How is continuous research different from one-off research?
One-off research answers a question at a point in time. Continuous research treats the topic as ongoing: it assumes there will be new developments and goes looking for them.
| Capability | One-off research | Continuous research |
|---|---|---|
| Ends when you have an answer | ||
| Picks up new developments | ||
| Builds a record over time | ||
| Requires you to repeat it |
Start with a recurring decision, not a collection habit
Ask which decision could change as new information arrives. You might revisit a software choice, a policy implementation plan or a personal learning project. Write the question down before deciding what to follow. If the question has a stable answer and a clear end, a one-off search may be more useful than an ongoing topic.
Define a scope that can stay useful over time
A durable description names a subject and the developments that matter, rather than asking for a single answer. Include a relevant geography, audience or technology constraint. For example, ‘Battery recycling methods for electric vehicles; follow research on recovery processes and commercial implementation’ is an illustrative ongoing scope. ‘What is battery recycling?’ is a one-off question. Neither example is a claim about results the service has already found.
Separate new discoveries from new events
Continuous research can surface useful background as well as recent developments. Read ‘Found’ as the date a resource entered the topic, and ‘Published’ as its reported publication date when available. Compare the original source with earlier material before concluding that something changed. Two articles can describe the same announcement; avoiding duplicate links does not mean every saved resource represents a different event.
Make review a separate part of the workflow
Automation gathers material; you decide how to use it. At each review, identify what changes your understanding, what needs corroboration and what is merely background. Keep any decision notes in your own working documents rather than assuming a tile is a conclusion. Check an official release, original paper or policy text when a claim could affect an important choice. This is an approach to reviewing sources, not a claim that TopicWeaver automatically performs that analysis.
What does TopicWeaver automate?
TopicWeaver repeats AI-assisted web research about once a day, checks source links, evaluates relevance and adds accepted resources to the appropriate topic dashboard. It does not continuously watch every publisher or guarantee complete coverage. New finds appear newest first. Daily or Weekly email digests can help you review topics with new resources; turn email Off if you prefer to check the app.
What happens when a research run adds nothing?
No new resources can mean there was little useful material in the retrieved results, that candidates were already saved, or that pages did not pass checks. It does not establish that the subject is unchanged. Search services and automated relevance decisions have limits. Use the app's reported status and the original sources; do not infer exhaustive coverage from an empty update.
How should an ongoing topic end?
Revisit whether the topic still supports a live decision. If a project is finished or an interest has changed, remove the topic rather than accumulating material indefinitely. Deleting a topic removes its saved resources and history, so keep anything you need elsewhere first. Accounts inactive for more than 30 days have daily research paused until they return. Adding topics within plan limits and daily research are free; an optional manual refresh costs 1 Credit.