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Student research core

Four tools with one rule between them: nothing enters the bibliography until you have opened it and written down the date.

Beginner
Tools4 (2 required)
BudgetSemantic Scholar is free. Zotero is free with 300 MB of storage, and paid storage starts at USD 20 a year. Perplexity and NotebookLM both have free tiers that carry a single assignment.
Workflow5 steps
Before you start
  • A topic you already have to write about
Start now
Monthly math

Stack cost calculator

Required tools from Free – $14.99/mo when every seat is on the cheapest monthly tier.

  • Semantic ScholarrequiredFree
  • ZoterorequiredFree
  • PerplexityoptionalFree·$10/mo
  • NotebookLMoptionalFree·$4.99/mo

Vendor annual plans, usage billing, and team seats can change the real bill. Treat this as a floor, not a quote.

Role × tool

Semantic Scholar

required

Where the search starts. Type the key terms from your question, then follow the reference list and the citing papers of the two best hits. Copy DOIs out. Save nothing here.

Web & alerts Free · Graph API Free · Bulk datasets FreeOpen dossier →

Zotero

required

The only place a source becomes real. One entry per opened source with type, checked date, and a note in your own words about what was measured. A source you have not read does not get an entry.

Free Free · 2 GB $20/yr · 6 GB $60/yr · Unlimited $120/yr · Institutional CustomOpen dossier →

Perplexity

optional

One pass for what papers do not cover: a new regulation, a national report, the institution running the pilot. Copy the URLs and open them. Its citation list never becomes your bibliography.

Free Free · Pro $20/mo · Max $200/mo · Education Pro $10/mo · Enterprise Pro $40/mo · Enterprise Max $325/mo · Sonar $1 · Sonar Pro $3 · Sonar Reasoning Pro $2 · Sonar Deep Research $2 · Agent API / Search API CustomOpen dossier →

NotebookLM

optional

Loaded only with the sources already in Zotero. Ask it where two of them disagree and make it quote the sentence. Do not ask it for the claims or the wording of the brief.

Standard Free · Plus $4.99/mo · Pro $19.99/mo · Google AI Plus student offer (CH, 1 year) Free · Ultra 20TB $99.99/mo · Ultra 30TB $200/mo · Enterprise $9/moOpen dossier →
Run order

How the pieces fit together

  1. Write the question, the boundary, and the claim you refuse to make before any tool is open.
  2. Collect ten candidates in Semantic Scholar, plus one Perplexity pass for current context.
  3. Open all ten and give the 6–8 survivors a type, a checked date, and a note in Zotero.
  4. Load the Zotero set into NotebookLM and collect the sentences where sources disagree.
  5. Write the brief with the source type beside each claim and a methods note at the end.
Before you ship

This stack only earns its keep when you actually follow the run order.

  • A cited answer is a lead. It becomes a bibliography entry once you open the source and can name what it measured.
  • NotebookLM only knows the corpus you gave it. Missing counter-evidence stays missing, and it will still sound confident.
  • Zotero turns into a junk drawer within a week if you save candidates instead of sources you opened.

Browse the atlas by task

Questions this guide answers

Every answer below is assembled from the dated fields on this page. Nothing is written separately for search.

Who is Student research core for?

Students who want the same four tools to work for the next assignment, and the one after that.

What does Student research core get you to?

Four tools with one rule between them: nothing enters the bibliography until you have opened it and written down the date.

What does Student research core cost to run?

Semantic Scholar is free. Zotero is free with 300 MB of storage, and paid storage starts at USD 20 a year. Perplexity and NotebookLM both have free tiers that carry a single assignment.

Which tools sit in Student research core?

Each tool in the stack has a job:

  • Where the search starts. Type the key terms from your question, then follow the reference list and the citing papers of the two best hits. Copy DOIs out. Save nothing here.
  • The only place a source becomes real. One entry per opened source with type, checked date, and a note in your own words about what was measured. A source you have not read does not get an entry.
  • One pass for what papers do not cover: a new regulation, a national report, the institution running the pilot. Copy the URLs and open them. Its citation list never becomes your bibliography.
  • Loaded only with the sources already in Zotero. Ask it where two of them disagree and make it quote the sentence. Do not ask it for the claims or the wording of the brief.

What should you watch for in Student research core?

The stack publishes these cautions:

  • A cited answer is a lead. It becomes a bibliography entry once you open the source and can name what it measured.
  • NotebookLM only knows the corpus you gave it. Missing counter-evidence stays missing, and it will still sound confident.
  • Zotero turns into a junk drawer within a week if you save candidates instead of sources you opened.