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AI Tools for Learning and Research

Jul 8, 2025

Overview

This lecture introduces 10 free AI tools designed to help students learn faster, understand complex topics, and manage research more efficiently.

Research Paper Tools

  • Open Read Academy provides access to and summarizes millions of research papers, offering AI-generated summaries, citations, and Q&A.
  • Explained Paper simplifies academic language, explains terms at various comprehension levels, and allows unlimited follow-up questions.
  • Humata AI quickly summarizes documents, highlights key concepts, suggests draft reports, and offers audio answers.

Note-Taking & Knowledge Management

  • Recall is a visual notetaking tool that connects research, creates flashcards, quizzes, and builds a network of knowledge.
  • RemNote focuses on spaced repetition, allows custom notes and flashcards, and auto-generates tests from uploaded material.
  • Traverse uses mind mapping to organize information and build relationships between notes, featuring spaced repetition flashcards.

Problem Solving & Research Assistance

  • NOI answers uploaded or typed questions, explains concepts (especially in math), and features a Chrome extension for instant help.
  • SI Space gathers concise research answers with citations, extracts main topics, generates writer tools, citation helpers, and creates video summaries from PDFs.

Writing & Editing Tools

  • Jenny AI assists in writing, editing, grammar checking, outlining, and offers AI commands to improve, translate, paraphrase, or change text tone.

Personal Knowledge Organization

  • Capacities uses object-based note-taking, automatically tags and organizes notes, links related concepts, and builds a personal connected knowledge base.

Key Terms & Definitions

  • AI Summarization — Using artificial intelligence to create concise summaries of documents or research papers.
  • Spaced Repetition — A learning technique in which material is reviewed at increasing intervals to enhance retention.
  • Mind Mapping — A visual method of organizing information and showing relationships between concepts.
  • Object-Based Note-Taking — Organizing notes as discrete items ("objects") which can be tagged, categorized, and interlinked.
  • Citation Generator — A tool that creates formatted references for research sources.

Action Items / Next Steps

  • Explore the described AI tools to determine which best fit your learning and research needs.
  • Test one new tool this week for summarizing, note-taking, or managing knowledge.
  • Organize your next research project or paper using at least one of these apps.