Instruction & Reference Librarian
Introduction
What are Large Language Models (LLMs)?
Large Language Models are technology that may help automate several tasks associated with research (in addition to many other applications). They are trained on text and can help with reasoning tasks, answering questions, and searching along the citaiton chain for scientific literature. They are changing rapidly, but currently they show promise for research but certainly don't replace the need for critical thinking and subject expertise.
AI Research Tools Overview
| Best Research Use | AI Tool | Features at a glance |
|---|---|---|
| Developing Research Questions |
Have students ask the chat to ask them questions about their topics or give an overview. *Neither of these tools is good for finding sources as they don't link back to actual articles or citations. Cost: Free and Pro versions with a monthly fee |
|
| Background Research / Developing Topics | Perplexity |
Ask Perplexity a research question and it will answer with links to web-based sources. Cost: Free and Pro version @ $20/month |
| Visualizing Citation Linkages / Finding Scholarly Articles |
Start with a seed article and then visualize linkages between scholarly citations and authors. You can look at a timeline of articles published about a topic, or find related authors or citaitons. Cost: Free |
|
| Developing a Literature Review | Elicit |
Ask a question and get a research-backed answer linking to top papers. There will also be a grid pulling information from papers such as brief summary, sample size and location, study type, and much more. It is responsive and customizable. Cost: Users start with 5,000 search credits and after that $10/month |
| Evaluating Sources | Scite |
Evaluate the credibility of scientific sources to determine if a citation supports or disputes a cited claim. Cost: $20/month |
| Read and Understand Scholarly Articles | Scholarcy |
Load a paper into Scholarcy to extract a summary or highlight important parts of the paper to assist with interpreting scientific literature. Cost: Free and Pro version @ $10/month |
Library Databases and AI
Select library databases are developing AI search capabilities that may make the search experience more user-friendly for students. JSTOR, for example, has a feature where you can load a paper or outline in, and then the database will suggest published articles that are available full-text related to the content of the document.