.

How to use it

  1. 1Select Copy the prompt above.
  2. 2Paste it into Microsoft 365 Copilot.
  3. 3Replace anything in brackets with your own detail, then send it.

Copilot gathers and drafts. You verify and decide. Check every figure, name and date against the system it came from before you act on it.

Written for

Consultant, Analyst, Business Developer, Executive

More for Copilot Cowork: Agentic Workflows

See all 28 prompts

From the source collection in awesome-microsoft-copilot-prompts, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.