Library Guides: NUR-499 Research/Senior Paper II: AI Tools for Research

Selected AI Tools for General Research

Be aware that AI functionality in the platforms listed below may overlap. Prior to your research assignment, explore features and functionality to identify the most useful AI tools for your research. Always fact-check and verify the accuracy of information.

Tokens in AI programs, particularly language models like GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) and Claude, are the basic units of text, which can be words, parts of a word, or punctuation. Tokens measure and limit user actions. The number of tokens determines how much text an AI model can process at once and often determines the cost of using the model or the usage limits in free versions. Other AI models have limits based on different determining factors: Consensus uses AI credits, while Elicit may limit use based on server load or other operational considerations.

ChatGPT opens new windowhttps://chatgpt.com/	v3.5 is free. Upgraded version is available for purchase. AI question and answer, conversation generating tool. - Well-rounded large language model (LLM) that generates text, answers questions, engages in conversation and provides assistance with various topics. - Uses information from books, articles, websites, and other publicly accessible texts available up to January 2022. - Uses tokens and limits the number of messages you can send in a certain time frame. Use natural language to key in an idea or topic and ask for a lists of keywords, subject headings, databases to search, Boolean search strings, or important scholars relevant to a topic. Then search databases to find articles. Key in a prompt to get a sample outline or to expand your research idea. Key in a prompt to clarify a complex concept, theory, or your research question. Based on your prompt, get feedback on various sections or logical progression of your research paper. Continue to build and extract information using effective prompt engineering. NOT effective for gathering research articles, creating citations, or reference lists.
Claude opens new window https://claude.ai/	Free. Upgraded versions are available: Claude 3 Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku. Claude AI includes natural language understanding, content generation, and complex reasoning tasks and is ethically focused. (opens new windowAnthropic's next generation of Claude offers different levels of intelligence, pricing, and processing speed.) - Incorporates ethical considerations in it design and aims to avoid biases. - Answers questions, generates content, and assists with complex problem-solving. - The free version provides basic access, while Claude Pro or similar is fee-based and offers additional features. - Tokens are used to calculate usages limits or pricing for the fee-based services. - User can send approximately 30 messages per day with the free version. Ask about ethical challenges Incorporates strong data privacy protections.
Gemini (Google) opens new windowhttps://gemini.google.com/	Free An AI model that excels in straightforward tasks and capable of effectively analyzing and summarizing content. Provides concise and 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.
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.
Elicit opens new windowhttps://elicit.com/	Free Machine learning platform for extracting and analyzing text data from more than125 million academic papers through 2021. Specializes in natural language understanding (NLU) and aids researchers in text analysis. - Provides literature review assistance, identifying articles and research papers primarily in the sciences. - Summarizes, in paragraph form, the first four research paper abstracts. - Offers various data extraction and summarizing options, including main findings, methodologies interventions, outcomes measured and limitations. Includes options to sort, filter and export. - Can analyze a research manuscript and recommend possible journals for submission. - Measures and limits user actions by tracking the number of queries, frequency of use, and complexity of tasks. Use natural language to ask a research question or key in a topic. 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 and organize the results according to your specific research needs. See: opens new windowElicit Tips and Best Practices, opens new windowElicit Credits: How Credits Work
Consensus opens new windowhttps://www.consensus.app/	Free AI 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 access individual and organizational datasets within the decentralized network - Aggregates information from multiple sources for a comprehensive view of a topic. - Provides a "Study Snapshot" that includes population, sample size, methods, and outcomes. - Identifies articles type and quality indicators, such as RCT, Large Human Trial, or Systematic Review. Identifies Highly Cited articles. - Provides summaries, responses, answers, and overviews on various topics. - Provides diverse perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of a topic or concept. - Limits user actions based on AI credits, which are determined by research-oriented algorithms and large language models (LLMs), factoring in the number of searches and depth of analysis required. 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. TIP: Use the "Study snapshot" link for a quick overview of key information from the article, such as population studied, sample size, methods used, and more. See: opens new windowHow to Search & Best Practices
Research Rabbit opens new windowhttps://www.researchrabbit.ai/	Free AI tool that that searches through academic literature up to January of 2022 and helps you discover relevant scholarly resources. - Identifies relevant key literature and relevant articles and papers - Provides visualizations of papers and co-authorships. - Visualizations show subfields, geographical distribution of research articles, key researchers, research collaboration, and threads within the research literature. - Filter results by citation count or journal impact factor. Add your papers to a collection for a visualization. Search a keyword or key concept to get a list of related articles. Filter results by date for a list of research on recent advances. Search for articles authored by specific researchers or published in a specific journal .
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. - Provides summaries of research papers. - Provides tools for citation analysis for evaluating the influence of papers and authors. - The platform is freely accessible without any explicit usage or token caps. 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.

To maximize AI program usability and performance use effective prompt engineering, which is crucial to ensure obtaining desired results. For assistance, set up an opens new windowappointment or inquire at the Library Service Desk.

AI Programs - Examples