Transcription
This is what finding a research gap on Google Scholar looks like. You type your query and all Google Scholar does is show you pages and pages of research papers which you are supposed to manually skim through and then try to identify the research gap yourself. This whole process can easily take you two to three weeks minimum. Now watch this. I type the same question on an AI tool and within seconds I have the most credible research gaps right in front of my eyes which I can choose from immediately and start my research project. [Music] Hi, welcome back. I am Neha Agarwal. I am the founder of Wise Up and in this video I am going to show you exactly how to choose a research gap with AI. Three different tools, three different approaches and you can choose whichever fits your way of work. So, without further delay, let's get started.
Now the first tool I like to share with you is Consensus. And the reason I am starting here is because finding a research gap is essentially part of literature review and Consensus is built for exactly that. So, if you see my screen right now, all I am doing is typing this question directly. Something like, I am looking to do my PhD in the area of microplastic and human health. Help me identify a research gap that hasn't been explored yet. And what Consensus does is goes through 220 million plus peer-reviewed papers to share with you not just a list of articles but an actual evidence-based answer which is grounded in what's already been published. So, if you see on my screen right now, very clearly Consensus is telling me a high impact PhD gap is linking internal microplastics burden to longitudinal human disease trajectories. And if we scroll down, it has also created this research gap matrix for us. Where it has identified the different subtopics. And if you scroll here you can see which are some of the areas where very few studies are there, essentially which are the research gaps that still exist in this field of study.
Now if we scroll down further. Consensus is also telling us a recommended PhD question on which we can do our research. The three concrete niches in this topic. And if you click on references. It is also giving you the list of papers that it has referred to in order to arrive at this answer. Which you can go through in more detail if you like. Now what is unique and amazing about Consensus is that if you see some of these papers, they have a tick mark in front of them. Right? This means that Consensus has actually gone through the full text of these papers in order to give you that answer. Now most other AI tools that exist in the market right now are only able to pull the information from the abstracts of the paywalled PDFs to give you the answer. But what Consensus has done is that they have partnered with a lot of publishers. So it's actually able to go through the full text of even the paywalled PDFs to give you the answer. So, this means that the quality of information that you are getting is much more in-depth and much more reliable for your studies.
Now what Consensus had done is run a pro search for me where it had pulled out the top 20 papers in my field. Now what I can do is run a deep search on Consensus to find a research gap as well. So if you see on my screen this literature review option is coming here and this is where Consensus will go through the entire literature in more depth and then give me some open research gaps as part of its results. So if you see on my screen right now Consensus is saying that the strongest PhD gap is prospective clinical research on iatrogenic microplastic exposure and then it again in a similar manner goes on to highlighting the gaps in the table and then tells me why this gap is real, why iatrogenic exposure stands out and what would [clears throat] be the best PhD question. It further goes on to tell me a defensible study design as well and even a recommended gap statement. So, if I actually go through all the information that Consensus has shared with me along with the top papers that it is recommending within two to three days, I will have a very good understanding about my field, and know which are the top papers in my field, which was not possible if I had run the same query on Google Scholar.
Now Consensus has also launched its MCP connector which means that if you are using ChatGPT or Claude as your primary tool then you can easily connect Consensus to them and then if any search query that you put in ChatGPT or Claude they will run it through Consensus so that you can be sure that the information that you are getting is actually backed by peer-reviewed studies and not hallucinated by these tools. Now if you wish to learn the complete workflow of choosing a research topic all the way to writing and publishing a paper with the help of AI tools then you can join me for my course on Mastered AI Tools for Research or if you wish to learn the fundamentals of writing and publishing a research paper in top impact factor journals then you can join me for my course on A to Z of Research Writing and [Music] Presentation. I have put the links and discount coupons to both of them in the description below for you.
Now the second tool on my list is Jenni. For those of you who used Jenni before, I know what you are thinking. Neha, Jenni is an academic writing tool. How can it help us with finding a research gap? But here is the thing. Jenni, along with being a fantastic academic writing tool, also has a very powerful AI chat assistant which can help you find a research gap as well. So, for those of you, who don't want to juggle multiple tools in finding a research gap and then writing a paper, Jenni can help you perform both the roles very easily. So, let me show you what it looks like in practice. I have logged into my Jenni account and here on top right I choose the AI chat assistant option. And instead of the microplastics topic this time I am saying, I am researching the effects of social media use and adolescent mental health. Help me identify a research gap that has not been explored yet. And what Jenni does is it immediately tells me the current state of literature that is there in my field. So that I understand what exactly is happening right now. And after that it has shared a primary recommended gap for me. It's giving me the title direction. And then it's also telling me why this gap is real and unfulfilled. And if you see all the information that it is sharing is actually backed by real research papers. Which you can click and go through them in detail.
Now what I love about Jenni is that if you click on a particular paper, it has this open code option. Where it actually opens the paper and shows you exactly the paragraph from where it is taken the information from. So, this can give you a lot of confidence that the information you are getting is actually authentic and not hallucinated by Jenni. Another great thing about Jenni is that it gives you a lot of flexibility while searching. So, if you are typing your research question, you have the option where the answer should come from the web. Which means only peer-reviewed studies published on the web. Or the library of papers that you have uploaded. Or from a particular paper. So, this gives you a lot of control as to how the information should be filtered and shared with you. And once you have finalized the topic and done your research, you can actually use the host of writing features on Jenni to generate an outline, improve your writing, cite while you write and then the different review features to polish your manuscript and make it ready for submission.
Now the third tool on my list and the one I am super excited to share with you is Claude Co-work. Now a lot of researchers have hundreds of PDFs sitting on their desktop and uploading all of them on Zotero or any other online AI tool just to find a research gap seems like a lot of work that nobody has time for. And this is exactly where Claude Co-work comes to the rescue. Now all you need to do is download the Claude desktop app and then point it to the folder where you have all the PDFs saved. You can in fact choose multiple folders as well if you want. And then this is the exact prompt for Claude. Go through every paper in this folder. Summarize the methodology and findings of each one, and tell me what has been studied yet, or where the existing research disagrees with itself. Park all this information neatly in a literature review table in an Excel format. Also make a separate Word document [clears throat] on your analysis of the potential research gaps worth working based on all the papers in the folder. And now the best part is I can leave my laptop and go away while Claude as my personal research assistant will actually do all the work and neatly prepare the documents I have asked it to.
So, if you see, first is this literature review table that Claude has created for me with the title of the paper, authors, the year it was published, journal name. What is the fabrication method it has followed. Key materials, additional properties, durability assessment, key findings, research gaps and limitations. So, immediately just by going through this table, I will have a very good understanding of what my literature is actually telling me. And then [nasal sound] I can go through this Word document called Research Gap Analysis prepared by Claude. And if you see, this is based on a systematic review of 79 published papers that Claude has performed for me. And it first gives me an executive summary, a field overview of what has been studied till now, where the literature disagrees with itself, which is the exact question I had asked it, and then the research gaps worth pursuing. So if you see it has actually shared with me almost eight different research gaps worth studying. So I have so many options to consider for my research study. It has also shared a research gap priority matrix as to which ones are critical, which ones are high priority and which ones are medium priority. And it is also sharing the synthesis and recommended research directions. So, if I actually go through this document, it is so thorough. Along with the Excel sheet that it has prepared, I will not only have a very good understanding of my field, but also know some of the potential research gaps I can definitely work on.
So if you see, these are three AI tools that can help you find a research gap and all with different use cases or approaches. Use Consensus if you want the research gap to come from the most credible and deepest literature search from over 220 million plus peer-reviewed studies. Use Jenni if you want to find the research gap and do the writing all in one place. And use Claude Co-work if you already have a pile of literature sitting on your desktop that you do not want to upload anywhere. Now try out one of these tools and tell me in the comments below which one worked best for you. I have put the link and discount coupon for each of these tools in the description below for you.
Now if you wish to learn in detail which are the best AI tools you should use for the entire research workflow. Right from performing a literature review to writing and publishing your paper. And learn them step by step through live demos. Then you can join me for my course on Master AI Tools for Research. And if you wish to learn the fundamentals of writing a research paper, what information you need to include in each and every section, how to perform citing and referencing, avoid plagiarism and publishing top Scopus indexed journals, then you can join me for my course on A to Z of Research Writing and Presentation. I have put the links to both of them in the description below as well. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next one. [Music]