Getting started
How to use Simply Research
Research papers don’t need to feel like another language. Follow these steps to find papers, collect them, understand them, and ask good questions—without a steep learning curve.
Labels like Study this match buttons and tabs you’ll see in the app.
Walkthrough
Six steps from “I have a question” to “I understand the research.”
Search for papers
Type a topic in plain English (for example “sleep and memory”), then hit Search. You’ll get real papers from research databases, not generic web results.
Preview what a paper is about
Click Plain summary for a short explanation in everyday language—main question, methods, findings, and caveats—before you invest time in the full paper. Open paper and PDF only open the publisher site; you don’t need them to study here.
Add a paper to a topic
Click Study this, choose an existing topic or start a new one, then press Add to topic. We try to pull in the open-access text (or PDF) so you can read and ask questions without juggling extra tabs.
TipYou stay on the search results, so you can add several papers in one session.
Build your workspace
Open Topics in the header, then open a topic. From there you can choose files and Upload, paste article text, Rename the topic (including Suggest with AI), or Remove sources you no longer need.
Read with help
Open a source for the PDF or text reader. Select a passage to use Highlight, Explain, or Annotate. Use Auto annotate to mark key findings, methods, and limits across the article. In the side panel, switch to Ask for questions about that paper only.
Ask across your materials
On a topic workspace, use the chat labeled for the whole topic—not the paper-only Ask panel—to search across every source you’ve added. Answers include citations you can open when you want the original passage.
TipAnswers are best when sources were fully indexed—uploaded PDFs and papers we successfully fetched.
While you read
After you select text in the PDF or text reader, a small menu appears with these choices:
Highlight
Save the passage in your Marks list for later.
Explain
Get a plain-language take on the selected lines. The side panel jumps to the explanation.
Annotate
Auto-label the passage (findings, methods, limitations, and so on).
Ask
Side panel tab for chat on one paper. Topic workspace chat covers everything in the topic.
Good to know
What is a topic?
A folder for related papers and notes. Chat on the topic page uses every source under it.
What does Study this do?
Saves the paper under a topic and, when possible, imports its text (or PDF) so you can read and question it inside the app—without leaving after each add.
Paywalled papers?
If we can’t fetch full text, you may still get an abstract. Use Choose files and Upload on the topic page if you have a PDF you’re allowed to use.
Your session
Work is tied to this browser session. Use the same device and browser to return to your topics and sources.
Ready when you are
Search a curiosity, study a few papers into one topic, then ask the questions you actually care about.