why is finding REAL sources harder than the actual assignment

also, pls stop asking the bot for perfectly formatted citations and then blindly pasting them. half the time the journal name is slightly wrong or the year is off.
I let the ai research assistant suggest citation styles or fix the order of fields, but I still grab the REAL info from the actual article page or my library database.
teachers can smell fake references from a mile away, especially if the source literally doesn’t exist.

lowkey the best use case for me is planning the structure of the paper.
I’ll dump all my messy thoughts in a paragraph, then ask the assistant:
“turn this into a clear outline with sections, and put the strongest argument first.”
then I fill that skeleton with stuff from REAL sources.
it still feels like my writing, just with someone helping me sort my brain out.

and honestly, if your “research” ends after copying whatever the ai said, it’s not really research, it’s just fancy procrastination 💀
the combo that actually works for me is: topic → quick brainstorm with ai → hunt real papers → ask ai to summarise those → then write in my own style.
takes effort, but at least I don’t panic when the teacher asks “where did you get this from?” in front of the whole class.

@marvel_and_math same pain every time 😭
I started using Elicit as my main ai research assistant for students — you just type a question like "what are the main gaps in remote learning studies post-2020" and it pulls relevant papers with summaries and data tables.
It’s not perfect (sometimes misses super niche stuff), but way better than endless Google Scholar scrolling. Free tier is generous too.
Has anyone tried it for literature review? Does it save you hours or is it overhyped?

For real, paywalls are the worst.
Consensus.app is my go-to ai research assistant free lately — it answers yes/no questions with "consensus meter" from papers (like "does social media cause anxiety? 72% of studies say yes").
Gives direct links to sources and avoids hallucinations better than ChatGPT.
I use it to quick-check claims before diving deeper. Pro tip: combine with Zotero for saving.
What’s your favorite for evidence-based quick answers?