Exploring the Role of Large Language Models (LLMs) as an Academic Resource for Students: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools that can enhance various aspects of academic life, offering support in research, learning, and content generation. This scoping review explores the role of LLMs as an academic resource specifically for students, aiming to map the current literature and identify key applications, benefits, challenges, and future directions. The review follows established scoping review frameworks to systematically examine relevant studies from diverse academic databases. Findings indicate that LLMs contribute significantly to personalized learning, academic writing, and information retrieval while presenting challenges related to ethical considerations, misinformation, and over-reliance. The review provides insights into how students can effectively integrate LLMs into their academic routines, emphasizing the need for digital literacy and critical evaluation skills. Future research should focus on addressing ethical concerns and optimizing LLM applications to better align with students' educational needs.