Don't Brainstorm Keywords with LLMs, Let Them Search

A working academic librarian argues that the conventional workflow of asking an LLM to brainstorm search keywords wastes the actual advance in modern AI search tools such as Elicit, Consensus, and Scite Assistant, which use semantic and reranking retrieval rather than keyword matching. He recommends inverting the process: search first with an AI tool, then harvest the vocabulary that turns up in genuinely relevant papers, which produces better search terms than guessing them in advance. You finish with a concrete, testable technique to try on your next literature search rather than a general endorsement of AI search tools.

Task

Research & literature

Time

10 min

Level

intermediate

Cost

Needs a licence — Requires a licence your institution may or may not hold.

Tools

Elicit, Consensus, Scite

Published

2026-08-10

Voice

Aaron Tay — Runs actual experiments on AI literature search and publishes the negative results, which is the only reliable answer to whether Elicit or Consensus can be trusted for a review.