Write a Deep Research Report
Literature discovery, evidence checking, citation integrity and synthesis into a defensible report.
This workflow produces a deep research report that is thoroughly sourced, citation-verified, and logically coherent. The combination of tools works synergistically: Perplexity provides a rapid, broad exploration of the topic with web sources; Elicit narrows to relevant scientific literature; Consensus synthesizes what the peer-reviewed research collectively says; Scite validates the context and integrity of citations; NotebookML organizes and deepens understanding of your own document collection; finally, Claude crafts the report with long-context reasoning. This stack is designed for researchers, analysts, and students who need a defensible report with traceable evidence.
The workflow, step by step
- 1
Explore the topic with deep research
PerplexityUse Perplexity's deep research mode to get a broad overview from the web, complete with citations. This step quickly reveals key questions, terminology, and high-level sources, saving hours of manual searching.
Hand-off → A set of initial research questions, key terms, and a list of highly cited web pages and articles.
- 2
Identify relevant scientific papers
ElicitElicit specializes in finding academic papers based on your queries, extracting claims and summaries. It outperforms general search in precision for scholarly literature.
Hand-off → A prioritized list of papers with abstracts, extracted claims, and relevance scores.
- 3
Synthesize findings from peer-reviewed literature
ConsensusConsensus aggregates answers from multiple studies, showing agreement or disagreement. It provides a quick meta-analysis of what the research community says about your key questions.
Hand-off → A synthesized summary of consensus (or gaps) on key points, with direct links to supporting papers.
- 4
Verify citation context and evidence
SciteScite classifies how papers cite each other (supporting, contrasting, mentioning). Use it to confirm that your key claims are backed by proper evidence and to detect citation misrepresentation.
Hand-off → A report on citation integrity: which claims are supported, contradicted, or need further verification.
- 5
Organize and deep-dive into your sources
NotebookLMUpload all collected papers and notes into NotebookLM. It answers questions strictly from your sources, helping you connect ideas and identify gaps in your argument.
Hand-off → A structured set of notes, answers, and an outline synthesizing all source material.
- 6
Draft the final report
ClaudeClaude's long context and nuanced reasoning allow it to produce a well-structured, coherent report from your outline and notes. It excels at creating logical flow and clear argumentation.
All tools in this stack
Perplexity
Source-cited AI answer engine for live web research, file analysis, premium data...
Elicit
AI research assistant for searching papers, generating cited reports, and automa...
Consensus
AI research workspace for searching, synthesizing, and organizing evidence from ...
Scite
AI research platform for academics that verifies papers through Smart Citations,...
References behind this workflow
The specs, official docs and benchmarks this workflow leans on — read these before you commit, so every step rests on the source, not on hearsay.
DeepResearch Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Deep Research Agents - Evaluating LLM-based agents for autonomous research tasks.
In contrast, PubMed’s classification system also involves human indexers who apply the standardised Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (van Buskirk, \APACyear1984)…
DeepResearch Bench addresses the absence of a comprehensive benchmark for systematically evaluating Deep Research Agents (DRAs). Our benchmark consists of 100 PhD-level…
Hand-reviewed primary sources — official documentation, published benchmarks, research and standards bodies only. No listicles, no affiliate links. Links last checked 2026-07-07.
Frequently asked questions
How much does this full workflow cost?
Perplexity, Consensus, and Claude have free tiers; Elicit and Scite require paid subscriptions (around $10-20/month each). You can start with free tiers for a one-time report, but full use of all features will cost roughly $30-50 per month if you need unlimited access.
Can I use free alternatives?
Yes: replace Elicit with Semantic Scholar (free, but less structured), Consensus with Google Scholar's 'cited by' and manual reading, Scite with manual citation checking, and NotebookLM with any shared document tool. However, you'll lose efficiency and depth.
Where should I start if I have no experience?
Begin with Perplexity to define your topic and gather initial sources. Then use NotebookLM to upload those sources and test your understanding before moving to paid tools. This gives a quick win without upfront cost.
What common mistake should I avoid?
Skipping the Scite step. Many researchers assume all citations are valid, leading to weak arguments. Always verify citation context to avoid citing papers that actually oppose your point.
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