PaperLabWho it's for · Master’s students
For master’s students writing their first literature review
A master’s thesis is often the first time you have to read research papers seriously and write a literature review. PaperLab helps you read papers in passes, keep notes tied to the passage they came from, find free legal PDFs, and ask papers questions with answers that cite the page, so you learn from the paper instead of trusting a summary. It is free, open source and runs on your computer.
What gets in the way, and what helps
Papers are hard to read
Ask a paper what a section means; the answer points at the passage it used.
Ask a paper →Paywalls
Find papers searches free, legal sources at once and adds free PDFs in a click.
Find papers →Notes scattered everywhere
Highlights and notes live on the page, and every note leads back to its passage.
Highlights →Worried about AI and plagiarism
AI text is always labelled, so you know exactly what to rewrite and disclose.
Anchored notes →
A workflow that works
- Find 10–20 core papers through free sources.
- Read each in passes; highlight claims and methods in different colours.
- Ask about what you don’t understand, and check the cited passage.
- Write your review from your notes, citing the passages they point to.
Guides for you
- How to read a research paper efficiently — The three-pass method, what to skip, and how to keep what you read.
- How to find a free, legal PDF of a research paper — arXiv, repositories, Unpaywall, CORE, and asking the authors.
- Can you trust AI with research papers? — Invented citations, and a five-step check for any AI answer.
Questions people ask
Is it allowed to use AI for my thesis?
It depends on your university. Most allow it with disclosure. PaperLab keeps AI text labelled and apart from yours, which makes disclosure honest.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Install Docker Desktop, then the PaperLab app, like any other program.
Can it write my literature review?
No, and it doesn’t try. It helps you read, understand and keep track, so what you write is your own.
Also for: PhD students · Librarians · Research groups · Developers