How topic areas, research tools and tokens work.

A topic area gives related questions, answers, notes, evidence comparisons and references one clear home. Choose its subject and academic level when you create it, then develop the research inside that topic area.

Choose GCSE, A-Level, undergraduate, Master’s or PhD for the topic area. ResearchBuddy uses that level, together with the subject and question, to adjust the terminology, depth and emphasis of its guidance.

Question Coach reviews the wording before research begins. It can identify unclear scope or assumptions and suggest a more focused version. You always choose whether to use the suggestion or keep your original wording, and using the coach does not spend a research token.

A response includes a concise summary, an interpretation of the question, key terms, a structured breakdown, evidence and debate, uncertainties, source suggestions, practical next steps and a focused follow-up question. It remains attached to the topic area and can be downloaded as a PDF.

ResearchBuddy searches the web while preparing a response and displays links returned by that research. A link is a starting point rather than a guarantee: open the original page and check the author, date, publisher, evidence and relevance yourself.

Yes. A follow-up inside the same topic area can use a limited context from earlier completed questions and answers. Refer to the claim, source or limitation you want to investigate so the next response deepens the work rather than repeats it.

No. ResearchBuddy can explain concepts, compare interpretations, suggest research pathways and help organise evidence. It will not produce submission-ready coursework, answer an assessed exam question or replace your own judgement and writing.

It places selected evidence side by side so you can examine claims, methods, strengths, limitations and areas of agreement or disagreement. You can add your own observations and save the comparison with the topic area. It does not use a research token.

The notebook stores your own notes inside a topic area. A note can be connected to a particular research question, searched later and reviewed beside the relevant answer. Creating and editing notes does not use research tokens.

Citation Expert stores editable source details and formats references in Harvard, APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago or OSCOLA. It flags missing information and lets you mark whether you have checked the original source. It does not automatically prove that source details are correct, so verification remains essential.

Yes. Archive a topic area when you no longer need it on the active dashboard. Archived topic areas remain available to read, but you must restore a topic area before continuing its research or changing its contents.

One token is used for each successfully completed research response. Creating or reopening topic areas, using Question Coach, reading saved answers, comparing evidence, writing notes and managing citations do not use tokens. Failed requests and requests blocked by the integrity safeguards do not use a token.

Your topic areas, answers, evidence comparisons, notes and references remain available. You can continue organising existing research and buy another one-off token pack whenever you want to submit another research question.

ResearchBuddy currently provides individual user accounts and one-off token packs. Schools, colleges and universities can contact us to discuss their requirements or register interest in future institutional options.