ChatGPT can't be trusted with research. These tools are way better.

My formal education is, thankfully, well and truly in the rear-view mirror. But that doesn't mean I've stopped learning or needing to do research on a very frequent basis.

Clients need information.

Content creation needs information.

And I struggle with how AI tools will pull together trustworthy and untrustworthy sources of information and present it all to us like those two things are somehow equal because god-forbid that Elon Musk will think that the tool is "too woke."

When I want data, research and the kind of facts that transcend the agendas of whoever happens to have a seat in some parliament at the moment, ChatGPT can't be trusted. But then, neither can Google's Gemini. And even though I will trust Perplexity with a lot of simple stuff that I already know and just want some extra sources aside from "my brain," it still collapses together "trustworthy" and "popular" as being much the same thing.

So what can I trust to get deeper stuff that even those "deep research" modes don't like to touch because they're not cool enough?

1. Research Rabbit (Free)

Focus: Visualises and maps the literature review.

Key Features:

• Instantly shows literature review maps, drawing connections between studies and authors.
• Helps quickly find new, highly relevant studies and suggested authors you might be overlooking.
• Shows the timeline of studies (latest to oldest).
• Connects directly to Zotero for easy import of existing literature.

Limitation: Does not help with writing research papers. Which is ok. I don't need to do that these days.

2. Paperpile

Focus: Writing, proofreading, and citation management.

Key Features:

• It's basically a Microsoft Word plug-in.
• Generates outlines and structures for entire papers or sections in seconds.
• Research & Sight Feature: Acts as an "expert colleague," providing evidence-based answers with potential citations.
• Built-in Proofreading Tool with suggested changes categorised for ease of review (saving proofreading costs).
• Paraphrasing features (academic, shorter, synonyms).
• Plagiarism Check using a Turnitin-based report (free), but doesn't give an AI generation check result.
• AI Review: Provides suggestions to improve flow, structure, and expand text.

Pricing: Free to get started; discount coupon available for paid plans.

Limitation: Didn't really encounter one that stuck out for me. This is actually a pretty damn useful tool, to be honest.

3. Jenny

Focus: Detailed outlining and writing with PDF integration.

Key Features:

• Generates incredibly detailed outlines (for papers or thesis chapters) with main headings, bullet points, and approximate word counts.
• Upload Text/PDFs to Library: Allows you to chat with your PDFs or ask specific questions and receive answers with references from the uploaded documents. I loved this feature.
• Helps develop initial ideas and expand text (e.g., "write in more depth," provide definitions).
• Improves writing quality (fluency, paraphrasing, simplifying).

Limitation: Not a Microsoft Word plug-in. That doesn't worry me as a Google Workspace user, but it might worry some of you who are in the MS universe.

Pricing: Free to start; discount coupon available for paid plans.

4. AvidNote

Focus: A comprehensive, A-to-Z research process tool.

Key Features:

• Offers a vast array of AI modules covering the entire research process:
• Generating research ideas and planning studies.
• Suggesting interview questions and building surveys.
• Analysing quantitative and qualitative data.
• Proofreading and revising text for submission.
• Suggesting methodology and conferences.

Limitation: The interface is considered "clunky" and counter-intuitive, making it difficult to find the modules. And I agree with this. It's massively capable, but seriously clunky which is going to out some of you off.

5. SciSpace (To me, this one beats them all!)

Focus: All-in-one, user-friendly tool for literature review, writing, and idea generation.

Key Features:

• Literature Review: The most significant advantage—allows you to chat with multiple documents (your uploaded library or a search result set) simultaneously to answer questions. Love this!
• AI Writing Module: Generates full outlines, introductions, and conclusions; improves flow and adds citations—all in one place with the literature review tools.
• Built-in AI Detector: Checks for potential AI-generated text in your paper (a feature lacking in Jenny and Paperpile). This, to me, helps uni students the most.
• Novel Research Ideas: Quickly generates new topics by summarising existing studies and identifying gaps/suggestions for future research. This is not much use for me, but for students? This is a gamechanger.
• Citation Booster: Generates professional presentation slides and promotional videos for your published papers based on your PDF, helping you gain more citations and authority. A nice touch.

Interface: Clean, fast, and highly user-friendly.

Pricing: Completely free to start. But you'll eventually pay for the extra access.