AI for college students should help you find and read real sources, not write your essay for you. AI for Research answers a research question with a short answer that cites real papers, finds sources with filters, formats citations in your course's style, and keeps a record of how you wrote. It is for undergraduates writing essays, lab reports and term papers.
Three jobs you can do here
1. Ask a question and get a cited answer
Type the question your essay asks into the Ask box, for example "Does sleep after learning improve memory?". Leave the depth on Summary. You get a short answer from about 8 papers, each claim tied to a numbered source, plus a consensus line when most of the studies test your question ("3 of 4 studies that test the question support it"). It costs 1 credit.
2. Find sources for an essay
Find Papers searches across scholarly sources in one go and costs nothing. Filter by year, study type, open access or peer-reviewed only; retracted papers are left out by default. Each result shows the study type, citation count and whether a free PDF exists. Save the ones you will use to your Library, then ask a PDF a question (1 credit) when you need to find where it says something.
3. Cite in your course's style and show your work
Write in the editor and insert citations from your Library in APA, MLA, Chicago or any of 10,000+ styles. When you are done, create an authorship report so your instructor can see what you typed, pasted and accepted from AI.
How it works, step by step
- Ask. On Home, type your question, keep Summary, and leave the sources on All papers. Set your role to Undergraduate so the answer is pitched at your level.
- Read the sources tab. The result has three tabs: Cited, All read and Web. Open the cited papers first. Save the ones you will use.
- Search for more. Open Find Papers with the same words, add a year filter (for example 2015 onwards), and save two or three more papers.
- Check your claims. Paste a paragraph into Claim check (2 credits). Each claim comes back labeled supported, partly supported, not supported or no evidence, with the papers.
- Write and cite. Open a new document, insert citations from your Library, and pick your course's style. The reference list builds itself.
- Check your references. Run the citation check (free): it looks up each reference and flags retractions and wrong years or authors.
- Export and report. Download Word or PDF, then create the authorship report if your course asks how you used AI.
The workspaces you will use
| Workspace | What you do with it | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Deep Research | Summary answers to a question, with cited papers | Summary 1, Deep 15 |
| Find Papers | Search and filter papers; save them | 0 |
| My Library and chat with PDF | Store PDFs, ask them questions with page citations | Storing 0, a question 1 |
| Editor | Write, insert citations, export to Word or PDF | 0 (10 autocompletes a day on Free) |
| Citation checker | Claim check on a paragraph; reference check | Claim check 2, reference check 0 |
| Authorship report | Show how your document was written | 0 |
The free citation generator also formats a single reference without an account.
Which plan fits, and a month worked out
The free plan fits most undergraduates. Free gives 45 credits a month, 25 PDFs in the Library, one project, and up to 2 Deep reports a day. Plus ($12 a month or $96 a year) gives 750 credits and is worth it in a month with a dissertation or several papers due.
Example month (invented, on the free plan): two essays and a lab report.
| Job | How many | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Summary answers | 10 | 10 |
| One Deep report for the longest essay | 1 | 15 |
| Questions to PDFs | 6 | 6 |
| Claim checks on paragraphs | 2 | 4 |
| Research question module (Thesis Suite) for the lab report | 1 | 3 |
| Paper search, citations, reference check, editor, export, authorship report | any | 0 |
| Total | 38 of 45 |
Credits you do not use do not carry over to the next month.
AI-use rules that matter to you
Your course decides, not the tool. Before you use AI on an assignment, find three answers in the syllabus or the assignment brief:
- Is AI allowed at all? Some courses ban it, some allow it for finding sources only, some allow drafting help.
- Must you say how you used it? Many courses that allow AI ask for a short note. Keep a list as you work: which tool, what you asked, what you kept.
- What counts as your own work? Even where AI is allowed, the argument and the wording you submit are usually expected to be yours.
The authorship report helps with the second and third. It shows time spent, text typed, pasted and accepted from AI, with a link your instructor can verify. The counts come from your browser, so the report is evidence of how your work grew, not proof. Text written elsewhere and pasted in shows as pasted. Read how AI for Research uses AI for what is sent to AI providers: your documents are never used to train AI.
What it does not do
- It does not write an essay you can hand in as your own. Drafting tools exist, but your course rules decide whether you may use them.
- It does not search Google Scholar, JSTOR or your library's databases. Search those yourself through your college library and add PDFs to your Library.
- Summary answers read abstracts and open full texts only; paywalled papers are read from the abstract.
- Answers can overstate or miss studies. Open every paper before you cite it.
- Credits do not roll over, and Detailed reports are for paid plans only.
Who else it is for
Doing a master's? See AI for a master's thesis. Going on to a doctorate? See AI tools for PhD students.
Handing in a paper or a poster? The reference list formatter cleans and restyles a reference list, the research poster maker builds a poster for a research day, and the PDF to Markdown converter turns lecture slides and PDFs into editable notes.
Learn more
- How to find sources for a research paper
- How to check a claim against the research
- How to write a literature review
- The best AI tools for students
Last updated 2026-11-13