Research Tools

While exploring research tools, keep in mind the parts of the research process and how AI and traditional tools might complement and support each other.

• Choosing a topic
• Finding sources
• Evaluating sources
• Citing sources

Considerations:

• Scope
  • What sources do they search or have access to? Discovery will be limited or biased based on what materials the tool includes in its index or training.
  • Traditional databases can be limited to specific subscriptions or curated research sources.
  • AI platforms tend to be biased towards open access research and recent works.
• Reproducibility
  • Traditional databases use indexes and boolean logic in a transparent way that can be repeated, ensuring approaches such as systematic review have verifiable coverage.
  • AI platforms are a black box with little transparency about how search is conducted. Some tools include links and citations to help provide more verification of sources.
• Cost
  • The Library spends millions of dollars to provide resources to the campus community.
  • Individual subscriptions can be pricy.
• Privacy
  • AI (and increasingly academic publishers) collect significant data about users and their queries.
  • Some research information is sensitive and can not be shared to third party companies.