Research Assistance

Use AI to clarify concepts, generate new ideas, narrow or expand a topic, suggest outlines that you can then edit and expand upon. Ask questions for clarification and greater understanding. Explore diverse perspectives. Get feedback on ideas.

Simply put, AI generated text is a collection of words and phrases pieced together by algorithms, trained to recognize language patterns and context, resulting in responses that are coherent and contextually relevant.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

The use of AI in academic research requires honesty and accountability. Most writing and citation styles ( e.g., APA, MLA, Turabian) require disclosure of AI assistance for transparency and to avoid plagiarism. For style recommendations and guidelines see the following

APA Style - opens new windowHow to cite ChatGPT
MLA Style - opens new windowHow do I cite generative AI in MLA style?
CSE Style - The Council of Science Editors recommends treating AI-generated content as personal communication. See the Citations page for citation details.

Always follow your professor's instructions on the scope of using AI in your course.

LLMs (Large Language Models) generate text, answer questions, and assist with tasks like brainstorming, tutoring, and writing help.

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ChatGPT opens new windowhttps://chatgpt.com/

Free version available with or without sign in; upgraded version available for purchase
An AI question-and-answer and conversation-generating tool. A well-rounded large language model (LLM) that generates text, answers questions, engages in conversation, and provides assistance on a wide range of topics. Draws on information from books, articles, websites, and other publicly accessible texts. Uses tokens and limits the number of messages you can send within a specific time frame. Use for guidance, summaries, and help interpreting complex papers.

How to Use ChatGPT for Research Support:
Use natural language to enter an idea or topic.

Try prompts like:

• "Give me an idea or hot topic that is controversial in the discipline of biology."
• "Give me a list of keywords, subject headings, databases to search, Boolean search strings, or important scholars relevant to [your topic]."
  Or
  "What can I search to find articles on [your topic]?"
  • Then go to the library home page to select and search databases. Key in some of the terms from ChatGpt.
• "Create a sample outline for a research paper on [your topic]."
• "Expand this research idea: [your thesis or research idea]."
• "Explain [insert a complex theory/abstract/concept] in simple terms."
• "Evaluate the logical flow of this research question: [insert your question]."
• "Suggest ways to improve this argument or analysis: [insert your argument]."
• If you have an account, "Remember..." or "What do you remember about me?"

Continue to build and refine your results using effective prompt engineering with clear, specific, and focused instructions and questions.

Limitations & Restrictions:

• NOT effective for retrieving actual research articles
• NOT effective for generating accurate citations or formatting reference lists.
• Usage caps, especially during High-demand periods

If you have an account, have you checked your ChatGPT saved memories, which influences output?

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Claude opens new window https://claude.ai/

Free tier: Access includes text and image analysis, content creation, and basic web search functionality. Usage is limited in terms of message volume and complexity.
Upgraded versions are available: Claude 3 (Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku) and Claude 4 (Sonnet 4, Opus 4) offer more options and extended advanced reasoning capabilities.

Claude AI includes natural language understanding, content generation, and complex reasoning tasks with ethical considerations in its design and aims to avoid biases. Answers questions, generates content, and assists with complex problem-solving. Tokens are used to calculate usage limits.

How to Use Claude for Research Support:

• Search and synthesize complex topics. Compare multiple theories and summarize long academic text or research articles.
• Analyze texts and sources - Upload reports, articles, or data and ask questions: What are the main findings? What biases can you identify in this article?
• Generate research outlines and questions. Organize your thoughts in a paper outline.

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Gemini (Google) opens new windowhttps://gemini.google.com/

Free. An AI model useful for basic analysis, content generation, and quick summaries. Developed by Google.

• Excels in straightforward tasks, analyzing, and summarizing content.
• Provides concise, often accurate responses.
• Suited for users already using Google's ecosystem.
• Tends to be inconsistent and unreliable, which make it less suitable for tasks that require high accuracy.

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Copilot AI (Microsoft) opens new windowhttps://copilot.microsoft.com/

Free. PRO fee-based version is available.
Microsoft Copilot is powered by OpenAI's GPT 4 and works with ORU employee email addresses.

• Provides a high level of accuracy and consistency in text, handling documents, and performing tasks with Microsoft applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Does not provide as much customization and flexibility as ChatGPT.

These AI tools assist with discovering research, summarizing scholarly content, and explaining complex concepts.

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Perplexity AI opens new windowhttps://www.perplexity.ai/, opens new windowhttps://www.perplexity.ai/hub/getting-started

Free version available; offers a paid Pro subscription.
An advanced AI-powered search engine that combines large language models with real-time web data to provide accurate, contextually relevant, and citation-backed answers. Use for quick, current, sourced results with publication dates

• Synthesizes information from multiple sources and offers citations to explore topics further.
• Delivers direct conversational answers to user queries.
• Searches the internet in real-time to provide up-to-date, factual responses from trusted sources.
• Citations are included in every response, enhancing transparency and credibility.
• Designed for scholarly research. Provides evidence-based answers by searching academic databases and research articles.

How to Use Perplexity for Research Support:

• Utilize the citation feature to verify responses and sources.
• Search complex or evolving topics and receive a summarized, cited response.
• Explore original sources via embedded citations to verify and deepen your understanding.
• Ask for clarification on academic concepts, background information, or recent developments in a field.
• Use as a complement to traditional research techniques and library databases.

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Elicit opens new windowhttps://elicit.com/

Free (basic) tier. Learning platform for extracting and analyzing text data from over 125 million academic papers, with coverage up to 2021. It specializes in natural language understanding (NLU) and supports researchers in text analysis. References are drawn primarily from Semantic Scholar, supplemented by sources like PubMed, airXiv, and more.

• Provides literature review assistance by identifying articles and research papers, primarily in the sciences.
• Summarizes, in paragraph form, the abstracts of up to four research paper at a time.
• Offers data extraction and summarizing options, including main findings, methodologies, interventions, measured outcomes, and limitations. Includes options to sort, filter, and export.
• Allows users to upload research manuscripts for analysis, although journal recommendation features are not currently supported.
• Provides custom organization to create and edit data columns to track variables, compare studies, or group findings.

Limits user actions based on a credit system rather than by tracking queries, frequency of use, or task complexity.

• Use natural language to ask a research question.
• Create new columns of selected data to categorize and summarize research articles.
• Generate summaries of selected research articles.

Ideal for:

• Use natural language to ask a research question or enter a topic.
• Perform literature reviews
• Create new columns of selected data to categorize and summarize research articles.
• Generate summaries of selected research articles.
• TIP: Add columns to track variables, compare studies, and customize the organization of results according to your specific research needs.

See: opens new windowElicit Tips and Best Practices

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Consensus opens new windowhttps://www.consensus.app/

Free - Answers research questions using evidence-based summaries from peer-reviewed literature.
An AI-powered research assistant and search engine with integrated blockchain technology. Consensus uses AI to get conclusions and find answers by searching more than 200 million peer-reviewed scientific research papers. Researchers can quickly find reliable, evidence-based answers.

• Researchers can use natural language, perform keyword searches, or input thesis topics.
• Generates summarized insights from multiple studies for faster literature review.
• Provides quick access to key study details, such as population, sample size, methods, and outcomes.
• Offers multiple viewpoints on complex or debated topics
• Usage is limited by AI credits, which are based on search volume and depth of analysis
• Ask a research question using natural language, do a keyword search, or key in a thesis topic
• Use the "Synthesize" option to get an analyzed summary of several research papers.

Ideal for:

• Literature reviews
• Evidence-based answers to research questions
• Quick overviews of complex academic topics
• Identifying high-quality, peer reviewed sources
• See: opens new windowHow to Search & Best Practices

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Research Rabbit opens new windowhttps://www.researchrabbit.ai/

Free. An AI tool that searches through academic literature up to January of 2022 and helps you discover relevant scholarly resources.

• Identifies relevant key literature, articles, and papers relevant to your search.
• Provides visualizations of papers, co-authors, and research networks.
• Visualizations show sub-fields, geographical distribution, key researchers, collaborations, and research threads.
• Allows filtering results by citation count or journal impact factor.

How to Use:

• Add papers to a collection for a visualization display.
• Search keywords or concepts to get a list of related articles.
• Filter results by date for a list of research focused on recent advances.
• Search for articles authored by specific researchers or published in a specific journal. 

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Semantic Scholar opens new windowhttps://www.semanticscholar.org/

Free. Ai tool that focuses on scientific literature (academic papers, articles, and conference proceedings) across a wide variety of disciplines.

• Utilizes natural language processing for enhanced search relevance.
• Provides summaries of research papers, including one-sentence summaries.
• Offers citation analysis to evaluate the influence of papers and authors.
• Fully accessible without usage limits or token caps.

How to Use:

• Use natural language to search and explore author profiles to identify experts in a field and other relevant relevant research.
• Use the "Related Papers" feature to discover more closely related papers to your topic.
• Search for recent and influential academic papers on a topic.
• Explore related works and identify key studies.
• Use the trend analysis tool to identify new areas of research.
• Monitor new publication or research trends.

TIP: Click "Save" under the article record to add it in a new or existing folder.

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SciSpace scispace.com

Free. Designed for scientific research comprehension and analysis. Helps you read and understand academic papers more easily by offering explanations and summaries. You can ask questions about a paper's content using the built-in Copilot chat interface.

• Highlights and explains specific terms, methods, equations, and results within a paper
• Works best once you have found a paper and need assistance understanding its content
• Helps with comprehension of full research articles.

How to Use:

• Upload or search for a research paper.
• Ask Copilot questions about the methodology, results, or definitions.
  TIP: Use the "Ask Copilot" feature on any section.

Dovetail opens new windowhttps://dovetail.com/

Free. Helps analyzes both quantitative and qualitative data to provide deeper insights into research findings and outcomes.

• Processes large volumes of text data from interviews, surveys, and other sources.
• Identifies recurring themes, patterns, and trends.
• Extracts quantitative insights to track changes over time.
• Offers data visualization tools such as charts, graphs, and dashboards.
• Includes LLMs, such as Claude, for advanced analysis.

Blog: AI Vision at Dovetail opens new windowhttps://dovetail.com/blog/ai-vision/

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Notably opens new windowhttps://notably.ai

Free tier available. An AI-powered research tool designed for organizing and analyzing qualitative data, such as interviews, surveys, and open-ended responses.

• Uses AI to identify themes, extract key insights, and support pattern recognition.
• Allows for tagging, clustering, and grouping of qualitative data info meaningful categories.
• Supports visual organization with tools like sticky notes, affinity mapping, theme boards.
• Ideal for research, social sciences and design workflows.

Abdellatif, H., Al Mushaiqri, M., Albalushi, H., Al-Zaabi, A. A., Roychoudhury, S., & Das, S. (2022). Teaching, Learning and Assessing Anatomy with Artificial Intelligence: The Road to a Better Future. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21). opens new windowhttps://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114209