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.
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More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Dec 15
Dr Ally Louks's viral PhD thesis (130M views) on the politics of smell redefined the way people talk about smell.

Everyone wants to read her thesis, but it's unavailable until 2028

Here are 10 books on the politics of smell that you can read right now:

1. The Smell of Slavery A photo of Dr Ally Louks with her PhD thesis titled, "Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Literature."
The Smell of Slavery: Olfactory Racism and the Atlantic World by Andrew Kettler
1. The Smell of Slavery by Andrew Kettler

Shows how white slave owners defined Black, African bodies as noxious and deserving of enslavement.

Smell was used to dehumanize Black folks who were equated with animals by white slave owners. The Smell of Slavery: Olfactory Racism and the Atlantic World by Andew Kettler
2. The Foul and the Fragrant by Alain Corbin

Considered a foundational text in smell studies.

Shows how the bourgeois nose associated bad smells with the poor and how deodorization became a tool for state control in 18th and 19th century France. The Foul and the Fragrant by Alain Corbin
Read 11 tweets
Dec 2
Getting past peer review is a challenge every researcher faces.

Stanford researchers recently launched a free AI-powered Agentic Review that can help you with it.

It gives you a human-level mock peer review so you can polish your paper before submitting it.

Check it out 👇
1. Go to paperreview[.]ai and upload your manuscript.

Enter your email and specify your target venue (conference or journal).

You may also want to copy the "Review Token" in case you don't receive an email.
2. A few minutes later you will receive an email with a link to the review report.

Go through the review report and revise your paper according to the suggestions you think are most relevant.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 6
Libgen, Sci-Hub, and Z-library had millions of pirated academic books and papers.

So, they were shut down. We shouldn't use them anyway.

We should help billion-dollar academic publishers get richer.

Anyway, here's how to access these libraries:

Don't do this!
1. Don't go to open-slum[.]org.

Because there you will see links to LibGen, Anna's Archive, Z-Library, and Sci-Hub.
2. Don't click any link because that will open your desired library.

Don't type the title of a book you want to read because it might show up.

Look at this, someone has pirated my own book. I'm livid!
Read 5 tweets
Sep 16
Zotero is the best citation management software. It's free and doesn't monetize your data.

But many folks have a hard time starting out on it.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial to get you started on Zotero:
1. Go to zotero[.]org and click on the "Download" button.

Download the app and install it on your computer.
2. Click on Zotero Connector and add it to your browser.

Zotero Connector is available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Pin the Zotero Connector to your browser by clicking on the puzzle-like icon in the top-right corner.
Read 14 tweets
Sep 3
Small businesses can't hire expensive desginers for fancy logos and branding materials..

Genspark AI Designer @genspark_ai can help you with it.

It generated a logo for my coaching business and branded presentation templates — with a single prompt:
1. Go to and ask it to design a logo for your business.

I asked it to design a logo for my academic writing coaching business. It did a wonderful job. genspark.ai/ai_designer
2. Once it generates a design, you can edit with a simple prompt.

Click on the logo and ask Genspark AI to change its background or font color.

And it will do the needful.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 2
ChatGPT has a great feature called Projects, which you can use to make it a reliable research assistant with no hallucinations.

Not many academics seem to be using it though.

Here's how to make ChatGPT Project your research assistant:
1. Open ChatGPT and click on "New Project" in the left taskbar.

Choose a name for your project and click on "Create project."
2. Once you've created a project, you will see two options: Add files and Add instructions.

Click on "Add instructions" and type in details about your research project.

Be precise and to-the-point. You can also ask it to not respond to questions related to your project.
Read 9 tweets

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