To NotebookLM or not?

One of the tools I mentioned in my latest newsletter to my Student Mentees is NotebookLM. This tool is fantastic and continues to evolve as a powerful AI-driven tool for student learning. The latest updates make it even more helpful, especially if you’re juggling revision, reading, and research. It's useful to all, whether auditory learners, visual thinkers, or those trying to speed up their source-finding process. These features offer real, practical support.

Why Notebook? Simple Workflow:

Using Notebook is easy and simple to get started. Simply upload your sources, or you can ask it to find you some.

Notebook lets you add web links, YouTube videos, and you can also just paste in the text.

Here are some easy ways to get started:

Discover Sources When you describe a topic in your own words, NotebookLM gets to work instantly. It scans hundreds of web sources in seconds, filters through them using Gemini’s AI, and brings back up to ten curated recommendations, each with a short explanation of why it’s relevant to what you’re studying.

You can import these sources straight into your notebook with a single click. From there, you can use them with other features like Briefing Docs, FAQs, and Audio Overviews. The original source text stays accessible too, so you can read more, ask questions using the built-in chat, and even pull citations or quotes directly into your notes.

If you’re new to NotebookLM or just want to explore how it works, there’s also a feature called “I’m Feeling Curious.” It picks a random topic and shows you what the source discovery engine can do, a fun, low-pressure way to experiment with the tool.

To try it:

1. Go to notebooklm.google.com

2. Open a notebook

3. In the Sources panel, click Discover

4. Type in what you're interested in

5. Review and save your sources

This is just the beginning, “Discover Sources” is part of a growing suite of tools powered by Gemini that’s designed to make research faster, easier, and more relevant to you.

Mind Maps – Visual Learning, Simplified

One of the newest and most powerful additions here is the Mind Map feature. This tool takes your sources and turns them into an interactive visual diagram, showing how key ideas connect. Instead of scrolling through long documents, you can zoom in on clusters of related concepts and click on them to see quick summaries. This is perfect for visual learners, and especially helpful when trying to grasp big-picture themes or plan out complex assignments.

You can click on any part of the map to explore summaries or go deeper into subtopics. This is particularly useful for essay planning, revision sessions, or when you're trying to make sense of dense material.

Audio Overviews – Study on the Go

Need to revise while commuting or cooking? Audio Overviews turn your notes into spoken conversations between two AI hosts. It’s like having a podcast episode tailored to your reading material.

Ideal for auditory learners or those juggling full schedules.

Notebook Guide: Change the Format, Not the Message

A helpful way to get started is by creating what I call an “Everything Notebook.” This is your long-term knowledge hub, a place to collect quotes, reflections, documents, and inspiration that shows up across your learning life. Think of it as your digital brain. From there, you can create focused notebooks for each topic, project, or course you’re working on. For example, you might have a notebook for your dissertation, one for your programming course, and another for a personal research interest. Keeping these separate but intentional makes it easier to draw connections without feeling overwhelmed. Your Everything Notebook holds your worldview; your topic notebooks are how you apply it.

The “Everything Notebook” Strategy

Start by creating one main notebook, a kind of digital workspace for the ideas, quotes, documents, or reflections you interact with often. This becomes your personal knowledge hub.

Then, create topic-based notebooks for projects, essays, or modules. For example:

• Dissertation Notebook

• “Intro to Cognitive Science” Notebook

• Design Portfolio Notebook

Each of these can draw on the ideas in your Everything Notebook or function as their own research spaces.

Connect the Dots Across Multiple Sources

We often gather knowledge in fragments, tabs open, articles saved, notes scattered across Google Docs. NotebookLM helps you bring these fragments into one place and actually do something with them. You might brainstorm with Gemini or ChatGPT, bookmark helpful articles, or write down thoughts in a document. When you import all that into NotebookLM, it can analyse the material and present it as a structured summary, a study guide, or even a presentation outline. It’s especially powerful during the messy middle of projects, when you’re trying to find patterns and direction in what you’ve collected.

NotebookLM lets you upload all of it: PDFs, copied notes, Google Docs, links, and more. It then helps you:

• Summarise key points

• Generate ideas

• Cross-reference concepts

• Ask clarifying questions

Example: You brainstorm in Gemini, save articles, and write in Docs. Combine it all in NotebookLM to generate your first draft or presentation outline.

Don’t Know What to Ask? Let the AI Help

Once your content is uploaded, NotebookLM suggests questions to get you started. This is useful if you're feeling stuck or not sure how to approach your materials.

The AI guides you through your sources with prompts like "What are the key themes in this article?" or "How does this argument compare to another one?"

As you begin to explore, NotebookLM also suggests follow-up questions tailored to what you’re reading and asking. This helps turn passive reading into active learning, without needing to come up with all the right prompts on your own.

Final Thoughts

If you’re just starting out, create one Everything Notebook and build from there. Use Discover Sources when beginning a new assignment, and don’t be afraid to import rough notes, incomplete documents, or even bookmarked ideas. NotebookLM is great at connecting those loose ends. Ask questions, and let the system guide you with suggestions when you’re unsure where to begin. Try viewing your notes in different formats and experiment to see what fits your learning style best.

For collaborative work, you can share notebooks and work with classmates using the same materials. And when you’re ready to cite, NotebookLM can help you track your sources, build quotes, and stay organised, all while supporting academic integrity.