Mushtaq Bilal, PhD Profile picture
Nov 30, 2023 11 tweets 4 min read Read on X
ResearchPal is a new app designed especially for academic writing.

It has a built-in search engine. You can look up papers, save them to your library, and extract key insights.

It can also help you with literature review and drafting your paper.

Here's how to use it:
Go to researchpal(dot)co and sign up for a free account.

Once you have logged in, click on "Projects" and create a new project.
Open the project you just created. ResearchPal will give you a list of tools in the left taskbar.

Click on "Library" and upload papers relevant to your project. At the moment, ResearchPal only lets you upload papers one by one.

It also has Zotero and Mendeley integrations but I didn't find them very helpful. Mendeley integration didn't work for me. And it retrieved only a few articles from my Zotero library.

Maybe folks at ResearchPal will improve these integrations in the future.
ResearchPal has a built-in search function, which is really helpful.

It's like having Google Scholar inside your MS Word.

Click on "Search Papers" and type in keywords related to your project.

While the idea of a built-in search function is great, it needs some work. I looked up "world literature david damrosch" and it included irrelevant papers on neural networks.

That said, having a search function is awesome.
ResearchPal also lets you save relevant articles. Click on the "Save" button to do so.

All your saved articles and those in your library will show up in the "References" tab. This is very convenient.
Another great functionality ResearchPal provides is it lets you extract insights from papers in your library.

Select a few papers in your library and click on "Add to Paper Insights." ResearchPal will give summaries of the articles.

You can add several additional columns too like Conclusions, Results, Literature Survey, etc.

This can help you go through key insights of a lot of papers very quickly. You can use this feature to figure out papers that are most relevant to your project.
Want to learn how to supercharge your academic writing with AI apps?

I have a complete tutorial for you.

4,300+ academics including those at Harvard, Stanford, and Yale are using it.

You can get it here 👇

efficientacademicwriter.carrd.co
ResearchPal also has a "Literature Review" tab.

I am not a fan of AI-generated literature reviews — they are predictable and lack originality.

That said, this function can help you move in the right direction.

Click on "Literature Review" and type in keywords related to your project. ResearchPal will give you a write-up with references to published papers.

I looked up "pakistani literature and world literature" and found an interesting paper that was published just last week.
7. ResearchPal also has a document editor that lets you draft your paper.
The document editor has a useful function of AI commands that you can use to look up information.

For example, I am writing a paper on 19th century colonial India and needed a brief introduction to East India Company.

ResearchPal gave me a short write-up that I can use an inspiration to draft a few relevant sentences.
Found this thread on ResearchPal helpful?

1. Scroll to the top and hit Like on the first tweet.

2. Bookmark it so you can come back to it later.

3. Follow me for regular threads on how to supercharge your academic writing with AI apps.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 29
Chat Academia now lets you use your own OpenAI API key.

This will make the app much more affordable. You can use it to integrate 5 academic databases with ChatGPT.

Here's how to set your OpenAI API key in Chat Academia:
1. Go to platform[.]openai[.]com and sign up for an account.
2. Once you've logged in, click on "Start building" in the top-right corner.

Enter your name and select the level of your technical proficiency. Select "Create organization" and skip the next step.

Then click on "Generate API Key" and your API key will be generated.
Read 11 tweets
Apr 19
Most apps for academic research require paid subscriptions.

Here are 10 that are free:
1. Dimensions[.]ai

AI-powered database with 150M+ publications. The landing page of Dimensions.
2. SemanticScholar[.]org

AI-powered database with 225M+ papers covering all academic fields. The landing page of Semantic Scholar.
Read 14 tweets
Apr 13
😢
ChatGPT: $20/m
Claude: $20/m
Gemini: $20/m
Access to academic databases❌

😃
Chat Academia: $15/m only

ChatGPT + Claude + Gemini.
Integrated with multiple academic databases✅

Here's how to use Chat Academia:
1. Go to and click on "Get started."

You will need to buy a subscription to use the app.

It has three plans: $15/m, $30/m, and $45/m. chatacademia.com
2. This is how the homepage of Chat Academia will look like.

Click on "AI Chat" in the top-left and then "Create chat" in the top-right.

In the chat interface, you will see multiple AI models and multiple academic databases. Select the model/databse you want to use.
Read 13 tweets
Apr 11
Most AI apps need paid subscriptions, but the Chinese are building apps that are free.

Bohrium is a free AI app built for researchers.

• Combines Deep Seek's reasoning model with academic databases.
• Gives detailed answers and cites published papers.

Here's how to use it:
1. Go to bohrium[.]com and click on "Log in" in the bottom-left corner.

Enter your email to sign up for a free account.
2. In the bottom-left of the chat box, you will see options for AI models and databases.

Bohrium has integrated databases for natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, and the humanities.

For detailed answers you can select "DeepThink."
Read 8 tweets
Apr 5
Finding relevant papers for literature review takes a lot of time and labor.

You can run visual searches from within Zotero to supercharge your literature — for free.

You can also do it with Mendeley and EndNote.

Here's how:
1. Go to github(dot)com/inciteful-xyz/inciteful-zotero-plugin

Scroll down a little and click on "Version 7 - latest release."

This will download an xpi file on your computer.
2. Open your Zotero desktop app.

Click on "Tools" and select "Plugins."

In the Plugins Manager, click on the Settings icon and select "Install Plugin From File."

Navigate to the xpi file you just download and add it.

Close the Plugin Manager.
Read 10 tweets
Apr 4
Biggest flaw of AI apps: hallucinations — fake references to papers that don't even exist.

Research Flow is a new app that solves this problem. It uses full text of papers to answer your questions.

Here's an overview of its features:
1. Go to rflow(dot)ai

Click on "Try for free" to sign up for a free account.
2. In the bottom-left of the search bar, you will three options: academic, web search, and text generation.

RFlow offers three models: Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek's latest version V3.

RFlow supports English, Chinese, and Korean.
Read 11 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(