OneSearch Tutorial

The OneSearch Research Assistant, a tool powered by Generative AI, assists researchers in searches of library materials. You can use it to ask academic questions in natural language, such as "What are the benefits of light therapy on mood?" or "What is adult education?"

The Research Assistant identifies up to five documents that address your question. It then extracts the most relevant information from the description/abstracts of each source to write a brief overview of those documents.

How to Access the OneSearch Research Assistant

You must be logged into your Library Account to see the Research Assistant. 

1. Navigate to OneSearch at SUNY Empire Library Homepage
2. Type into OneSearch a topic (ex: adult education). 
3. On the right hand side of the screen, you'll see a pop-up for Research Assistant. 
4. From here, click the Research Assistant and "Ask a research question". You'll be prompted to log in using your Empire log-in credentials. 

Once you are logged in and typed in a research question to ask the Research Assistant, your screen will look like this: 

The Research Assistant identifies up to five documents that address your question. It then extracts the most relevant information from the description/abstracts of each source to write a brief overview of those documents.

Quick tips for use

• Works best when you ask a clear and detailed question about academic or scientific topics.
• Click the “view more results in your library search” button to find more documents relevant to your question.
• Click the AI-generated “related research questions” to explore topics similar to your question.
• Click the “Try again” button if you are not satisfied with your answers. Due to the nature of Large Language Models, answers to the same question are not always the same. There may be more than one possible answer and different resources that are relevant.
• If searching in a language other than English, the tool will search in both the home language and in English, then display the answer in the home language. You can add language-specific instructions, such as "answer in Spanish" or "answer in French," to your prompt.
• Does not currently support follow up questions. You will have to include all relevant information in each subsequent question.
• Cited sources may include those outside our collections; you can request items not held by the Empire Library through the Interlibrary Loan service. 

How to Provide Feedback

The OneSearch Research Assistant is a work in progress. We encourage you to share your experience and ideas about what could be improved. Please use the thumbs up and down buttons underneath the answer to provide feedback.