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Mushtaq Bilal, PhD Profile picture
Mushtaq Bilal, PhD
@MushtaqBilalPhD
I simplify the process of academic writing | Helped 6,000+ become efficient academic writers with AI | Growing https://t.co/Jf1ImqzJRW | Building https://t.co/esrCgNNljM
136 subscribers
Dec 25, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Don't use Sci-Hub — it's a "controversial" website with 84M+ research papers freely available.

We should all try to make billion-dollar academic publishers richer.

Anyway, here's a thread on how to integrate Sci-Hub with Zotero to get free papers.

🚨DO NOT DO IT! 1. Don't go to this link:
github(dot)com/syt2/zotero-scipdf

But if you do, replace the word "dot" with an actual [.]

Don't scroll down and click on "latest release xpi file."

This will download an "xpi" file to your computer.
Dec 24, 2025 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
10 books to help you become a better academic writer so you can write a lot and publish a lot:

1. Academic Writing as if the Reader Matters by Leonard Cassuto

Practical tips on how to make your academic writing more engaging and readable. Examples from the arts and sciences. Academic Writing as if the Reader Matters by Leonard Cassuto 2. The Clockwork Muse by Eviatar Zerubavel

Helpful advice on how to organize your writing process in terms of time.

A-Time: for writing new material (deep work)
B-Time: for shallow work like compiling bibliography, etc.
C-Time: for house chores The Clockwork Muse by Eviatar Zerubavel
Dec 15, 2025 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
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
Dec 2, 2025 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
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.
Oct 6, 2025 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Sep 16, 2025 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
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.
Sep 3, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
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
Sep 2, 2025 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
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."
Aug 16, 2025 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Chat Academia now offers a FREE plan.

• Brainstorm research questions
• Run searches across multiple databases
• Generate literature maps
• Extract relevant information from papers

Here's how to use Chat Academia for free: A red rectangle highlights the free plan on Chat Academia's pricing page. 1. Go to and click on "Get started."

Select the free plan. chatacademia.com
Jul 26, 2025 • 20 tweets • 3 min read
An updated list of 60 apps for academic writing and research: Finding Research Gaps

• Research Kick
researchkick[.]com/start
Pricing: $9/m, $99/year

Intergrating AI with Academic Databases

• Chat Academia

Pricing: $15/mchatacademia.com
Jul 26, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Four AI-powered apps that generate detailed research reports with references to published sources: 1. Storm (Free)

Go to storm[.]genie[.]stanford[.]edu and log in.

Type in your question in the search box. Storm will ask you the purpose of your question. Type in your answer.

Storm will generate a detailed report with references.

You can also download the report as a PDF.
Jul 15, 2025 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Genspark's AI Docs is a great tool to get your scut work done.

Simply give it a link, a prompt, and it will draft tutorials, resumes, and quizzes in minutes — sort of vibe working.

Vibe Working is about using AI as your assistant.

Here's how to use @genspark_ai: 1. Go to genspark[.]ai Click on "AI Docs."

Copy a link to a YouTube video and ask AI Docs to draft a step-by-step tutorial based on the video.

It will give you a tutorial, which you can edit.

You can also download the document as a Word file or a PDF.
Jul 14, 2025 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Jul 14, 2025 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Zotero is the best citation management tool for academic writing.

Here's how to automate your citations and bibliography:

You can learn this in 15 minutes, and it will save you hours of work. 1. Go to zotero[.]org and click on the "Download" button.

Download the app and install it on your computer.
Jul 9, 2025 • 16 tweets • 6 min read
Conducting systematic reviews is a very lengthy process — it involves screening hundreds of studies and extracting data from them.

Silvi is an AI app designed to streamline systematic reviews.

Here's how to use it (you can learn this workflow in 20 minutes): 1. Go to and click on "Get started."

Sign up for a free account.

Silvi offers three plans: Basic (free), Rapid (€19/m), and Plus (€59/m). silvi.ai
Jul 7, 2025 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Chat Academia now offers a FREE plan.

• Brainstorm research questions
• Run searches across multiple databases
• Generate literature maps
• Extract relevant information from papers

Here's how to use Chat Academia for free: A red rectangle highlights the free plan on Chat Academia's pricing page. 1. Go to and click on "Get started."

Select the free plan. chatacademia.com
Jul 5, 2025 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
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.
Jul 2, 2025 • 22 tweets • 8 min read
😢
ChatGPT: $20/m
Claude: $20/m
Gemini: $20/m
No access to academic databases❌

😃 Chat Academia: $15/m only

ChatGPT + Claude + Gemini
Integrated with six databases✅
Plus, Zotero integration, 50GB storage

Here's a detailed overview of Chat Academia's features: 1. Go to and click on "Get started."

You'll need to buy a subscription to use the app.

Chat Academia offer three plans: $15/m, $30/m, and $45/m. chatacademia.com
Jul 1, 2025 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
NotebookLM was already one of the best AI apps for academic work.
Now it supports 50+ languages.

• Summarize papers
• Generate audio overviews of papers
• Ask question about papers
• Prepare study guides

All this in your own language and that too for free. 1. Go to notebooklm[.]google[.]com.

Click on "Create new notebook" and upload a paper.

NotebookLM will give you its summary.
Jun 30, 2025 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
AI is on its way to automate literature review and literature discovery.

MIT researchers have built Undermind, an app that generates detailed literature reviews based on abstracts and full texts of research papers.

Here's how to use it: 1. Go to undermind[.]ai and sign up for an account.

Undermind offers a free plan with limited features.
Jun 29, 2025 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
ChatGPT generates fake references to papers that don't exist.

So, researchers at Stanford built Storm.

It's an AI-powered app that generates well-researched articles with references to published sources. And Storm is free to use.

Here's how to use it: 1. Go to storm[.]genie[.]stanford[.]edu and click on "Get Started."

Create a account and log in.