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Hello AI Enthusiast,

Today, we're exploring STORM, a research tool from Stanford University that transforms a single topic into a comprehensive, Wikipedia-style article. Unlike other AI writing tools where you need to craft perfect prompts, STORM does the heavy lifting. You just provide the topic, and it handles everything else asking the right questions and providing a well structured paper including different point of views on the topic.

The Problem

When creating in-depth articles, industry reports, market analyses, or whitepapers, research and writing can be a major time sink. You spend hours gathering information, comparing viewpoints, and structuring it all coherently. While tools like ChatGPT can help, they still need careful prompting at every step. What if you could simply provide a topic and let AI handle the rest?


How STORM Works

Let's break down how to turn a simple topic into a well-structured article in just four simple steps.

Step 1: Submit your topic 

We'll use "Political trends and cycles throughout history, with a focus on AI's impact in 2024" as our example.

STORM's topic input page

Step 2: Define Your Purpose

STORM will ask about your writing purpose to better understand the context. For our example as content marketers, we specified "a blog post backed by data and former research papers."

Purpose selection screen to guide content generation

Step 3: Wait for Analysis

STORM takes a few minutes to generate targeted questions and research angles. This is where the magic happens, the tool creates a comprehensive research framework automatically.

Analysis screen while STORM generates an output

Et voilà! We have an article on Political Trends and Cycles Throughout History, with a Specific Focus on How AI Affects them in 2024 ready!

Article outline preview

Step 4: Review Generated Content Once complete, STORM provides the fully structured article, along with its "brainSTORMing" questions that were used to explore the topic. You'll see different perspectives considered and relevant citations throughout the piece.

Generated BrainSTORMing question 1

Generated BrainSTORMing question 2

ℹ️ For the best results, we recommend using specific, focused topics - for instance, instead of just "Remote Work," try "Impact of Remote Work on Urban Housing Prices 2020-2024." Give the tool 2-3 minutes for thorough analysis, and take time to review the "brainSTORMing" questions to understand STORM's research approach.

Our Result without further edits:

Result.pdf

133.69 KB • PDF File

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If you want to see more AI in action, our 12-month AI Academy Membership includes, among other benefits, live webinars where professionals show exactly how they use AI tools to improve their work . Watch, learn, and apply their proven workflows to your own tasks.


Your Turn

Whether you need to create market analysis reports, prepare industry trend summaries, develop data-driven sector overviews, or compile literature reviews, start by choosing a topic relevant to your task. Make your topic specific by adding a timeframe, geographic focus if applicable, and a particular aspect or angle you want to explore.

Run it through STORM, review the generated questions and structure, and compare the output to what you'd typically write manually. Make sure to always verify crucial information before using it in professional or academic contexts.


Want to get even more practical? Explore hands-on AI learning with AI Academy:

We'll be back with more AI tips soon!