> hallucinating citations that dont exist Quick reply while i have a sec, but yo, i totally feel that frustration. i almost lost my mind last semester doing a deep dive into CRISPR ethics when gpt gave me three fake papers in a row. so annoying... anyway i switched gears and started using Elicit Plus Research Assistant and it was like night and day. honestly im so satisfied with how it handles the heavy lifting. it doesnt just guess; it pulls from the semantic scholar database so the citations are actually legit and you can click right through to the actual sources. another one ive been really happy with is Scite.ai Premium Research Tool. it has this smart citations feature where it tells you if a paper has been supported or contradicted by others. works well when youre trying to prove a point and need to see if the scientific consensus has changed lately. it basically indexes citation context which is a lifesaver for avoiding outdated info. if you want something that feels more like a search engine for scientists, Consensus Premium Search Engine is solid too. it scans over 200 million papers. the pro version fits your 20 dollar budget and gives you a summary based on peer-reviewed evidence.

• elicit: great for summarizing and extracting data from several pdfs at once
• scite: best for checking if a source is actually reliable and cited correctly
• consensus: perfect for finding a quick answer to a specific bio question they all export to bibtex or zotero too, so your mla/apa formatting is basically handled. seriously, dont throw the laptop yet lol. these tools are way more specialized than just a chatbot.

Regarding what #2 said about "> hallucinating citations that dont exist Quick reply..." - i was so nervous about that too. I eventually tried SciSpace Premium Subscription Academic Search and its been super reliable. It searches real journal databases so i havent seen any fake sources yet. It even handles citations and formatting for you. Im really satisfied with how it works, and its only 12 bucks a month... no more fake papers!

> it just keeps hallucinating citations that dont exist Honestly, I had similar issues with basic LLMs; they are pretty unreliable for serious academic rigor. Unfortunately, general tools just wont cut it for citation accuracy. For your budget, I recommend Perplexity AI Pro Subscription. It searches real-time databases and provides direct links. Another solid option is Consensus AI Search Premium, which pulls strictly from peer-reviewed journals. Both handle formatting better than standard bots.

caught this post earlier but just now getting a chance to reply... honestly seeing people trust basic chatbots for citations gives me so much anxiety because i have seen it ruin grades before. over the years ive tried almost every tool out there and the big thing you gotta realize is that standard llms are just guessing words based on patterns. they dont actually search a library in the way we think. i eventually moved over to using Scite.ai Assistant Individual Plan because it uses a massive database of over a billion citation statements. basically it shows you if a paper has been supported or contested by other researchers which is a huge safety net for a biology thesis. quick question tho... what specific branch of biology is your thesis focusing on? like are you doing molecular stuff or more like field ecology? i ask because some tools index pubmed way better than others and i want to make sure you arent wasting that 20 bucks. if you are doing something heavy on clinical data you need to be really careful about where the tool pulls its metadata. anyway hang in there because 10 days is still enough time if you stop manually hunting for fake papers and use something that actually verifies claims. let me know about your niche and i can probably help you figure out the best way to handle the apa and mla formatting side of things.

stumbled upon this thread today and totally get the stress... fake citations are the worst. before i drop my suggestions tho, are you mostly looking for help finding new papers to cite or just trying to get the formatting right for stuff you already have? because that kinda changes which tool is best imo. anway, i have been really happy with a few things lately that wont kill your budget:

• ResearchRabbit AI Tool is basically like spotify but for papers. its free and maps out how papers are connected so you dont get lost. i find it way better for finding related works than just searching google scholar.
• if you want something that actually looks inside the papers to find specific facts, Sourcely Academic Research Tool is pretty solid for the price. i think its like 12 bucks a month. unlike gpt, it actually links to real pdfs.
• for the apa/mla stuff, i just use Zotero Reference Manager with the browser extension. its old school but works so well and no complaints here. honestly using these together has saved me so much time. definitely worth a look if you need real sources fast.