User Account: Start searching right from the homepage, or create a free account.
What type of AI: Generative AI
What it does: Generates responses to questions and prompts
Where it pulls data from: Text collected from multiple sources on the internet, including Wikipedia articles, books, and other public webpages.
How to use it: ChatGPT isn't a replacement for doing research, but it can assist you in the research process, including gathering background information, brainstorming keywords, identifying synonyms and related terms, and organizing your ideas. Write down helpful keywords and then use library databases to search those keywords and locate relevant sources.
What type of AI: Search engine and Generative AI Chatbot
User account: Immediate access is available on their homepage but you can also create a free account.
What it does: Generates responses to questions and prompts, and cites sources in the response. As a bonus, you don't have to create an account or log in to use the basic features.
Where it pulls information from: Perplexity AI is a search engine so it pulls sources from the internet (including Semantic Scholar) and summarizes them.
How to use it: Perplexity is a great tool for pre-research, or even for internet searching. Just remember to evaluate your sources! The homepage allows you to start a search without creating an account. Just type a question into the search box to begin. You can use the dropdown for "focus" to identify your purpose and tailor the response. Select "Academic" to get sources suitable for a college paper. The results page includes an answer to the question as well as a list of sources that was consulted. Clicking on "view 2 more" sources brings up the full list of sources referenced in the response. If one (or more) of these sources isn't relevant, you can check the box and remove it from the response. Once you remove a source, Perplexity generates a new answer just using the remaining sources. If you ask a follow up question, Perplexity will build on your previous question to answer, but it will provide you with new sources and a new summary of the response. With a free account, you can use the Pro search 5 times every 4 hours (compared with the limit of 600 times per day with a paid account). Pro search provides additional steps between the question and answer that help narrow or better define a topic. With Pro search, Perplexity provides additional sources to explore.
What type of AI: Search engine and Generative AI Chatbot
User account: You have to log in to the library catalog using your myMCC login.
What it does: Generates responses to questions and prompts, and cites sources in the response.
Where it pulls information from: Primo Research Assistant searches Alma's CDI (a collection of e-resources added to library catalogs). Not all of the information may be available through the MCC Library but we are happy to request materials from other libraries.
How to use it: Use it to find sources. Remember to evaluate what you find! Go to the library catalog and click on Research Assistant. You will be prompted to log in. Just click on "Students and Staff." Type your question into the search box. Instead of coming from the web, your results will come from library sources (MCC Library and beyond). Primo Research Assistant gives a summary with sources, 5 sources from ebooks and journals, related research questions, and an option to search the library catalog.