AI Tools I Used for My CS Thesis

Hi lovely readers,

Great news! I wrapped up my thesis last week, which means I'm now officially a graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Applied Computer Science.

For a thesis, research can be quite a hassle, especially when it comes to finding the right sources. That's why I used AI to help me find the appropriate academic papers and websites. Additionally, I had to develop a product, which eventually turned into a set of bash scripts as part of my research. I use AI to debug and tidy up the code in my bash scripts.

Do any of you do academic research or are you planning to write a thesis soon? Here are the tools that helped me during the five months I dedicated to my research and code.

Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI is an AI search engine that allows you to ask anything for which you need answers. What I particularly appreciate about Perplexity AI is the option to choose between answers sourced from websites and blogs or answers based on academic papers.

Home page of Perplexity AI. There's a title 'Where knowledge begins'. Under it is a textbox with the text 'What is the GDPR?'. There's a focus menu visible where 'All' is selected. Other options are 'Academic', 'Writing', 'Youtube', 'Reddit'

Consensus

Consensus is another AI search engine, specifically designed for looking through academic research papers. Consensus often excelled in finding valuable academic sources when Perplexity couldn't. Despite being in beta, I found this project incredibly helpful and couldn't help but fall in love with it.

Homepage of Consensus. Title says 'Ask a question, get conclusions from research papers'. There's a textbox with 'What is the GDPR ' written in it, and search suggestions under it.

Searchpage of Consensus. In the textbox you can see that the input is 'What is the GDPR?', it shows 3 different results from 3 different research papers.

ChatGPT

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the most well-known AI website out there.

When it came to my research, I didn't use ChatGPT to find sources. However, I did use ChatGPT to review small sections of my text and ensure its correctness in English. At times, I also asked ChatGPT to rephrase my text to reach B2 or C1 level English proficiency.

For my bash scripts, I sought ChatGPT's assistance in organizing my code into different functions. Additionally, I used it to verify if my code followed the DRY and KISS principles ('Don't Repeat Yourself' and 'Keep It Simple, Stupid!').

Two hands holding a phone. On the phone screen you can see that the ChatGPT website is open.

Grammarly Premium

I understand that some of you might debate whether Grammarly truly qualifies as AI. However, this product saved me countless hours of rewriting. Let me assure you that every penny spent on Grammarly Premium for academic or professional writing is entirely worth it.

Grammarly not only corrects typos but also restructures phrases to enhance clarity and readability. Furthermore, it provides suggestions for improved word choices and alerts you when a tone is too negative or positive for academic writing.

I love you Grammarly <3

A grammarly suggestion. The text says 'Our team has less projects this quarter'. The grammar suggestion is to change 'less' to 'fewer' with an explanation why under it.

That’s a wrap!

Thank you for reading so far. These were the AI tools I relied on for assistance in writing and coding over the past five months. I hope they will be helpful to you or introduce you to some intriguing new AI tools to explore.

Cheers!

Lou's Blog Exploring Tech