Wait, what subject are you focusing on? Some tools are way better for social sciences vs something like medicine. For summarizing, I really love Elicit AI Research Assistant because it extracts data into tables. If you are worried about costs, Consensus AI Search Engine has a solid free tier. Also, Scite.ai Premium Subscription is a lifesaver for checking if citations actually support a claim. Definitely worth the student price imo.

Honestly, I feel you on the thesis stress... it is a lot to handle. For the research phase, you absolutely need ResearchRabbit AI Research Discovery Tool. It is totally free and acts like a discovery engine for papers you missed. I used it for my own work and it basically maps out citations for you in a visual web. For finding specific evidence, Consensus AI Academic Search Engine is my top recommendation. It searches peer-reviewed papers and gives you a summary of the consensus, which is a huge time saver. If you are on a budget, dont jump into a paid sub yet. I usually pair these with Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI Model for summarizing PDFs because it handles complex logic much better than ChatGPTs free tier. Stick to the free tiers as long as possible, they are honestly enough for most Masters level research!

Same boat, watching this

Ngl I was totally overwhelmed when I started my thesis last year, but finding the right workflow changed everything. I used to spend hours manually digging through bibliographies, but then I started using a platform that builds these visual maps of how different papers are connected. It helped me spot some major gaps in my research that I totally would have missed otherwise. The biggest thing I learned was how much time you can save by using AI to query your own library. I started using a tool that lets me ask questions directly to my saved PDFs. Instead of hunting for a specific quote, I just ask the software where the author mentions a certain methodology. It felt like cheating at first lol, but it just lets me focus on the actual writing instead of the busywork. My current setup is way more efficient than my old manual process.

I'd actually be pretty cautious about relying on general AI for summaries because of high hallucination risks. For actual reliability, I prefer Scite Assistant Annual Subscription at about $20/month. It uses Smart Citations to verify if claims are supported or disputed. Also, Scholarcy Individual Monthly Plan is much safer for data privacy and extracts structured facts instead of just guessing. Definitely worth the cost for a thesis.