Individual skill
phg-theory-building
Use when building the conceptual apparatus that organizes a Progress in Human Geography (PiHG) review essay — the load-bearing concept that carries the argument and re-orders a literature. Sharpens the concept; it does not gather sources or run analyses (PiHG publishes no empirical work).
Progress-in-Human-Geography-Skills/skills/phg-theory-building/SKILL.md
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# Theory Building (phg-theory-building)
A PiHG essay lives or dies on its **organizing concept** — the idea through which a scattered literature is
re-read into one argument. Unlike an empirical paper, where theory frames a study, here the **concept *is*
the instrument of synthesis**: it decides what counts, how the sources relate, and what the field should
see differently. Build it before you draft.
## When to trigger
- Moving from "there is a literature on X" to "here is the concept that re-orders X"
- A reviewer said the review is "descriptive," "a-theoretical," or "just a summary"
- Choosing between organizing the essay by the literature's own buckets vs. by your concept
- Deciding whether to import, extend, or coin a concept
