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PolyU Library

Harnessing GenAI in Your Academic Journey

Literature review is an indispensable step in academic research. To accelerate this process, AI OneSearch Lite and Scite are two of the available GenAI tools for PolyU students:

Features of AI OneSearch Lite

  • Quick answers from credible sources
  • AI-enhanced search query
  • New directions for research
  • Multilingual support
  • Research history

Learn more about the details of the above key features and how AI OneSearch Lite complements OneSearch!

Features of Scite

Getting Started with Scite Assistant

The default tab on the homepage is Scite Assistant. It answers questions in natural language based on scholarly sources and allows you to refine its search with customizable settings. There are also 3 additional options to customize your responses:

  • Tables Tab: Displays the response in an editable table format
  • Settings: Specify preferences before Scite Assistant conducts the search and generates a response (see "Adjust Response Settings" below)
  • Source: Instruct Scite Assistant to consult only specific papers, saved items in dashboards, or uploaded items when generating a response

⚠️Importance of critical thinking when using Scite Assistant⚠️

Scite Assistant's responses are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. Never copy Scite Assistant's responses and submit as your own work. You are accountable for your work and should use these responses responsibly.

Strengths Weakness

Efficiency

Quickly synthesizes information from a vast amount of search results

Example:
What is procrastination? Is this common among students?

Incomplete Information

  • Does not cover all journals, specialized information and topics
  • Potentially skewed response as it is based on the information available in their database

(Tip: Check whether the important journals in your field are indexed and what is covered in Scite before using)

Complex Queries 

  • Enables users to ask questions that may be challenging to phrase as keywords in traditional search engines
  • Suggests initial keywords for search strategies from simpler wordings

Example:

What are the unexplored areas in the study of student procrastination?
Any emerging trends have not been extensively covered?

Citation Accuracy

Although citations are included, they do not always accurately support the claims made.

Here is an example of a misleading indirect citation.

 

Personalized UX

Tailors information to your specific needs

Example:

What are the most effective strategies for undergraduates to combat procrastination? Provide a summary of the top 5 approaches and rank according to their effectiveness.

  
To ensure the accuracy and validity of the information, always read the original sources cited to verify the claims. Then, decide whether to use the original source to support your claim. If you choose to use it, make sure to cite it properly. 
A list of references is provided beside the response. You may also access the full-text via the library's collection from the in-text citations or references.


Customize your Experience

To optimize the outputs of Scite Assistant, read Scite's free e-book, AI Prompt Handbook For Scite Assistant: Optimize AI Outputs & Accelerate Your Research, to understand how it works and compare prompts used at Scite Assistant.

Additionally, Scite Assistant also offers features to enhance your experience. Find out how:

Scite Assistant offers customizable settings via the  button to refine prompt processing. Key options include:

  • Citation Statements & Evidence Sections: Direct Scite Assistamt to source information from specific study sections (introduction, methods, results, or discussion)
  • Table Mode: Present the response references in a customizable table, with summaries of each publication addressing your prompt
  • Reference Year Range: Filter responses to prioritize recent publications
  • Journals & Publications: Input Journal titles or DOIs to reference specific journals or articles

Customize your search in Scite Assistant via the “Search Strategy” tab. Click “Edit Searches” to review, add, or remove keywords, tailoring the tool to your research needs.

 

What are citation statements?

A citation statement refers to the sentence(s) surrounding a citation within a publication. It provides context for the citation with the search term and illustrates how other authors are citing another source. 

Why do I need to search for citation statements? How can they help with my research?

Citation statement search not only helps you retrieve relevant works, but also directly shows the relevant citation statements within those works. This can help speed up:

  • Selection of works for in-depth reading: Assess relevance by viewing search terms in context and the paper sections they appear in.
  • Discovery of potential works to cite: Identify useful sources by seeing what others cite for similar claims.
  • Tracking research development: Observe how ideas and findings are built upon, supported, or challenged over time.

Further Reading: How does Citation Statement Search work?

What are these on the search result page?

For each publication on the search result list, there are indices that categorize citation statements into three types: (1) supporting, (2) mentioning, and (3) contrasting, to help researchers quickly grasp how the work has been cited by the others and hence the impact of the work. The  number of publications citing the work is also shown. 

For example, for the following work, there are 2,219 publications citing this work, 


 

From the search result list, each of the retrieved citation statements is also categorized, with a confidence percentage reflecting how certain Scite is about its classification. 


Further Reading: How are citations classified?

After clicking into a publication from the search results, you will arrive its report page.

The report page helps researchers to quickly evaluate a publication and understand its impact. It shows a paper's citation count, and how it is cited by others, including the citation statement and smart citations. 


Further Reading: How do I use the scite report page?

Here are some popular AI-powered research tools that can also assist you in literature discovery. Please note that these tools are currently not subscribed to by the library, so access may vary.

Semantic Scholar offers search functions similar to search engines and academic databases, but with enhanced AI capabilities, including:

  • AI Enhanced Search: Techniques that utilizes machine learning to extract meaning and identify connections from within papers, which helps navigates sources more efficiently than traditional keyword-based search engines.
  • Citation Insights: Feature that facilitates the in-depth understanding of the citations of a work, such as recency, classification of which part the others are citing and citing authors.
  • TLDRs (Too Long; Didn't Read):  Short summaries of the objective and results to help researchers to skim through search results.
  • Semantic Reader: An AI-powered augmented reading application, which helps researchers comprehend papers faster, available for most arXiv papers.

📌 Tip: Semantic Scholar may provide a publisher's link to the academic paper in the search results. To read the full-text of these sources, install library browser plug-ins to access them directly from publisher's webpage, bypassing the library webpage.

How do librarians view different AI-powered research tools? Check out the information and in-depth discussions at the following links.