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AI for Research: AI Tools

Definitions, best practices, and ethical use of AI tools in the workplace and classroom.

AI Research Tools

Recently, several AI-powered library research tools and database enhancements have been developed. Some aim to turn questions into effective databases searches, while giving insight into how effective searching is done. Some summarize key points from published information sources, making them easier to understand and helping to identify relevant sources. These tools can help refine research topics by suggesting related questions, and promote ethical information use by exemplifying attribution of sources.

Primo Research Assistant

The Primo system finds articles, e-books, and other materials available in many of the library's research databases. It also serves as the our catalog of materials in our collection. The Research Assistant feature is an AI-powered tool that:

  • First, turns a natural-language question into a set of search statements that take different approaches to describing the topic. It executes those searches together, yielding a single set of results.
  • From those results, it generates an overview of the topic based on Primo's database of information describing and summarizing published articles and library materials. The sources used to produce the overview are cited, linked to and attributed, so you know where the information came from, and can view the full source.
  • The actual constructed set of search statements can be examined, and the full results list is available to explore.
  • It also suggests related research questions to help refine your topic.
Note — Because Research Assistant needs richly-detailed records to generate the topic overview, the items used as sources for the overview are not necessarily the items at the top of the full results list. We recommend clicking on View More Results to see the items ranked as most relevant to your search.

Where to Find Primo Research Assistant

  1. Go to Primo
  2. Click on Research Assistant in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

More information

EBSCO AI Insights

EBSCO's AI Insights tool generates article summaries that highlight 2-5 key points from the article. To view the AI-generated summaries:

  1. Do a search in an EBSCOhost database, such as Academic Search Complete or MasterFILE Complete.
  2. In the results list, articles for which an AI summary is available will have a Generate AI Insights button.

See EBSCO's description of AI Insights.

Genuine Intelligence: If you view the detailed description of an article (by clicking on the title), you will often see a human-created summary of the article, labeled as an abstract. In many cases the abstract is written by the author of the article.

JSTOR AI Research Tool

JSTOR's AI research tool embeds AI-enabled features within the JSTOR platform, enabling researchers to assess content relevance and deepen research with suggestions for related topics using natural language. 

  • The tool works with journal articles, book chapters, and research reports on JSTOR. Currently, it does not support images, video, and text-based primary sources.
  • The AI responses are based on the contents of the document being viewed. 
  • JSTOR does not sell user data or share content or user data to train third-party large language models. See JSTOR's privacy policy. 

How to use the JSTOR AI research tool

  1. To use the tool, go to the library's A-Z Databases list and click the link to access JSTOR.
  2. Log in to your JSTOR account or create a new account.
  3. Then start searching. Select a search result. The AI research tool will appear to the right of document being viewed.

Note: The tool is limited to the document being viewed. It does not search the web or the JSTOR database.

 

Search Query Optimizer - Boolean Search

The Search Query Optimizer is a custom GPT that creates database and search engine queries using truncation, keywords, and Boolean search operators. 

How to use the Search Query Optimizer

  • Go to ChatGPT
  • Select GPTs from the left sidebar
  • Search for "search query optimizer"

 

  • Enter your topic in the search bar
  • Copy the Boolean search string or scroll down for suggestions for refinement

  • Use the custom search string in databases and search engines.