AI Research Hub
POLK LIBRARY
AI Research Hub
Tools, frameworks, and guidance for AI-integrated scholarship
AI is changing how information is discovered, evaluated, synthesized, created, and communicated. These activities are central to scholarly research and information literacy.
Polk Library helps students and faculty navigate AI-mediated research responsibly, from selecting appropriate tools and evaluating evidence to understanding disciplinary expectations and preserving intellectual independence.
Writing a paper or working on a course research assignment?
For guidance on developing topics and research questions, finding and evaluating sources, and completing course research assignments, start with AI for Papers & Research Assignments.
Library and Sponsored Programs Support
Have a research idea to explore? A Library consultation can help you clarify a research idea, explore scholarly evidence, and develop useful search strategies. Together, we can consider where AI-assisted tools fit your project and prepare a starting point for further research or a conversation with Sponsored Programs.
Explore with the Library
Leave with a clearer research direction, useful starting sources, and suggested tools and concrete searches tailored to your project that you can carry into funding tools.
Connect with Sponsored Programs
The Office of Sponsored Programs supports research and teaching through external funding opportunities, proposal submission, award administration, research compliance oversight, and training on grantwork and institutional procedures.
Complementary services: Polk Library supports scholarly discovery, information literacy, and source evaluation. Sponsored Programs supports research administration and its broader institutional responsibilities. Faculty mentors and disciplinary experts guide field-specific methods and expectations.
Library contact: Joe Pirillo, Information Literacy & Learning Innovation Librarian · pirilloj@uwosh.edu
AI Literacy in Practice: Research Decision Points
AI literacy for research builds on information literacy. It involves making informed decisions about whether and how to use AI, evaluating information and evidence, and taking responsibility for the research process.
Polk Library’s Scholarly Decision Points are informed by a review of scholarship on AI literacy, information literacy, and AI-integrated research. The connections below also interpret and apply the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, including its 2026 AI-related revisions, to practical research decisions.
The frames and AI highlights represent the Framework; the decision-point titles, questions, and connections are Polk Library’s research-focused interpretation. They are not categories or questions prescribed by ACRL.
Information literacy
ACRL Framework and its six frames
AI literacy in research
A research-focused application, including the Framework’s AI-related revisions
Scholarly Decision Points
Polk Library’s practical questions for research judgment
The decision points also draw on a review of scholarship. This visual shows their relationship in this hub; AI literacy extends beyond research and information literacy.
Explore the six frames and research decision points
How to use this section: Explore the information literacy frames and consider the questions that apply to your research. Some decision points appear more than once because a single research decision can connect to several frames.
Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
AI highlight: AI can appear neutral or authoritative, but its outputs and underlying systems may reproduce bias or misinformation. Generative AI is not inherently authoritative. (Framework, pp. 7–8)
4. Find and evaluate evidence
Are the sources real and relevant? Does the original source support the claim? Whose expertise or perspectives are missing? How might the system’s design shape what appears?
Information Creation as a Process
AI highlight: Learners should consider how AI-generated information is created, how it draws on human-created information, and how its creation and use affect people, society, and the environment. (Framework, pp. 9–10)
5. Interpret and create
How was this information produced? What requires human interpretation or disciplinary expertise? Am I representing the evidence accurately and developing my own conclusions?
7. Reflect on consequences
What are the implications for privacy, intellectual property, bias, people whose work contributes to AI systems, and environmental impact?
Information Has Value
AI highlight: The Framework addresses AI disclosure, privacy, the use of content to train AI, and differences in the value and costs of AI-generated and human-discovered information. (Framework, pp. 11–12)
1. Determine whether AI is appropriate
What am I trying to accomplish? Do course, disciplinary, institutional, funder, or publisher expectations permit this use? What might I gain or lose by using AI here?
2. Select an approach or tool
Does this tool fit the research task? What information does it search or generate from? What are its limitations, data practices, and costs? Would another method serve the question better?
6. Document and communicate use
What did I use AI for, and how substantially? What disclosure or citation is expected? Can I explain and take responsibility for the final work?
7. Reflect on consequences
What are the implications for privacy, intellectual property, bias, people whose work contributes to AI systems, and environmental impact?
Research as Inquiry
AI highlight: AI can support questioning, exploration, and refinement of ideas, but the Framework emphasizes that it cannot replace critical thinking and human-led inquiry. (Framework, p. 13)
1. Determine whether AI is appropriate
What am I trying to accomplish? Do course, disciplinary, institutional, funder, or publisher expectations permit this use? What might I gain or lose by using AI here?
3. Explore and refine the research question
Is AI helping me consider possibilities, or directing my inquiry too early? What perspectives and methods might its response leave out?
5. Interpret and create
How was this information produced? What requires human interpretation or disciplinary expertise? Am I representing the evidence accurately and developing my own conclusions?
Scholarship as Conversation
AI highlight: Learners should acknowledge the contributions of others and the use of AI tools and emerging technologies in their information production. (Framework, p. 15)
6. Document and communicate use
What did I use AI for, and how substantially? What disclosure or citation is expected? Can I explain and take responsibility for the final work?
Searching as Strategic Exploration
AI highlight: The Framework addresses AI-generated answers, fabricated citations, bias, prompting, and the risk that AI may shape the direction of research too early. It calls for critical evaluation and flexible searching. (Framework, pp. 17–19)
2. Select an approach or tool
Does this tool fit the research task? What information does it search or generate from? What are its limitations, data practices, and costs? Would another method serve the question better?
3. Explore and refine the research question
Is AI helping me consider possibilities, or directing my inquiry too early? What perspectives and methods might its response leave out?
4. Find and evaluate evidence
Are the sources real and relevant? Does the original source support the claim? Whose expertise or perspectives are missing? How might the system’s design shape what appears?
Disciplinary Expectations and Resources
Expectations for AI use vary by research method, discipline, professional community, and publication venue. AI literacy includes informed nonuse: recognizing when AI could undermine a research practice, learning objective, ethical obligation, or scholarly contribution.
Explore these starting points by research area. Some offer professional guidance; others apply to specific publications or review processes. Researchers working across fields may find more than one area useful.
Business and Accounting
Academy of Management AI policy explains expectations for management scholarship and AOM submissions. American Accounting Association author guidance addresses AI use in AAA journals.
Media, Arts, Communication, and Humanities
MLA guidance on describing AI use discusses acknowledgment of substantive use; PMLA submission guidelines apply to that journal. The MLA–CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI offers writing and education resources.
Education and Human Services
UNESCO guidance on generative AI in education and research offers a human-centered approach. For psychology research, APA Journals policy addresses transparency and author responsibility for APA publications.
Public Affairs and Global Engagement
COPE: Authorship and AI Tools provides cross-disciplinary publication ethics guidance. Check the relevant journal, funder, agency, and research protocol for requirements specific to your project.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
IEEE guidelines for AI-generated content describe disclosure in IEEE publications. Requirements in other science journals and professional fields may differ.
Nursing and Health Professions
ICMJE: Use of AI by Authors addresses author responsibility and disclosure in medical publishing. The NIH peer-review policy sets confidentiality and AI-use rules for NIH scientific peer reviewers.
Check the rules for your project. Before using AI in a manuscript, conference submission, peer review, or research project, consult the current requirements of the specific journal, publisher, funder, institution, and research protocol. Guidance may differ by task and venue.
For projects involving regulated research, consult the Office of Sponsored Programs for relevant institutional guidance and research compliance support.
START WITH THE RESEARCH TASK
Research Tools for Scholarly Tasks
Before choosing a tool, consider your discipline’s expectations, your project’s requirements, and the information you plan to share. Then select tools that fit the research task, verify important results, and consult library resources and original publications.
Tools may support more than one research task. Inclusion on this page does not indicate institutional approval, licensing, endorsement, or security review.
Discover Literature
Explore a topic, identify publications, follow citation relationships, and build a more complete search strategy.
Consensus · Semantic Scholar · ResearchRabbit · Connected Papers · Litmaps · OpenAlex · Library resources
Related resource: Research verification brief
Evaluate Evidence
Investigate claims, assess the strength and limitations of research, and verify citations against original publications.
Consensus · Elicit · Semantic Scholar · OpenAlex · Library resources
Read and Analyze
Question documents, compare readings, identify unfamiliar concepts, and examine arguments while returning to the original text.
NotebookLM · Elicit · Copilot · ChatGPT
Write and Revise
Explore structure, test clarity, revise prose, and reflect on argumentation while retaining authorship and following disclosure expectations.
Analyze Data and Code
Explore analysis approaches, troubleshoot code, document workflows, and inspect outputs. Independently validate calculations and interpretations.
Organize and Document
Manage references, organize source materials, document decisions, and prepare a transparent account of AI assistance.
FEATURED RESEARCH WORKFLOW
Consensus in ChatGPT
Consensus can connect scholarly literature searching with a conversational research workflow in ChatGPT. Use it to explore research questions and identify potentially relevant studies, then open the underlying publications to verify what the evidence actually supports.
An AI-generated summary is a starting point for investigation, not a substitute for reading, evaluating, and citing the original research.
Find the Full Text with LibKey Nomad
When a discovery tool points you to a scholarly article, check whether Polk Library provides access to the full text. LibKey Nomad can help connect web-based research to library access.
Get the LibKey Nomad browser extensionFoundational Frameworks
These perspectives connect AI literacy to information literacy, research judgment, and scholarly practice.
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
Connects research practice to authority, inquiry, information creation, scholarly conversation, and reflective searching.
AI Literacy for All: A Universal Framework — Leo S. Lo (2025 preprint)
Examines technical knowledge, ethical awareness, critical thinking, practical use, and societal impact. As a preprint, it should be distinguished from peer-reviewed scholarship.
Polk Library Research and Review
This local white paper examines AI-assisted academic writing and reviews related research through an information literacy lens.
Start with your research question.
Explore the evidence, choose tools deliberately, and keep scholarly judgment at the center.
Connect with Polk Library