In this lightning-round session from the Academy for Teaching and Learning, an Online Librarian for Education and Information Literacy introduces Scopus AI, a generative tool designed to act as a research partner for students and faculty.
This presentation demonstrates how the tool reduces the manual burden of early-stage research by allowing users to explore scholarly literature using natural language prompts rather than complex Boolean search strings. The speaker highlights how this technology supports idea development, literature discovery, and synthesis while remaining grounded in high-quality, peer-reviewed content.
Key Highlights:
- Natural Language Search: Unlike traditional database searching, users can ask open-ended questions (e.g., "What are current trends in climate migration?"), which the tool converts into a structured library search.
- Trust & Transparency: The tool avoids the unpredictability of the open web by strictly using the Scopus database. It also offers a "Co-pilot" feature that transparently shows exactly how the search query was constructed.
- Cited Summaries: The AI generates a synthesized summary of the topic where every claim is linked directly to a reference, allowing researchers to verify facts and access full-text articles immediately.
- Visual Exploration: The presentation showcases the "Concept Map" feature, which provides a visual way to see connections between topics and explore narrower research avenues.
- Strengths & Limitations: The session concludes with a candid look at the tool's pros (great for brainstorming and interdisciplinary connections) and cons (limited to indexed content and not fully exhaustive).