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AI for thesis writing — Unveiling 7 best AI tools

Table of Contents

Writing a thesis is akin to piecing together a complex puzzle. Each research paper, every data point, and all the hours spent reading and analyzing contribute to this monumental task.

For many students, this journey is a relentless pursuit of knowledge, often marked by sleepless nights and tight deadlines.

Here, the potential of AI for writing a thesis or research papers becomes clear: artificial intelligence can step in, not to take over but to assist and guide.

Far from being just a trendy term, AI is revolutionizing academic research, offering tools that can make the task of thesis writing more manageable, more precise, and a little less overwhelming.

In this article, we’ll discuss the impact of AI on academic writing process, and articulate the best AI tools for thesis writing to enhance your thesis writing process.

The Impact of AI on Thesis Writing

Artificial Intelligence offers a supportive hand in thesis writing, adeptly navigating vast datasets, suggesting enhancements in writing, and refining the narrative.

With the integration of AI writing assistant, instead of requiring you to manually sift through endless articles, AI tools can spotlight the most pertinent pieces in mere moments. Need clarity or the right phrasing? AI-driven writing assistants are there, offering real-time feedback, ensuring your work is both articulative  and academically sound.

AI tools for thesis writing harness Natural Language Processing (NLP) to generate content, check grammar, and assist in literature reviews. Simultaneously, Machine Learning (ML) techniques enable data analysis, provide personalized research recommendations, and aid in proper citation.

And for the detailed tasks of academic formatting and referencing? AI streamlines it all, ensuring your thesis meets the highest academic standards.

However, understanding AI's role is pivotal. It's a supportive tool, not the primary author. Your thesis remains a testament to your unique perspective and voice.

AI for writing thesis is there to amplify that voice, ensuring it's heard clearly and effectively.

How AI tools supplement your thesis writing

AI tools have emerged as invaluable allies for scholars. With just a few clicks, these advanced platforms can streamline various aspects of thesis writing, from data analysis to literature review.

Let's explore how an AI tool can supplement and transform your thesis writing style and process.

Efficient literature review : AI tools can quickly scan and summarize vast amounts of literature, making the process of literature review more efficient. Instead of spending countless hours reading through papers, researchers can get concise summaries and insights, allowing them  to focus on relevant content.

Enhanced data analysis : AI algorithms can process and analyze large datasets with ease, identifying patterns, trends, and correlations that might be difficult or time-consuming for humans to detect. This capability is especially valuable in fields with massive datasets, like genomics or social sciences.

Improved writing quality : AI-powered writing assistants can provide real-time feedback on grammar, style, and coherence. They can suggest improvements, ensuring that the final draft of a research paper or thesis is of high quality.

Plagiarism detection : AI tools can scan vast databases of academic content to ensure that a researcher's work is original and free from unintentional plagiarism .

Automated citations : Managing and formatting citations is a tedious aspect of academic writing. AI citation generators  can automatically format citations according to specific journal or conference standards, reducing the chances of errors.

Personalized research recommendations : AI tools can analyze a researcher's past work and reading habits to recommend relevant papers and articles, ensuring that they stay updated with the latest in their field.

Interactive data visualization : AI can assist in creating dynamic and interactive visualizations, making it easier for researchers to present their findings in a more engaging manner.

Top 7 AI Tools for Thesis Writing

The academic field is brimming with AI tools tailored for academic paper writing. Here's a glimpse into some of the most popular and effective ones.

Here we'll talk about some of the best ai writing tools, expanding on their major uses, benefits, and reasons to consider them.

If you've ever been bogged down by the minutiae of formatting or are unsure about specific academic standards, Typeset is a lifesaver.

Typeset specializes in formatting, ensuring academic papers align with various journal and conference standards.

It automates the intricate process of academic formatting, saving you from the manual hassle and potential errors, inflating your writing experience.

An AI-driven writing assistant, Wisio elevates the quality of your thesis content. It goes beyond grammar checks, offering style suggestions tailored to academic writing.

This ensures your thesis is both grammatically correct and maintains a scholarly tone. For moments of doubt or when maintaining a consistent style becomes challenging, Wisio acts as your personal editor, providing real-time feedback.

Known for its ability to generate and refine thesis content using AI algorithms, Texti ensures logical and coherent content flow according to the academic guidelines.

When faced with writer's block or a blank page, Texti can jumpstart your thesis writing process, aiding in drafting or refining content.

JustDone is an AI for thesis writing and content creation. It offers a straightforward three-step process for generating content, from choosing a template to customizing details and enjoying the final output.

JustDone AI can generate thesis drafts based on the input provided by you. This can be particularly useful for getting started or overcoming writer's block.

This platform can refine and enhance the editing process, ensuring it aligns with academic standards and is free from common errors. Moreover, it can process and analyze data, helping researchers identify patterns, trends, and insights that might be crucial for their thesis.

Tailored for academic writing, Writefull offers style suggestions to ensure your content maintains a scholarly tone.

This AI for thesis writing provides feedback on your language use, suggesting improvements in grammar, vocabulary, and structure . Moreover, it compares your written content against a vast database of academic texts. This helps in ensuring that your writing is in line with academic standards.

Isaac Editor

For those seeking an all-in-one solution for writing, editing, and refining, Isaac Editor offers a comprehensive platform.

Combining traditional text editor features with AI, Isaac Editor streamlines the writing process. It's an all-in-one solution for writing, editing, and refining, ensuring your content is of the highest quality.

PaperPal , an AI-powered personal writing assistant, enhances academic writing skills, particularly for PhD thesis writing and English editing.

This AI for thesis writing offers comprehensive grammar, spelling, punctuation, and readability suggestions, along with detailed English writing tips.

It offers grammar checks, providing insights on rephrasing sentences, improving article structure, and other edits to refine academic writing.

The platform also offers tools like "Paperpal for Word" and "Paperpal for Web" to provide real-time editing suggestions, and "Paperpal for Manuscript" for a thorough check of completed articles or theses.

Is it ethical to use AI for thesis writing?

The AI for writing thesis has ignited discussions on authenticity. While AI tools offer unparalleled assistance, it's vital to maintain originality and not become overly reliant. Research thrives on unique contributions, and AI should be a supportive tool, not a replacement.

The key question: Can a thesis, significantly aided by AI, still be viewed as an original piece of work?

AI tools can simplify research, offer grammar corrections, and even produce content. However, there's a fine line between using AI as a helpful tool and becoming overly dependent on it.

In essence, while AI offers numerous advantages for thesis writing, it's crucial to use it judiciously. AI should complement human effort, not replace it. The challenge is to strike the right balance, ensuring genuine research contributions while leveraging AI's capabilities.

Wrapping Up

Nowadays, it's evident that AI tools are not just fleeting trends but pivotal game-changers.

They're reshaping how we approach, structure, and refine our theses, making the process more efficient and the output more impactful. But amidst this technological revolution, it's essential to remember the heart of any thesis: the researcher's unique voice and perspective .

AI tools are here to amplify that voice, not overshadow it. They're guiding you through the vast sea of information, ensuring our research stands out and resonates.

Try these tools out and let us know what worked for you the best.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you can use AI to assist in writing your thesis. AI tools can help streamline various aspects of the writing process, such as data analysis, literature review, grammar checks, and content refinement.

However, it's essential to use AI as a supportive tool and not a replacement for original research and critical thinking. Your thesis should reflect your unique perspective and voice.

Yes, there are AI tools designed to assist in writing research papers. These tools can generate content, suggest improvements, help with formatting, and even provide real-time feedback on grammar and coherence.

Examples include Typeset, JustDone, Writefull, and Texti. However, while they can aid the process, the primary research, analysis, and conclusions should come from the researcher.

The "best" AI for writing papers depends on your specific needs. For content generation and refinement, Texti is a strong contender.

For grammar checks and style suggestions tailored to academic writing, Writefull is highly recommended. JustDone offers a user-friendly interface for content creation. It's advisable to explore different tools and choose one that aligns with your requirements.

To use AI for writing your thesis:

1. Identify the areas where you need assistance, such as literature review, data analysis, content generation, or grammar checks.

2. Choose an AI tool tailored for academic writing, like Typeset, JustDone, Texti, or Writefull.

3. Integrate the tool into your writing process. This could mean using it as a browser extension, a standalone application, or a plugin for your word processor.

4. As you write or review content, use the AI tool for real-time feedback, suggestions, or content generation.

5. Always review and critically assess the suggestions or content provided by the AI to ensure it aligns with your research goals and maintains academic integrity.

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ChatGPT prompting 101

ChatGPT can be a great study assistant, but the responses you get are only as good as the input you provide. Keep these four tips in mind to craft great ChatGPT prompts :

• Give ChatGPT a role to play
• Be precise and provide context
• Test and improve your prompts

ChatGPT prompts

100% ethical ChatGPT prompts

Write a research question

• Generate three possible research questions for an argumentative high school essay on the following topic: “The long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Brainstorm topic ideas

• Generate 10 questions to help me brainstorm topics for my college admission essay.

Quiz yourself

• I’m learning about [ insert topic here ]. Please create a practice test with 4 multiple-choice questions, each with 4 possible answers and solutions (show the solutions separately under the multiple-choice test).

Learn by metaphors and stories

• I ‘m learning about [ insert topic here ]. Convert the key lessons from this topic into engaging stories and metaphors to aid my memorization.

Find limitations

• What are some common limitations or critiques of research in the field of [ insert topic here ]?

Learn about a topic

• I want to learn about [ insert topic here ]. Identify and share the most important 20% of learnings from this topic that will help me understand 80% of it. Explain [ insert topic here ] to me without jargon and buzzwords, in the most simplified way possible.

Source recommendations

• What types of sources can I use to write an essay on the following research question? “ [insert research question here] ?”

Overview of arguments

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Develop an outline

• Develop an outline for an argumentative high school essay with the following research question: “ [insert research question here] ?”The essay will be about 4 pages long.

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We think educators should be open to the possibilities presented by AI-powered tools. Students should employ these tools in an honest and responsible way, using them to facilitate learning rather than to skip steps in the learning process.

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10 Powerful AI Tools for Academic Research

• Serra Ardem

AI is no longer science fiction, but a powerful ally in the academic realm. With AI by their side, researchers can free themselves from the burden of tedious tasks, and push the boundaries of knowledge. However, they must use AI carefully and ethically, as these practices introduce new considerations regarding data integrity, bias mitigation, and the preservation of academic rigor.

In this blog, we will:

• Highlight the increasing role of AI in academic research
• List 10 best AI tools for academic research, with a focus on each one’s strengths
• Share 5 best practices on how to use AI tools for academic research

Let’s dig in…

The Role of AI in Academic Research

AI tools for academic research hold immense potential, as they can analyze massive datasets and identify complex patterns. These tools can assist in generating new research questions and hypotheses, navigate mountains of academic literature to find relevant information, and automate tedious tasks like data entry.

Let’s take a look at the benefits AI tools offer for academic research:

• Supercharged literature reviews: AI can sift through vast amounts of academic literature, and pinpoint relevant studies with far greater speed and accuracy than manual searches.
• Accelerated data analysis: AI tools can rapidly analyze large datasets and uncover intricate insights that might otherwise be overlooked, or time-consuming to identify manually.
• Enhanced research quality: Helping with grammar checking, citation formatting, and data visualization, AI tools can lead to a more polished and impactful final product.
• Automation of repetitive tasks: By automating routine tasks, AI can save researchers time and effort, allowing them to focus on more intellectually demanding tasks of their research.
• Predictive modeling and forecasting: AI algorithms can develop predictive models and forecasts, aiding researchers in making informed decisions and projections in various fields.
• Cross-disciplinary collaboration: AI fosters collaboration between researchers from different disciplines by facilitating communication through shared data analysis and interpretation.

Now let’s move on to our list of 10 powerful AI tools for academic research, which you can refer to for a streamlined, refined workflow. From formulating research questions to organizing findings, these tools can offer solutions for every step of your research.

1. HyperWrite

For: hypothesis generation

HyperWrite’s Research Hypothesis Generator is perfect for students and academic researchers who want to formulate clear and concise hypotheses. All you have to do is enter your research topic and objectives into the provided fields, and then the tool will let its AI generate a testable hypothesis. You can review the generated hypothesis, make any necessary edits, and use it to guide your research process.

Pricing: You can have a limited free trial, but need to choose at least the Premium Plan for additional access. See more on pricing here .

2. Semantic Scholar

For: literature review and management

With over 200 million academic papers sourced, Semantic Scholar is one of the best AI tools for literature review. Mainly, it helps researchers to understand a paper at a glance. You can scan papers faster with the TLDRs (Too Long; Didn’t Read), or generate your own questions about the paper for the AI to answer. You can also organize papers in your own library, and get AI-powered paper recommendations for further research.

Pricing: free

For: summarizing papers

Apparently, Elicit is a huge booster as its users save up to 5 hours per week. With a database of 125 million papers, the tool will enable you to get one-sentence, abstract AI summaries, and extract details from a paper into an organized table. You can also find common themes and concepts across many papers. Keep in mind that Elicit works best with empirical domains that involve experiments and concrete results, like biomedicine and machine learning.

Pricing: Free plan offers 5,000 credits one time. See more on pricing here .

For: transcribing interviews

Supporting 125+ languages, Maestra’s interview transcription software will save you from the tedious task of manual transcription so you can dedicate more time to analyzing and interpreting your research data. Just upload your audio or video file to the tool, select the audio language, and click “Submit”. Maestra will convert your interview into text instantly, and with very high accuracy. You can always use the tool’s built-in text editor to make changes, and Maestra Teams to collaborate with fellow researchers on the transcript.

Pricing: With the “Pay As You Go” plan, you can pay for the amount of work done. See more on pricing here .

5. ATLAS.ti

For: qualitative data analysis

Whether you’re working with interview transcripts, focus group discussions, or open-ended surveys, ATLAS.ti provides a set of tools to help you extract meaningful insights from your data. You can analyze texts to uncover hidden patterns embedded in responses, or create a visualization of terms that appear most often in your research. Plus, features like sentiment analysis can identify emotional undercurrents within your data.

Pricing: Offers a variety of licenses for different purposes. See more on pricing here .

6. Power BI

For: quantitative data analysis

Microsoft’s Power BI offers AI Insights to consolidate data from various sources, analyze trends, and create interactive dashboards. One feature is “Natural Language Query”, where you can directly type your question and get quick insights about your data. Two other important features are “Anomaly Detection”, which can detect unexpected patterns, and “Decomposition Tree”, which can be utilized for root cause analysis.

Pricing: Included in a free account for Microsoft Fabric Preview. See more on pricing here .

7. Paperpal

For: writing research papers

As a popular AI writing assistant for academic papers, Paperpal is trained and built on 20+ years of scholarly knowledge. You can generate outlines, titles, abstracts, and keywords to kickstart your writing and structure your research effectively. With its ability to understand academic context, the tool can also come up with subject-specific language suggestions, and trim your paper to meet journal limits.

Pricing: Free plan offers 5 uses of AI features per day. See more on pricing here .

For: proofreading

With Scribbr’s AI Proofreader by your side, you can make your academic writing more clear and easy to read. The tool will first scan your document to catch mistakes. Then it will fix grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors while also suggesting fluency corrections. It is really easy to use (you can apply or reject corrections with 1-click), and works directly in a DOCX file.

Pricing: The free version gives a report of your issues but does not correct them. See more on pricing here .

9. Quillbot

For: detecting AI-generated content

Want to make sure your research paper does not include AI-generated content? Quillbot’s AI Detector can identify certain indicators like repetitive words, awkward phrases, and an unnatural flow. It’ll then show a percentage representing the amount of AI-generated content within your text. The tool has a very user-friendly interface, and you can have an unlimited number of checks.

10. Lateral

For: organizing documents

Lateral will help you keep everything in one place and easily find what you’re looking for. 

With auto-generated tables, you can keep track of all your findings and never lose a reference. Plus, Lateral uses its own machine learning technology (LIP API) to make content suggestions. With its “AI-Powered Concepts” feature, you can name a Concept, and the tool will recommend relevant text across all your papers.

Pricing: Free version offers 500 Page Credits one-time. See more on pricing here .

How to Use AI Tools for Research: 5 Best Practices

Before we conclude our blog, we want to list 5 best practices to adopt when using AI tools for academic research. They will ensure you’re getting the most out of AI technology in your academic pursuits while maintaining ethical standards in your work.

• Always remember that AI is an enhancer, not a replacement. While it can excel at tasks like literature review and data analysis, it cannot replicate the critical thinking and creativity that define strong research. Researchers should leverage AI for repetitive tasks, but dedicate their own expertise to interpret results and draw conclusions.
• Verify results. Don’t take AI for granted. Yes, it can be incredibly efficient, but results still require validation to prevent misleading or inaccurate results. Review them thoroughly to ensure they align with your research goals and existing knowledge in the field.
• Guard yourself against bias. AI tools for academic research are trained on existing data, which can contain social biases. You must critically evaluate the underlying assumptions used by the AI model, and ask if they are valid or relevant to your research question. You can also minimize bias by incorporating data from various sources that represent diverse perspectives and demographics.
• Embrace open science. Sharing your AI workflow and findings can inspire others, leading to innovative applications of AI tools. Open science also promotes responsible AI development in research, as it fosters transparency and collaboration among scholars.
• Stay informed about the developments in the field. AI tools for academic research are constantly evolving, and your work can benefit from the recent advancements. You can follow numerous blogs and newsletters in the area ( The Rundown AI is a great one) , join online communities, or participate in workshops and training programs. Moreover, you can connect with AI researchers whose work aligns with your research interests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is chatgpt good for academic research.

ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for supporting your academic research, but it has limitations. You can use it for brainstorming and idea generation, identifying relevant resources, or drafting text. However, ChatGPT can’t guarantee the information it provides is entirely accurate or unbiased. In short, you can use it as a starting point, but never rely solely on its output.

Can I use AI for my thesis?

Yes, but it shouldn’t replace your own work. It can help you identify research gaps, formulate a strong thesis statement, and synthesize existing knowledge to support your argument. You can always reach out to your advisor and discuss how you plan to use AI tools for academic research .

Can AI write review articles?

AI can analyze vast amounts of information and summarize research papers much faster than humans, which can be a big time-saver in the literature review stage. Yet it can struggle with critical thinking and adding its own analysis to the review. Plus, AI-generated text can lack the originality and unique voice that a human writer brings to a review.

Can professors detect AI writing?

Yes, they can detect AI writing in several ways. Software programs like Turnitin’s AI Writing Detection can analyze text for signs of AI generation. Furthermore, experienced professors who have read many student papers can often develop a gut feeling about whether a paper was written by a human or machine. However, highly sophisticated AI may be harder to detect than more basic versions.

Can I do a PhD in artificial intelligence?

Yes, you can pursue a PhD in artificial intelligence or a related field such as computer science, machine learning, or data science. Many universities worldwide offer programs where you can delve deep into specific areas like natural language processing, computer vision, and AI ethics. Overall, pursuing a PhD in AI can lead to exciting opportunities in academia, industry research labs, and tech companies.

This blog shared 10 powerful AI tools for academic research, and highlighted each tool’s specific function and strengths. It also explained the increasing role of AI in academia, and listed 5 best practices on how to adopt AI research tools ethically.

AI tools hold potential for even greater integration and impact on research. They are likely to become more interconnected, which can lead to groundbreaking discoveries at the intersection of seemingly disparate fields. Yet, as AI becomes more powerful, ethical concerns like bias and fairness will need to be addressed. In short, AI tools for academic research should be utilized carefully, with a keen awareness of their capabilities and limitations.

About Serra Ardem

Serra Ardem is a freelance writer and editor based in Istanbul. For the last 8 years, she has been collaborating with brands and businesses to tell their unique story and develop their verbal identity.