Quick Start Guide: Evidence Table Builder

Welcome to Evidence Table Builder! This guide will help you get up and running quickly with our tool for extracting structured data from research papers. In just a few minutes, you'll learn how to prepare your files, upload them, ask effective questions, and export your results.

Preparing Your PDF Files

Before uploading your research papers, follow these simple steps to ensure optimal extraction results:

1. Check File Format and Quality

• Ensure you have PDF files - We currently only support PDF format
• Verify the PDF is searchable - Text should be selectable, not scanned images
• Check file size - Each file must be under 50MB

2. Organize Your Papers

• Group related papers for systematic reviews
• Consider naming files consistently for easier identification
• Remove any password protection from PDFs

Uploading Your Files

Once your PDFs are ready, uploading them is simple:

1. Log in to your Evidence Table Builder account
2. Navigate to the Builder page
3. Drag and drop your PDFs into the upload area or click to select files
4. Wait for the upload progress to complete for each file

Asking Questions

After uploading your files, you can begin extracting information by asking questions:

How to Ask Effective Questions

Frame your questions clearly and specifically. Here are some examples of effective questions:

• "What were the inclusion and exclusion criteria in each study?"
• "Extract the primary outcomes and p-values from all studies"
• "Create a table of sample sizes, interventions, and follow-up periods"
• "What were the baseline characteristics of participants across all studies?"

Avoid Vague Questions

Questions that are too broad may not yield the specific information you need:

• ❌ "Tell me about the studies"
• ❌ "What were the results?"
• ✅ "Extract the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for overall survival"

Downloading Your Results

Once the AI has processed your questions:

1. Review the extracted data in the preview
2. Click the "Download" button to get your evidence table as an Excel file
3. The Excel file will contain structured data from all your papers, organized by your queries

Try It Yourself: Sample Dataset

Want to test the system before using your own papers? Download our sample dataset containing five research papers on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia:

Download Sample Dataset (ZIP file, 5 PDFs)

These papers are perfect for practicing with queries like:

• "Extract sample sizes and participant demographics from each study"
• "What were the sleep efficiency outcomes in each study?"
• "Create a table of all adverse events reported"

Next Steps

Now that you're familiar with the basics, you're ready to start using Evidence Table Builder for your research projects!

Ready to dive deeper?

• Explore our FAQ section for answers to common questions
• Check out our blog post on Best Practices for Data Extraction
• Learn about quality assessment tools for your systematic review

Start Building Your Evidence Tables Today

Turn hours of manual data extraction into minutes with our AI-powered tool. Your first five extractions are free - no credit card required!

Start Building Now