AI research assistant that answers from your own sources
Search+ is an AI research assistant that works from the source PDFs of your project rather than from the open web. You create a workspace for the project, add the papers, reports and other PDFs you are relying on, and ask questions in plain language. Each answer carries inline citations to the document and excerpt it came from, so you can see which source said what before you build on it. The workspace stays saved, so the project can run for weeks.
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What a research session with Search+ looks like
A few questions a researcher might put to a project workspace, and what comes back.
The answer lists the definitions it finds in the uploaded PDFs, each followed by a citation to the document and the excerpt. Where definitions differ, the answer says so and cites both sides.
Search+ returns the passages that bear on the claim, cited to their source. A page or section reference appears when the PDF provides one.
With the question scoped to that one report, the answer draws only on that file, and each sentence that relies on the report points to the excerpt behind it.
Open the earlier conversation from your history. The thread reopens with its workspace and scope, so you can continue the line of questioning instead of starting again.
What is an AI research assistant?
An AI research assistant is software that helps with the reading side of research: locating what your sources say, summarizing them, comparing them and keeping track of where each point came from. Tools in this category differ mainly in where their answers come from. Some search the web or a paper index and bring back new sources. Others work only on the material you give them. Search+ is the second kind. It answers from the PDFs in your workspace, it shows a citation for each supported point, and it keeps the workspace and its conversations so a research project can be picked up again days later. That makes it useful once you have a reading list and need to work through it carefully, rather than at the stage where you are still discovering what to read.
How to set up Search+ as your research assistant
- Create a workspace for the project
Name it after the study, thesis chapter or question you are working on. You can rename it as the project changes and archive it when the work is done.
- Add your source PDFs
Drag and drop up to 10 PDFs at a time. Each file shows its status while it is processed in the background, and you can keep working while that happens. Processing time depends on the size and structure of each file.
- Write your standing instructions
Use Workspace Context to record what should shape every answer in this project, such as the terms you use, the evidence standard you care about or the sources to treat with caution.
- Ask, check and continue
Ask across all your sources or narrow a question to one document. Open citations to read the excerpts, and come back to the same conversation later from your history.
What Search+ does for a research project
Questions are answered from the PDFs in the workspace, which keeps the assistant inside the sources you chose to rely on.
Answers include inline citations to the source document and the supporting excerpt, and you can open a citation to read that excerpt.
Citations include page or section references when the PDF provides them. Search+ does not invent locations the document does not contain.
Ask across every document in the workspace, or narrow the question to one source when you need to know what a single paper says.
Workspace Context stores standing instructions for the project and applies them to every question asked in that workspace.
Workspaces, documents and conversations are saved. You can reopen an earlier thread or search your conversations by name.
Ask Search+ to find the themes and claims that recur across your sources, with citations to where each appears.
What this research assistant does not do
Answers come only from the documents you upload. Use a literature database or search engine to build the reading list, then bring the PDFs into Search+.
Citations point to your source documents and excerpts. Search+ does not produce a bibliography in APA, MLA or any other style.
AI answers can be incomplete or inaccurate. Check the cited evidence before relying on an important claim, especially in work you will publish or submit.
Search+ compared with working through sources by hand
| Task | By hand | With Search+ |
|---|---|---|
| Finding what each source says about a point | Reopen each PDF and search or skim it | Ask once across the workspace and read the cited excerpts |
| Keeping track of where a point came from | Copy quotes and page numbers into notes | Each supported point carries a citation to its source and excerpt |
| Returning to the project after a break | Rebuild context from notes and open files | Reopen the workspace and the earlier conversation |
| Applying the same project rules | Remember them each time you read | Write them once as Workspace Context |
Questions about using an AI research assistant
Is there a free AI research assistant in Search+?
Is Search+ on GitHub or open source?
Can I use it for a long research project?
Will it find sources I have not uploaded?
Can it tell me where two of my sources disagree?
What kinds of research documents can I add?
Can I keep different research projects separate?
Does it replace reading the sources?
Can I add scanned papers or Word drafts?
Give your reading list a research assistant
Create a workspace, add your source PDFs and start asking questions with citations.
Start a workspace