Today’s finish line
Use an agent for one genuine research task and verify at least one important part of its output against the source.
The point is neither blind trust nor ritual scepticism. The point is a workflow in which fast work can still be checked.
Morning — references that do not lie
We start with a reference list containing deliberate traps: nonexistent papers, incorrect DOIs, incomplete details, and inconsistent formatting.
Ask the agent to:
- identify every work;
- verify it using an independent source;
- create clean BibTeX;
- record what it could not verify;
- link each decision to evidence.
Then try the same process on references from your own work.
A polished bibliography is not evidence of a correct bibliography.
Afternoon — a literature sweep
Give the agent a folder of papers and a concrete comparison question. Begin with one paper, settle on useful fields, and only then scale up.
Possible columns:
- research question;
- setting and sample;
- method or material;
- central finding;
- limitation noted by the authors;
- page supporting the summary.
Ask which papers genuinely disagree and which merely ask different questions. Export the result as Markdown or CSV so it remains useful outside the session.
The honesty checkpoint
Choose one row that matters. Open the original paper and verify it manually. Check the page reference, wording, and strength of the claim.
If the row is wrong, that is useful course material. Diagnose why:
- Was the question vague?
- Was the PDF read incorrectly?
- Did the summary overstate cautious language?
- Did the agent infer something the authors never claimed?
Improve the workflow, not just the sentence.
Open lab
Bring one research mess:
- an untidy bibliography;
- a folder of PDFs;
- rough project notes;
- interview or meeting material you are allowed to process;
- a table that needs documenting;
- a draft that needs structural criticism.
Before sharing material with any service, stop and consider confidentiality, personal data, contracts, and research ethics.
Before you leave
Save one useful artifact and a short verification note. Tomorrow we use the same workflow to build teaching material—and make it presentable.