AI Tools Meant to Assist Individuals with Research

What is Research AI?

AI tools used in research can help you locate resources for academic projects, such as literature reviews. These tools will locate information that possesses characteristics related to a prompt given to it. Then, the generative AI will synthesize the research it has located and provide you with a list of articles relevant to your query.

What are some Research AI Tools?

Consensus

Consensus is an AI-powered academic search engine that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to aggregate and distill insights from scientific research.

Elicit

Elicit AI is a free, AI-powered research assistant that helps with literature reviews and other research tasks.

Perplexity

Perplexity provides summaries of any article or webpage, sharing the information most relevant to a user's search. It's useful for quickly understanding the key points of lengthy documents or getting a concise overview of complex topics.

Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar is an AI-powered research tool for scientific literature. With billions of citations, Semantic Scholar provides a citation graph that allows scholars to navigate and discover the most relevant research across all fields of study.

How do I cite Research AI tools?

To cite any information procurred from interacting with generative AI, it is advised that you mention the following in either the Introduction or Methodology section of any report on research you have done:

• The prompt you used when utilizing generative AI; and
• The text output that the generative AI generated. If the response of the generative AI is extensive, you should include the entire transcript of your interaction in the Appendix section.

As for the in-text citation and the information you include in the Bibliography, Reference, or Works Cited section of your work, apply the appropriate citation style's guidelines for citing generative AI.

APA Style (7th Edition)

At present, the American Psychological Association (APA) has not released official guidelines for citing generative AI. Even so, the APA did release a post on the APA Style Blog a short time ago providing guidance on citing generative AI.

Chicago Style (18th Edition)

The Chicago Manual of Style provides guidance for citing generative AI tools within its newly issued 18th edition, Section 14.112. To acknowledge the information generative AI created or provided for you appropriately, the Manual’s recommendation is to cite “[a]ny specific content, whether quoted or paraphrased,...where it occurs, either in the text or in a note. Like personal communications (see 14.111) and social media posts (see 14.106), chatbot conversations are not usually included in a bibliography or reference list.”

MLA Style (9th Edition)

MLA now provides official guidance for citing information produced by generative AI. According to MLA, individuals who consult generative AI in drafting a research report should not credit the generative AI as an author. Additionally, the description of the content of the generated product should be treated as the title of the source, as if it were an article or chapter title.

Last updated December 4, 2024

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