PaperLabGuides
Read, note and question papers well
Practical answers to the questions researchers ask most, whichever tools you use. Terms are explained in the glossary.
Reading and notes
- How to read a research paper efficientlyThe three-pass method, what to skip, and how to keep what you read.
- How to take notes on research papersNotes you can find again and trace back to the passage they came from.
- How to organise research papersOne library, projects instead of folders, notes on the passage.
Finding papers
- How to find a free, legal PDF of a research paperarXiv, repositories, Unpaywall, CORE, and asking the authors.
- How to map the literature on a topicCitation graphs, co-citation and coupling, and tools that draw the map.
Literature reviews
- How to do a systematic literature reviewQuestion, protocol, search, two-stage screening, snowballing and PRISMA.
- How to extract data from research papersCapture tables, keep each number’s page, chart it with yours.
Writing
- How to write a related work sectionOrganise by idea, compare papers, and check every claim.
- How to disclose AI use in researchWhat to record, a disclosure you can adapt, and why checking matters.
AI in research
- How to chat with a PDF locally, without uploading itAsk papers questions with a local model, and check every answer against the page.
- Can you trust AI with research papers?Invented citations, and a five-step check for any AI answer.
- How to use Claude Desktop with your papersConnect your local library to Claude through MCP, and what gets sent.
- Running a local LLM for researchHardware, Ollama, choosing a model, and making it answer well.
Comparisons
- PaperLab vs ZoteroA reference manager and a reading tool do different jobs. Which one you need, or both.
- Open-source alternative to ChatPDF, Elicit and SciSpaceOnline AI paper tools compared with a local, open-source option.
- PaperLab vs ObsidianNotes on the passage vs linked Markdown notes, and using both.