A literature review is a key foundation for advancing scientific research, linking, contextualizing, and elaborating on established knowledge. For doctoral and postdoctoral fellows joining a new project, conducting a comprehensive review of existing research is essential to understand the current state of the field and build a strong foundation. Beyond onboarding, literature reviews facilitate identifying research gaps, shaping future investigations, and demonstrating how specific studies integrate into existing research.
An effective literature review not only justifies the need for a study by highlighting its innovation and value but also helps avoid redundant efforts. It provides researchers with insights into established methods, tools, and techniques, fostering collaboration by identifying potential partners or complementary studies. Additionally, staying updated on recent developments enhances a scientist’s expertise, credibility, and ability to contribute meaningfully to publications, theses, and grant proposals.
However, conducting a thorough literature review can be intimidating and time-consuming. The use of AI-powered tools, like scienceOS, can significantly enhance this process. From brainstorming research ideas to drafting initial reviews, such AI research assistants streamline workflows and empower researchers to focus on crafting impactful studies.
This guide shows you how to use an AI science chat to boost your literature review process using natural language processing.
AI-assisted literature review
First, login to your scienceOS account and start a new chat. Click on the magic wand and select the AI Action ‘Interactive assistant’.
Starting a literature review with the ‘Interactive assistant’. A brief video showing how to initiate the ‘Interactive assistant’, a pre-configured AI Action to support the process of developing a structured literature review.
The ‘Interactive assistant’ is one of the pre-configured AI Actions, ready-to-use complex prompts that are available to all users. This AI Action is designed to adapt to your workflow by switching into an interactive conversation mode. It generates structured text to help you formulate your research request, guiding you through targeted questions.
Once you answer the questions of the ‘Interactive assistant’, it provides a summary and a proposed workflow tailored to your request. This feature is particularly helpful if you are exploring a field or developing a general idea for a research project.
Developing literature review ideas. A video showing how to use the AI science chat to develop literature review ideas and identify related scientific sources.
At this stage, you can either click on the questions suggested by the AI assistant or ask your own, more specific inquiries. Start to interact with the tool. For example, as part of the workflow suggested by the ‘Interactive assistant’, you can explore potential research gaps by requesting a search of the currently available literature on a specific topic.
The science AI produces a literature review, which may serve as a foundation for drafting the research topic of your interest. The answer contains references, which can be explored further to amplify the review. By clicking on the cited source you can also generate a citation network to better understand how a paper fits into the broader scientific field. This makes it easier to trace key studies, identify influential works, and map relationships within the academic literature.
Using citation networks to find further papers. A short video demonstrating the use of citation networks to go beyond semantic search during the literature review, assess how a paper fits into the broader scientific field, and find influential works.
If the interactive assistant does not fully meet your requests, you can design your own AI action specifically for literature review purposes. This customizable feature allows you to tailor the capabilities of the AI tool to suit your academic research, whether it’s for developing a grant proposal, drafting research paper ideas, or identifying research questions.
By incorporating AI powered research assistants like scienceOS into your workflow, you can efficiently overcome the initial difficulties of conducting a literature review and uncover new research gaps. These tools offer valuable insights, assisting researchers in producing high-quality studies and meaningful discoveries.
