How to use Elicit to find academic papers and key findings without getting lost in Google Scholar?

What is the most effective way to use an AI research assistant to get direct answers and summaries from scientific studies?

Overwhelmed by academic research? This guide explains how to use Elicit to ask research questions and instantly get summarized findings, key data, and citations from relevant papers.

Ready to cut your research time in half and find the evidence you need without the headache? Continue below for a step-by-step walkthrough on using Elicit for your next academic project.

Let’s be real — research can be exciting… but it’s also overwhelming.

You start with a great idea or a clear question.
You open up Google Scholar or some online database…
And suddenly, you’re knee-deep in PDFs, confusing language, conflicting findings, and academic jargon that could put anyone to sleep.

Sound familiar?

It’s not that there’s not enough information — it’s that there’s too much, and it’s too hard to filter, digest, and apply. That’s the real challenge students face today.

Now imagine this instead:

You type in a question like, “Does listening to music help students concentrate?”
And within seconds, you get:

• A list of academic papers
• Bullet-point summaries of the key findings
• Links to the full text
• Auto-generated citations
• A clean comparison of study methods and results

That’s not a dream. That’s Elicit.

What is Elicit?

Elicit.org is your free, AI-powered research assistant. It doesn’t just find papers—it helps you understand them. It simplifies, organizes, and even compares insights for you.

Whether you’re writing a report, working on a project, preparing for a debate, or just genuinely curious — Elicit cuts your research time in half and multiplies your clarity.

Here’s how to start using it.

How to Use Elicit Step-by-Step

Step 1: Getting Started

1. Go to elicit.org
2. Sign up using your email (takes just a few seconds)
3. You’ll land on a clean search bar asking:

   “What do you want to learn from the literature?”

This is where your AI-powered research begins.

Step 2: Ask a Real Question

Example question:

“Does listening to music while studying improve focus?”

Type it in and hit search.

Elicit will scan academic databases like Semantic Scholar and return:

• Top papers with summaries
• Bullet points explaining the findings
• Columns like sample size, methods, population studied
• Publication dates and citation counts

You no longer need to skim 20 papers just to find one that’s useful.

Step 3: Customize and Compare

Now take control of your results:

1. Sort by most recent, most cited, or most relevant
2. Filter by publication year or study design
3. Add your own columns like:
   • Type of experiment
   • Intervention used
   • Effect size

Want to compare multiple studies side-by-side? Elicit lets you do that in one simple table.

This is perfect for essays, debates, literature reviews, or anytime you need to back up your point with data.

Step 4: Go Deeper Into Specific Papers

Click on any title and a side panel will show you:

• The study abstract in plain English
• The design and sample used
• Key findings
• Outcome metrics
• A “summarize” button that instantly gives you the takeaway

And if you’re writing an academic report?

Copy the BibTeX or APA-style citation in one click. No more formatting stress.

Step 5: Use It to Discover New Ideas

Elicit doesn’t just answer questions — it helps you ask better ones.

Let’s say you’re exploring a broad topic like climate change and agriculture.

Elicit can:

• Suggest related questions you might not have thought of
• Identify gaps in the research
• Highlight studies with conflicting evidence

This is how you move from being a passive reader to an active thinker.

You’ll start to develop arguments, hypotheses, and discussion points like a true academic.

Try This Out Now

Head to Elicit and enter:

“What are the mental health effects of social media on teenagers?”

Then, explore the top 5 results and ask yourself:

• What was the key finding?
• Who was studied?
• Were there any conflicting results?

If you want to take it further, paste those insights into ChatGPT or Notion and ask:

“Summarize these findings into a 2-paragraph essay.”

Boom — real, evidence-based research, done in under 20 minutes.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to be a scholar to start researching like one.

Elicit gives you everything traditional research tools don’t:

• Simplicity
• Speed
• Insight
• Structure

No more getting lost in endless tabs. No more wasted hours reading irrelevant papers. Now, you can focus on what actually matters — asking smart questions, building strong arguments, and learning deeply.

So next time you’re about to start a project, a paper, or even a curiosity rabbit hole…

Don’t Google it.
Elicit it.