Both in our training as educators and in teaching children, we are well trained (yes, it's a pun) in research. Some of us can remember struggling to write our bibliography correctly and never getting it right. Finding research to support our work used to be laborious until being able to “Google it” became a reality. It's easier now, but it's still unpredictable.
Enter today's world of ai research, with many ai chatbots and other resource tools filled with claims of superiority. This reminds many of us of the online tools that entered the market in the 1990s, where many came and went, while others began charging in ways that created the freemium model. We're in that phase now with ai, and it would be beneficial to identify some of the tools that seem to have staying power and aren't as well-known as others.
We've all heard of ChatGPT, which I often refer to as “the Xerox of the ai world.” (When a noun becomes a verb, as in “I'm going to photocopy that page” or now, “I'm going to ChatGPT or Google,” that's the standard.) However, there are other tools that offer levels of access and produce invaluable results. ChatGPT also does not reference sources, but instead consolidates information for you without sharing where you collected it.
Here are three useful research tools that tell you where they found the information, with a basic explanation of each.
When Jeff Bezos endorses something, you can bet it will be a decent platform and Perplexity answers the call. The user enters a message, such as “ai/search/why-does-bullying-MiZiys0dTnavNQK1yUKo3Q#0″ target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” data-url=”https://www.perplexity.ai/search/why-does-bullying-MiZiys0dTnavNQK1yUKo3Q#0″>Why does bullying peak in high school??” Perplexity provides a paragraph answer to the question by extracting information from various sources, then generates a detailed outline and gathers supporting details. Citations and sources are provided, both in a simple summary above the outline and in footnotes, for easy going back and checking.
Perplexity arises from a wide range of sources, so they can be as formal as an academic journal to something as informal as a Reddit answer. Being aware of this helps the user keep a trained eye on the reliability of the source. ai also works like other chatbots in its ability to keep an ongoing conversation if you continue to refine your search and eliminate unnecessary or less desirable information.
The interface is easy to use and while there is a paid professional version, the free version is sufficient for research efforts. You can even create saved collections of your work to return to. Perplexity also offers a mobile app version for your phone and a Chrome extension, making it easily accessible.
A major advantage of Consensus is that it analyzes peer-reviewed research articles using ai. Scientific research from academic journals, such as The Journal of Behavioral Sciences, They are provided, with a one-sentence overview of the research evidence, and an index of options from most likely to least likely (like a Google search) is prioritized with each subsequent source. So you don't see a paragraph ai result like Perplexity's scheme, but you know the evidence comes directly from an academic journal, highlighted by the sentence overview. You can filter the time range (above the result) to provide information that is more recent or within a time range.
Consensus also provides citation references in APA, MLA, and other formats for easy copy and paste into a bibliography. Because it is an ai search tool, the burden of exact keyword matching is removed. Its simple interface is reliable: all findings are linked to real studies and sources are cited. Additionally, a unique link to your specific research query can be copied to access it later, such as here with the message “Why does bullying peak in high school??”
Like Consensus, Elicit's ai interface is designed to analyze results from academic journals. Its simplicity also makes the navigation process user-friendly. My search for the above in Bullying in high school resulted in this..
Other similar features include the ability to filter a time range (below the result). Like Perplexity, Elicit provides a paragraph response to your message and takes footnotes from supporting research. It's a kind of useful combination of perplexity and consensus.
One difference with Consensus is that there is no easy mechanism to get a reference cited by APA or MLA. You will have to use a tool like this to enter the cited information for creation. There are upgraded options available that you can pay for, but like the others, the free model offers what I need to investigate.
What I like about all these tools is their ability to generate a unique link with the evidence found, for later access and follow-up of the investigation. Basically, this means you don't have to start over or worry about storing your subpoena evidence somewhere for fear of it getting lost.
