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An AI literature review you can trace back to each paper

Short answer

Write the research question first, give your AI app the papers, and ask for an evidence table: one row per paper, with the method, the finding and a page number. Check each row against the paper, then ask for the review draft from the checked table. Keep the PDFs, table and draft in 1folder. The AI app reads and writes; 1folder keeps the files.

Checked on November 11, 2026 against 5 sources.

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Two real retrieval-practice papers in an evidence table, and the start of a review written from it. The 5-minute result that cuts the other way stays in.

What you end up with

  • Evidence tableSaved by ChatGPT

    Two real, widely cited studies of retrieval practice, used as the example. The findings come from their abstracts; the methods still need checking in the full papers.

  • Review draftSaved by Claude

    The draft argues from the table, so every sentence has a paper behind it, including the result that cuts the other way.

Start with the question and the rules

A literature review answers a question, so write it down first: who, what is compared, and what outcome. Then the rules: which years, which kinds of study, and what you leave out and why. Keep these on a short methods page. A later app, or you in a month, can then tell why a paper is in or out.

ChatGPT can read PDFs you upload, and its deep research can search the web and your files and write a report with citations. That makes it a useful research assistant for finding and summarizing. It can’t prove it found every study, and it can get a citation wrong, so check that each paper exists and says what the summary says.

The example uses two real papers on retrieval practice: Roediger and Karpicke (2006), “Test-enhanced learning”, and Karpicke and Blunt (2011), “Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping”. Their abstracts agree that practicing recall beats restudying on later tests. The 2006 study adds a twist: at five minutes, restudying did better.

Organize research notes around the evidence, not the chat

Give every paper one row and every claim a page number. Mark quotations as quotations. Note whether a row came from the abstract or the full text: an abstract-only row is a lead, not evidence.

Write the review from the checked table, not from the chat. When a new paper changes the picture, update the table first, then ask which paragraphs depend on the old row.

Keep your reference manager for citation styles and the bibliography. 1folder works as the research notes app for what you and your AI apps come back to: the PDFs, the table and the draft. It searches the words inside PDFs and scanned pages and keeps every version. It has no AI of its own.

Keep the papers, table and draft together

  1. Upload the papers and connect

    Drag the PDFs and your methods page into a Literature review folder. Add https://1folderapp.com/mcp as a custom connector in Claude, or in ChatGPT on Business, Enterprise or Edu, sign in and allow that folder.

  2. Ask for the table, then check it

    Ask for one row per paper with page numbers. Open each paper at the cited page and fix what’s wrong before you write anything.

  3. Write from the table

    Ask Claude to draft from the checked table. Deep research reads from connected apps but doesn’t save to them; when it’s done, ask in an ordinary chat to save the report.

  4. Update as papers come in

    Add each new paper, check its row, and ask an app to update the same draft. Download it as a Word file to edit with your supervisor, or as a PDF file for a dated copy.

Requests for an AI research assistant

  • In ChatGPT

    “Use deep research to find studies since 2006 that compare retrieval practice with restudying. List each with its DOI and one line on the finding. I’ll check them before anything goes in my table.”

  • In ChatGPT

    “Using only the PDFs in my Literature review folder in 1folder, make an evidence table: authors, year, participants, what was compared, when they were tested, the main finding and a page number for each. Write Not found rather than guess. Save it as Evidence table.”

  • In Claude

    “Read Evidence table in 1folder. Draft a 600-word review organized by finding, not by paper. Cite the table row for each claim and keep results that disagree. Save it as Review draft.”

  • In Claude

    “I’ve added a 2019 paper to the folder and checked its row. Read the table and Review draft, tell me which paragraphs change, and update the same draft once I agree.”

Questions

Does 1folder do the literature review?
No. There is no AI inside 1folder. Your AI app finds, reads and writes; 1folder keeps the papers, the table and the draft, with every version.
Can I trust citations from an AI research assistant?
Check every one. Look up the DOI, open the paper and find the page that supports the claim. AI apps sometimes cite papers that don’t exist, or that don’t say what the summary says.
Is 1folder a reference manager?
No. It doesn’t format citations or build a bibliography. Keep your reference manager for that, and store its export beside the review if you like.
Can I search inside the PDFs?
Yes. 1folder searches the words inside PDFs and pictures, scanned pages included. Search finds the passage; it doesn’t check the claim.
Can I share the draft without the papers?
Yes. Invite your supervisor to the space, or turn on the draft’s public link yourself. Keep the PDFs private unless you’re allowed to share them.

Sources

Checked on November 11, 2026.

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