Complete Explanation About Elicit?

📚 1. What Is Elicit?

Elicit is an AI-powered academic research tool designed to help researchers, students, lecturers, and academics search for, analyze, and summarize scientific literature quickly and efficiently.

Elicit is developed by Ought, a research organization focused on using AI to improve the quality of decision-making and scientific research.

Unlike Google Scholar, which only displays lists of journals, Elicit directly analyzes the content of papers and presents structured answers.

🎯 2. Purpose & Main Functions of Elicit

Elicit aims to:

• Speed up the literature review process

• Reduce the time spent reading hundreds of journals

• Help identify the most relevant papers

• Automatically generate research summaries

It is suitable for research such as:

• Undergraduate theses

• Master’s theses

• Doctoral dissertations

• Journal articles

• Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR)

🤖 3. How Elicit Works

Elicit’s workflow:

1. The user enters a research question (in natural language).

2. AI searches for papers from scientific databases (such as Semantic Scholar).

3. AI reads and analyzes the papers.

4. Results are presented in the form of:

   • Tables

   • Summaries

   • Methodological insights

   • Key findings

Example question:
“What is the effect of social media on academic performance?”

🔑 4. Key Features of Elicit

🔹 1. AI Literature Search

• Search for papers using questions rather than keywords

• Finds relevant research even when terminology differs

• More contextual than traditional search methods

🔹 2. Automatic Paper Summaries

Elicit can extract:

• Research objectives

• Methodology

• Study samples

• Variables

• Results and conclusions
  Without requiring you to read each full paper individually.

🔹 3. Research Comparison Tables

One of its strongest features:

| Title | Method | Sample | Findings |

Very useful for:

• Literature reviews

• Meta-analyses

• Chapter 2 of theses/dissertations

🔹 4. Research Data Extraction

AI can extract:

• Sample size

• Type of experiment

• Dependent and independent variables

• Key outcomes

This typically takes hours when done manually.

🔹 5. Reference & Citation Helper

• Provides paper metadata

• Easily exportable to Zotero / Mendeley

• Helps organize citations more neatly

🔹 6. Paper Recommendations

Elicit suggests:

• Related papers

• Follow-up studies

• Relevant cross-disciplinary research

🧪 5. Supported Fields of Study

Elicit is strongest in:

• Social sciences

• Psychology

• Education

• Health

• Economics

• Data science

• Environmental science

It can also be used for:

• Engineering

• Computer science

• STEM fields (with certain limitations)

👩‍🎓 6. Who Is Elicit For?

Elicit is ideal for:

• Undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD students

• Lecturers and researchers

• Academics

• Research assistants

• Journal authors

• Research consultants

Especially for those who want to:

• Save research time

• Produce more systematic reviews

• Reduce human error

💰 7. Elicit Pricing Model

🟢 Free Plan

• Limited number of searches

• Basic paper summaries

• Suitable for students

🔵 Paid Plan (Pro)

• More searches

• Advanced data extraction

• Larger analysis tables

• Suitable for intensive research

Pricing is typically based on AI usage quotas.

✅ 8. Advantages of Elicit

✔️ Saves a significant amount of research time
✔️ Question-based search instead of keyword-based
✔️ Automatic paper summaries
✔️ Excellent for literature reviews
✔️ Simple interface
✔️ Free for basic use

⚠️ 9. Limitations of Elicit

❌ Not all papers are available in full text
❌ Less optimal for purely technical research (e.g., engineering)
❌ Still requires manual verification
❌ Dependent on the quality of scientific databases

🔍 10. Brief Comparison

🧠 11. Tips for Using Elicit Effectively

• Use specific questions

• Combine it with Google Scholar

• Always check the original paper for citations

• Use Elicit tables for Chapter 2 (literature review)

• Do not copy–paste directly into your thesis

🏁 12. Conclusion

Elicit is a powerful AI academic research tool that significantly accelerates and simplifies the research process. It does not replace researchers, but serves as a smart research assistant that helps filter, summarize, and analyze literature far more efficiently.