AI-Enhanced Citation Mapping: Tools & Strategies for Graduate Instruction

Start Date

3-17-2026 2:30 PM

End Date

3-17-2026 3:00 PM

Author(s) Bio

Corinne Bishop is a Research & Engagement Librarian at the University of Central Florida Libraries. She serves as the liaison for the College of Graduate Studies and primary librarian for Education, Interdisciplinary Studies, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies, and Public Administration programs.

Keywords

AI literacy, artificial intelligence, graduate students, literature mapping, literature reviews

Description of Proposal

AI-enhanced citation mapping tools offer the potential to streamline the discovery process when conducting academic literature searches. Among the wide range of AI-enhanced tools now available, tools like Citation Gecko, Connected Papers, LitMaps, and Research Rabbit are designed to identify, visualize, and uncover relevant connections between sources. While these tools offer the potential to streamline the discovery process, many graduate students may be unaware of how to use AI tools effectively or how to evaluate the relevancy of search results. Graduate students may also mistakenly view the use of an AI-enhanced citation mapping tool as a “one-stop solution” to search the literature, thereby overlooking the need to conduct searches in academic databases or use supplemental strategies to identify sources for literature reviews and thesis and dissertation research.

To address these concerns, the presenters investigated AI-enhanced citation mapping tools, reviewed best practice criteria, and developed a graduate instruction session. In this presentation, the presenters will provide information about the development of a graduate-level instruction session, discuss the strengths and limitations of popular AI-enhanced citation mapping tools, provide criteria that graduate students can use to evaluate AI-enhanced citation mapping tools, and share best practice recommendations that graduate students can adopt when integrating AI-enhanced citation mapping tools alongside traditional academic database searches. Criteria to support best practice recommendations are based on institutional guidelines for AI use, College of Graduate Studies AI guidelines, and AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers, which was published by Association of the College and Research Libraries (ACRL) task force in October 2025. Presenters will also address discipline-specific perspectives related to the use of AI-enhanced citation mapping tools for Education, Engineering, and Social Sciences research.

The growth of AI-enhanced research tools is an emerging trend. AI-enhanced citation mapping tools have the potential to impact the way graduate students identify sources for literature reviews and thesis and dissertation research. As AI tools become more widely adopted, it is essential that librarians stay up to date about potential applications to support graduate research. Librarians are in a unique position to provide instruction about the effective use of AI-enhanced citation mapping tools and guardrails that graduate students can adopt for discipline-specific research.

What takeaways will attendees learn from your session?

Attendees will learn about:

  • Citation Gecko, Connected Papers, LitMaps, and Research Rabbit features and limitations

  • criteria graduate students can use to evaluate AI-enhanced citation mapping tools

  • development of a graduate instruction session that addresses strategies for integrating AI-enhanced citation mapping tools alongside traditional academic database searches

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Mar 17th, 2:30 PM Mar 17th, 3:00 PM

AI-Enhanced Citation Mapping: Tools & Strategies for Graduate Instruction

AI-enhanced citation mapping tools offer the potential to streamline the discovery process when conducting academic literature searches. Among the wide range of AI-enhanced tools now available, tools like Citation Gecko, Connected Papers, LitMaps, and Research Rabbit are designed to identify, visualize, and uncover relevant connections between sources. While these tools offer the potential to streamline the discovery process, many graduate students may be unaware of how to use AI tools effectively or how to evaluate the relevancy of search results. Graduate students may also mistakenly view the use of an AI-enhanced citation mapping tool as a “one-stop solution” to search the literature, thereby overlooking the need to conduct searches in academic databases or use supplemental strategies to identify sources for literature reviews and thesis and dissertation research.

To address these concerns, the presenters investigated AI-enhanced citation mapping tools, reviewed best practice criteria, and developed a graduate instruction session. In this presentation, the presenters will provide information about the development of a graduate-level instruction session, discuss the strengths and limitations of popular AI-enhanced citation mapping tools, provide criteria that graduate students can use to evaluate AI-enhanced citation mapping tools, and share best practice recommendations that graduate students can adopt when integrating AI-enhanced citation mapping tools alongside traditional academic database searches. Criteria to support best practice recommendations are based on institutional guidelines for AI use, College of Graduate Studies AI guidelines, and AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers, which was published by Association of the College and Research Libraries (ACRL) task force in October 2025. Presenters will also address discipline-specific perspectives related to the use of AI-enhanced citation mapping tools for Education, Engineering, and Social Sciences research.

The growth of AI-enhanced research tools is an emerging trend. AI-enhanced citation mapping tools have the potential to impact the way graduate students identify sources for literature reviews and thesis and dissertation research. As AI tools become more widely adopted, it is essential that librarians stay up to date about potential applications to support graduate research. Librarians are in a unique position to provide instruction about the effective use of AI-enhanced citation mapping tools and guardrails that graduate students can adopt for discipline-specific research.