Research
The Research tab in Notis gives direct access to academic and clinical literature without leaving the editor. Search for topics, review results with source citations, and insert relevant findings into your note — all from the AI tools panel.
Accessing the Research Tab
Open the AI tools panel by clicking the search icon in the editor toolbar, or click the Research tab if the panel is already open.
Running a Search
Basic Search
Type a topic, clinical question, or keyword into the search field and press Enter or click the search button. The search is powered by Perplexity's academic search engine, which scans peer-reviewed journals, clinical databases, and reputable medical sources.
Example queries:
- "Latest research on postpartum anxiety treatment"
- "CBT effectiveness for childhood anxiety"
- "Mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain"
- "EMDR protocol modifications for complex trauma"
The more specific the query, the more targeted the results. Include condition names, intervention types, or population details to narrow results.
Academic Mode
Toggle Academic sources to restrict results to peer-reviewed and academic publications. When enabled, the search prioritizes:
- Peer-reviewed journal articles
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- Clinical guidelines from recognized organizations
- Published research from medical and psychology databases
Understanding Results
After a search completes, results appear in three sections:
Answer Summary
A synthesized answer based on the sources found. This provides a quick overview of the current research on your topic, written in accessible language with key findings highlighted.
The answer text is rendered as formatted markdown, making it easy to scan headings, bullet points, and emphasized terms.
Sources
Below the answer, a numbered list of sources shows the publications referenced. Each source displays:
- Title of the article or publication
- Publication details when available
Each source has an Insert button that adds a formatted citation directly into your note at the cursor position.
Related Questions
At the bottom of the results, a set of related questions appear as clickable chips. These are follow-up queries generated from the context of your search results. Click any related question to run a new search with that query — useful for exploring adjacent topics or diving deeper into specific findings.
Inserting Citations into Your Note
Research results can be inserted directly into the note being edited:
Find a Relevant Source
Review the answer and sources from your search results.
Click Insert
Click the Insert button next to the source you want to add.
Citation Inserted
The citation text is added to your note at the current cursor position, formatted as markdown.
Research Context in Chat
When you run a research search, the results automatically become part of the context available to the Chat assistant. This means the Chat tab can reference and discuss your research findings without needing to repeat the search.
For example, after researching "CBT for adolescent depression," you can switch to the Chat tab and ask:
- "Summarize the key findings from my research"
- "How does this research apply to my note?"
- "What are the limitations of these studies?"
The assistant will draw from both your note content and research results to provide informed responses.
Tips for Effective Research
Be specific with queries: "EMDR effectiveness for single-incident trauma in adults" returns more useful results than "EMDR research."
Use clinical terminology: The search engine handles medical terms well. Use standard diagnostic terms, therapy modality names, and clinical concepts.
Try related questions: The suggested follow-up queries often surface important related findings that weren't in the initial results.
Combine with fact-checking: After incorporating research into your note, run a fact check to verify that claims are accurately represented in context.
