AI Prompting course - Lesson 5 of 10

Lesson 5: Perplexity: Search the web and build a traceable research brief

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Lesson 5 of 10 ยท Perplexity

Search the web and build a traceable research brief

AI search tools can help discover pages and produce a starting summary. Ask a specific, bounded question; set a date range or geography; and request primary sources where appropriate. Open cited pages yourself, check publication dates and methods, and distinguish evidence from the tool's synthesis.

Example: research findings

Find recent primary sources about [specific topic] in [region]
published between [start date] and [end date].
Return a table: claim, source title, publisher, publication date,
direct URL, and evidence limitations. Prefer official reports,
original studies, or datasets. Do not treat search-result snippets
as evidence. If sources disagree, show both sides.

Do not overstate findings: A search result is not a systematic review. Check who funded the work, what population was studied, and whether the source actually supports the claim.