SCSU Hilton C. Buley Library: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools and Research: AI Chatbots & Research Tools

AI Chatbot Tools

As many know by now, one of the biggest issues with using AI language models for academic research is that they make stuff up and present falsehoods as facts. This makes them unsuitable for tasks where accuracy is extremely important, but at the same time, presents opportunities for important discussions about misinformation and bias.

What can tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot do? They can help you get ideas for how to begin your research and search for scholarship. It can suggest keywords, search strings, and format citations. You can prompt ChatGPT to be more specific in one or more areas, but note that the same will happen - a mix of good ideas, wrong ideas, and overly broad suggestions.

What can these tools NOT do? Popular chatbots like Copilot, Gemini, or ChatGPT are connected to the open internet, but do not have connections to scholarly literature databases meant for research. Gen AI chatbot responses often include a mix of correct and incorrect information. They may make up citations when asked for scholarly research, or they may misrepresent the contents of a real reference. Try instead tools mentioned in this guide for scholarly or academic research.

ChatGPT
GPT 5 version is now free for limited use, but will switch to an earlier model when users hit a limit. Account is not required. ChatGPT Plus and other tiers are premium services from OpenAI for which users have to pay a monthly subscription.
Gemini
Gen AI chatbot developed by Google. Based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name and developed as a response to the rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Gemini Advanced is a paid upgrade to Google's Gemini AI that offers more advanced features than the free version.
Claude
General-purpose LLM created by Anthropic.
Copilot
Sign in with your SCSU email. Use "More Creative" or "More Precise" search to access GPT4.0. Available for free in Office365 and is covered by the SCSU campus data privacy license.

AI Tools for Research & Literature Mapping

Asta Ai2 PaperFinder
Literature search system that uses large language models (LLMs) to help researchers find academic papers.
Consensus
Searches Semantic Scholar database using a proprietary combination of semantic and keyword search. Uses AI to extract, aggregate, and summarize findings based on the top few search results. Free accounts can make unlimited searches and can bookmark articles and save searches.
Elicit
Uses machine learning to help you with your research: find papers, extract key claims, summarize, brainstorm ideas, and more. Once you create an account, you will get limited numbers of free credits for searching. Plus version offers large amount of credits per month, and can then turn on high accuracy mode and export results.
Inciteful
Free literature mapper based on a seed paper, or pair of papers to explore connecting literature.
Litmaps
Literature navigator and recommender with a free tier.
Perplexity AI
Has a web search and an interface similar to popular, standalone chatbots. You can "choose a model" and "set sources for search" to only look at academic papers.
Poe AI
Poe AI, developed by Quora, is a platform that allows users to interact with various AI chatbots from different companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, providing access to a range of AI models in one place. Email address/account is required.
Research Rabbit
Useful tool for exploring and organizing academic literature. Helps one discover related papers and to visualize research connections. An account is required for use.
Semantic Scholar
Free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI, a non-profit research institute.

AI Tools for Summarizing, Writing, & Proofreading

Scholarcy
Tool that summarizes long research articles, reports, and documents into easy-to-digest summaries using AI.
ChatPDF
AI-powered tool that allows users to have conversational interactions with PDF documents.
jenni
Searches for relevant research as you write a document. Substantial free tier, allows uploads of your own sources, including PDFs.
Trinka
AI-powered English grammar checker and writing assistant designed for academic and technical writing. Free tier includes grammar and language checks, journal finder, and publication readiness tools.
Grammarly AI
Contains features that help you adjust the tone of your writing, detect potential plagiarism and customize your style and grammar rules. It also offers a generative AI tool that can help you create content. Has free (with account creation) and paid tiers.

AI Agents

Manus
Manus is a general AI agent developed by a Chinese startup, Monica, that aims to go beyond traditional chatbots by autonomously executing tasks.
Claude AI
Chatbot and family of large language models (LLMs) developed by Anthropic, an AI company. An account is required for use, and usage may be limited for unpaid users.

AI agents are the next big step in AI. They perceive their environment, make decisions, and take actions autonomously to achieve specific goals. Unlike traditional programs that follow fixed instructions, AI agents can reason, plan, learn, and adapt based on their interactions and experiences. They are designed to be goal-oriented, proactively working towards fulfilling their objectives without constant human intervention. AI agents are already being used in a wide variety of applications and environments: virtual assistants, customer service chatbots, robotics, etc.

Key characteristics:

Autonomy
Perception
Reactivity
Proactivity
Reasoning
Planning
Learning
Communication
Goal-Oriented
Adaptability