How to research a topic with AI
You need to understand whether a topic is supported by evidence, not just collect convincing paragraphs. Start with a focused question, open the sources and keep notes about what each one can show.
Editorial starting points · Affiliate disclosure
Research one question with sources
Narrow the research question and evidence type
Narrow the research question and evidence type.
Write the question: What evidence exists about later school start times and teen sleep; set aside opinion pieces from research papers.
You.com
Open the original sources
Find research on [research question]. Separate research findings from opinion and link to the original studies.
Elicit
Compare studies rather than just summaries
Then use Elicit because it helps you compare studies rather than just summaries.
Use your tool to find research on [research question], then compare the study designs and populations with sources found through your tool.
Read the sources behind the claims
Read the sources behind the claims.
Open the papers behind the main claims and record sample, methods and limits before writing your own explanation.
Other tools for this task
Perplexity
Research
Suited to finding answers with sources to inspect.
Elicit
Research
Find and summarize research papers for a literature review.
Before you research a topic
Are citations proof that an answer is right?
No; open the source and check whether it actually supports the stated claim.
What if a paper is behind a paywall?
Look for a lawful author copy or library access; do not claim to have read findings available only in a snippet.
How narrow should my question be?
Name the population, issue and outcome so you can compare relevant evidence instead of unrelated summaries.