Writing a strong literature review is one of the most challenging parts of the research process. This hands-on workshop shows colleagues how to move from a pile of readings to a coherent, critical review, using AI tools (e.g., Claude) as thinking partners rather than shortcuts. Participants will practice a full mini-workflow: running parallel AI-assisted searches to test coverage and bias, feeding sample papers into Claude to generate a synthesis matrix that maps themes across sources, and using AI output to spot genuine gaps in a subfield versus gaps the AI missed or invented. Throughout, we will interrogate the tools as much as we use them — flagging hallucinated citations, oversimplified summaries, and the limits of AI's disciplinary knowledge. Rather than a lecture on AI features, this is a working session: participants leave with a synthesis-matrix template, a set of tested prompts for literature-review tasks, and a draft outline for their own review. This workshop is designed for researchers at any stage who want a repeatable, critically-aware process for using AI in the literature-review stage.

Please bring a laptop and, if possible, three to four papers on your own research topic.