AI Tools for Education and Research

AI-POWERED CREATION & ASSISTANCE (Generative & Content)

ChatGPT

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Conversational AI, Text Generation, Summarization
  • Tip: Great for brainstorming, drafting outlines, code snippets. Always verify facts.

Google Gemini

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Advanced LLM for understanding, generating diverse content.
  • Tip: Explore for creative writing, complex summaries, multi-modal input.

Elicit

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: AI Research Assistant, Paper Summarization.
  • Tip: Quickly find relevant research and key takeaways from academic papers.

Caktus AI

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Student Academic Writing & Task Assistance.
  • Tip: Use for initial drafts, outlining, grammar checks. Prioritize academic integrity.

Canva (with AI features)

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Graphic Design, AI Image Generation & Editing.
  • Tip: Enhance designs, generate images from text, remove backgrounds automatically.

QuillBot

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Paraphrasing, Summarizing, Grammar Checking.
  • Tip: Rephrase text for clarity, avoid repetition. Don’t plagiarize!

AI-POWERED PRODUCTIVITY & INSIGHTS (Writing, Research, Code)

Grammarly

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Writing Assistant (Grammar, Style, Tone, Clarity).
  • Tip: Improve writing quality, catch errors, adapt tone for different audiences.

Notion AI

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Integrated AI for Summarizing, Drafting, Workspace Content.
  • Tip: Generate meeting notes, expand on ideas, organize information within Notion.

Copilot (Microsoft / GitHub)

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: AI Code Assistant (GitHub), General AI Assistant (Microsoft).
  • Tip: Speed up coding, get content suggestions, automate tasks. Verify code & facts.

NotebookLM

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: AI Research & Note-Taking Assistant from your documents.
  • Tip: Get quick summaries, generate ideas, and find connections across your own notes and sources.

AI-POWERED COMMUNICATION & SUPPORT

Otter.ai

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Voice Transcription, Meeting Summarization.
  • Tip: Record and transcribe lectures/meetings, get quick highlights. Inform participants if recording.

Ivy.ai

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: AI Chatbot Platform for Higher Education Institutions.
  • Tip: Get instant answers to common university questions, access student services.

SPECIALIZED AI & NON-AI TOOLS

Wolfram Alpha

  • AI-Powered: YES
  • Function: Computational Knowledge Engine (Facts, Math, Data).
  • Tip: Get direct answers, solve complex equations, analyze data.

Gradescope

  • AI-Powered: NO (Uses Computer Vision for efficiency, but not generative AI)
  • Function: Assignment Grading Platform (Digital, Paper, Code).
  • Tip: Streamline grading, provide consistent feedback.

Replit

  • AI-Powered: NO (IDE, but often integrates AI like Ghostwriter)
  • Function: Cloud-Based Collaborative Coding Platform.
  • Tip: Write, run, and share code in various languages.

GitHub

  • AI-Powered: NO (Platform, hosts AI like Copilot)
  • Function: Version Control & Collaborative Code Hosting.
  • Tip: Manage software projects, track changes, collaborate with developers.

Google Slides

  • AI-Powered: NO (Presentation software)
  • Function: Create & Edit Presentations.
  • Tip: Design engaging slides, collaborate in real-time.

Forest

  • AI-Powered: NO (Productivity app)
  • Function: Focus & Productivity Timer.
  • Tip: Stay focused, reduce distractions, manage screen time.
THE AI RESEARCHER’S TOOLBOX
MAPPING THE FIELD (Literature Discovery & Review)
ToolAI-PoweredPrimary FunctionKey Tip for Researchers
ElicitYESSystematic Review & Synthesis: Generates structured summaries and extracts key data from large sets of research papers.Ask a highly specific research question to generate accurate, source-backed data tables (e.g., “What were the sample sizes in studies on X?”).
Research RabbitYESVisual Discovery & Citation Mapping: Creates “genealogy trees” of research, connecting papers by authors, citations, and emerging topics.Start your search with 1-2 highly relevant “seed” papers to quickly build a visual map of related literature.
Semantic ScholarYESIntelligent Academic Search: Free AI tool for discovering scientific literature and analysing citation context.Use the citation network analysis to quickly gauge a paper’s influence and see its key supporting/contrasting works.
DRAFTING & DETAIL (Writing, Verification, & Citation)
ToolAI-PoweredPrimary FunctionKey Tip for Researchers
Jenni AIYESAcademic Writing Assistant: Generates text, assists with drafting, and inserts citations in 2,600+ styles from uploaded source material.Upload your core PDFs/files first; this ensures the AI-generated text is accurately grounded and cited from your private library.
PaperpalYESManuscript Refinement: Provides real-time, subject-specific language suggestions, checks for academic tone, and performs pre-submission checks.Use the submission check features to ensure your manuscript meets technical journal requirements before sending it off.
SciteYESEvidence Verification (Smart Citations): Analyzes and classifies how other papers cite a claim (supporting, contrasting, or mentioning).Before finalizing a claim, check its key citations on Scite to see if the scientific consensus is affirming or disputing the findings.
INSIGHT EXTRACTION (Data Analysis & Visualization)
ToolAI-PoweredPrimary FunctionKey Tip for Researchers
Julius AIYESQuantitative Data Analyst: Chat interface for analyzing spreadsheets (CSV, Excel) and generating charts/insights using natural language queries.Upload your raw dataset and ask a question in plain English (e.g., “Show me the correlation between variable A and B in a scatter plot”).
ATLAS.tiYESQualitative Data Analysis (QDA): AI-powered coding, sentiment analysis, and theme identification for interviews and text-based data.Utilize the automatic AI coding feature to rapidly identify major themes and sentiment across large transcripts, saving manual coding time.
Power BI / TableauYESAdvanced Business Intelligence (BI): Integrates AI (Copilot/Einstein) for deep data exploration, pattern detection, and automated report generation.Learn to use the natural language query feature to generate complex, interactive data visualizations without needing to write code.