GAI Use Case for students 1
Navigating the Literature Review with AI-Powered Synthesis
Background Story
Sarah is a graduate student working on her master's thesis in the field of public health. Her topic explores the long-term health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of her thesis, she needs to conduct an extensive literature review of the existing research on this subject. However, the volume of academic literature is staggering, and Sarah struggles to efficiently synthesize the most relevant studies and findings. She wonders if an AI-powered research assistant could help her streamline the literature review process and identify the key themes and gaps in the current research.
Included Tools
Perplexity
Steps
- Identify the key research topic and questions:
- Clearly define the focus and scope of your literature review, including the central research question(s) you aim to explore.
- Clearly define the focus and scope of your literature review, including the central research question(s) you aim to explore.
- Compile a list of relevant keywords and phrases:
- Brainstorm the main concepts, theories, and terminology related to your research topic.
- Generate a comprehensive list of keywords and phrases that you can use to search the academic literature.
- Brainstorm the main concepts, theories, and terminology related to your research topic.
- Access Perplexity AI and initiate a new query:
- Go to the Perplexity AI website and start a new conversation.
- Explain to Perplexity that you are a graduate student working on a literature review for your master's thesis.
- Go to the Perplexity AI website and start a new conversation.
- Provide Perplexity with your research topic and keywords:
- Share the key research questions and the list of keywords you compiled in the previous steps.
- Ask Perplexity to search the academic literature and provide a comprehensive overview of the current research on your topic.
- Share the key research questions and the list of keywords you compiled in the previous steps.
- Engage with Perplexity's responses and feedback:
- Perplexity will provide summaries of the most relevant studies, identifying key themes, methodologies, and gaps in the existing research.
- Review Perplexity's responses carefully and ask follow-up questions to clarify or expand on any areas that need further exploration.
- Perplexity will provide summaries of the most relevant studies, identifying key themes, methodologies, and gaps in the existing research.
- Refine your search and repeat the process:
- Based on Perplexity's initial feedback, refine your keywords and search parameters to dive deeper into specific aspects of the literature.
- Repeat the process of engaging with Perplexity to obtain a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the research landscape.
- Based on Perplexity's initial feedback, refine your keywords and search parameters to dive deeper into specific aspects of the literature.
- Organize and synthesize the literature:
- Utilize Perplexity's summaries and insights to start structuring your literature review section.
- Identify the key themes, trends, and gaps in the research, and organize your review accordingly.
- Perplexity may also provide suggestions on how to effectively communicate the significance and implications of the existing research.
- Utilize Perplexity's summaries and insights to start structuring your literature review section.
- Finalize the literature review:
- Incorporate the information and insights gathered from Perplexity into your final literature review.
- Ensure that your review is well-structured, coherent, and effectively communicates the current state of research on your topic.
- Incorporate the information and insights gathered from Perplexity into your final literature review.
Prompt
Please help me navigate the literature review process for my master's thesis on the long-term health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, I would like you to:
1. Conduct a comprehensive search of the academic literature covering the following topics:
- Physical and mental health consequences of COVID-19 infection, both acute and long-term
- Variations in health impacts across different demographic and socioeconomic groups
- Effective strategies and interventions for supporting the long-term recovery and rehabilitation of COVID-19 survivors
2. Provide me with a structured summary of the key themes, methodologies, and gaps in the current research on these topics. Please organize the information in a way that will be helpful for structuring the literature review section of my thesis.
Suggest ideas for how I can effectively communicate the significance of the existing research and the importance of my study in addressing the identified gaps.
3. If possible, recommend any relevant frameworks, models, or analytical approaches that could strengthen my literature review and overall thesis.