# An AI literature review you can trace back to each paper

> 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.

*Picture: Evidence table, a table saved by ChatGPT (Paper, Compared, Finding): Roediger & Karpicke, 2006, Recall tests vs restudying, Tests won at 2 days and 1 week; Karpicke & Blunt, 2011, Recall vs concept maps, Recall won, on inference questions too. Review draft, a page saved by Claude: Question: does practicing recall beat restudying?; Both studies: yes, on the later tests; But at 5 minutes, restudying did better (2006); 2011: the gain held even on a concept-map test; To check: who took part in each study.* 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 table** (a table, saved 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 draft** (a page, saved 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](https://1folderapp.com/integrations/claude-connectors.md), or in [ChatGPT](https://1folderapp.com/integrations/chatgpt-connectors.md) on Business, Enterprise or Edu, sign in and allow that folder.

   *Picture: 1folder’s Allow page: “Claude wants to use your 1folder”, with Only the folders I pick in Literature review and View and edit chosen, then Allow.*
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.

   *Picture: In ChatGPT, you type: “Make an evidence table from the PDFs in my Literature review folder, with a page number for every finding.” ChatGPT saves Evidence table (a table saved by ChatGPT, just now) to 1folder.*
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.

   *Picture: In Claude, you type: “Draft the review from Evidence table, organized by finding, with a row cited for every claim.” Claude saves Review draft (a page saved by Claude, just now) to 1folder.*
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](https://1folderapp.com/how-to/chatgpt-to-word.md) to edit with your supervisor, or as a [PDF file](https://1folderapp.com/how-to/chatgpt-to-pdf.md) 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

- [Roediger and Karpicke (2006): Test-enhanced learning — publication and abstract](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16507066/)
- [Karpicke and Blunt (2011): Retrieval practice and concept mapping — publication and abstract](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21252317/)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Deep research in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10500283-deep-research-in-chatgpt)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Uploading files and audio to ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8555545-uploading-files-and-audio-to-chatgpt)
- [Claude Help Center: Get started with custom connectors](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11175166-get-started-with-custom-connectors-using-remote-mcp)

Checked on November 11, 2026.

## Read next

- [Looking for an AI note taking app? Start with what the notes need to do](https://1folderapp.com/use-cases/ai-note-taking-app.md): Turn rough notes into decisions and actions with ChatGPT or Claude, and keep the checked notes and the originals in 1folder. No recording, no AI inside.
- [AI study notes you can check against the lecture](https://1folderapp.com/use-cases/ai-study-notes.md): Turn course material into study notes and flashcards with ChatGPT. Keep the sources, corrections and revision files together in 1folder, ready to download.
- [Use an AI report generator, then keep the evidence and each update](https://1folderapp.com/use-cases/ai-report-generator.md): Ask your AI app to draft a weekly report from real figures. Keep source numbers, checked reports and dated copies together in 1folder with every version.
- [An AI agent workspace: shared files for every agent you use](https://1folderapp.com/use-cases/ai-agent-workspace.md): 1folder gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and your chat apps one shared workspace of files. Each agent gets its own access; every change is a version.

[Add 1folder to your AI app, free](https://1folderapp.com/signin) · [All resources](https://1folderapp.com/resources.md)

Website: https://1folderapp.com/ · Contact: hello@1folderapp.com