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Note: Features may change with future updates.

Google’s NotebookLM has become a useful tool for organizing and exploring information from multiple documents. Two recent additions to the platform—Mind Maps and Discover Sources—offer new ways to interact with research materials, though with some practical limitations faculty should consider.

Mind Maps: A Different View of Your Research

The Mind Map feature provides a visual representation of concepts and connections within your uploaded documents. Rather than presenting information only in linear text format, NotebookLM now generates a web of related ideas that you can explore visually.

When you upload materials such as articles or notes, the system creates a map showing themes and relationships it identifies. For instance, with climate change research, you might see nodes for concepts like “mitigation strategies” or “economic impacts” with connections between related ideas.

This visualization can be helpful for:

Seeing connections: Quickly identifying how concepts relate across multiple documents
Navigating content: Clicking nodes to access specific sections of your source material
Alternative perspective: Getting a different view of your research organization

An Interesting Window into AI Processing

The Mind Map also reveals how AI systems interpret and categorize information. By examining these visualizations, you can observe which concepts the system prioritizes and how it establishes relationships – sometimes in ways that differ from how human scholars might organize the same material. This transparency can help you critically evaluate the AI’s understanding and compare it with your own expertise and judgment.

How to generate a Mind Map

Open an existing notebook (or create a new one and upload some sources)
In the chat, you can click on the auto-suggested “Mind Map” chip.
Under the Studio Panel, you will see a new Note with your generated Mind Map. You can revisit your Mind Map at any time within the Studio Panel.
To regenerate, first select the “Delete note” option in the three dots menu next to your Mind Map within the Studio Panel. Then, restart the generation process.

How to Interact with a Mind Map

Zoom in/out and scroll: This allows you to navigate different parts of the Mind Map and focus on specific areas.
Expand/collapse branches: You can expand branches to see more detailed sub-topics or collapse them to get a higher-level view.
Click on nodes to ask questions: Directly click on a node in the Mind Map to ask questions in NotebookLM chat about that specific topic.
Other: At the top right corner, you will see options to expand/collapse view, download, or exit.

How to share a Mind Map

Option #1: Generate a Mind Map, then share the entire notebook with another user. They will be able to load the same Mind Map in the Studio panel.
Option #2: Download the Mind Map through the Download button within the Mind Map window and share the downloaded file.

Discover Sources: Supplementary Research with Limitations

The Discover Sources feature attempts to suggest additional materials related to your research topic. Using Google Search capabilities, it recommends publicly available resources that might complement your existing documents.

This feature can potentially:

Suggest related content: Identify public web resources connected to your topics
Broaden perspective: Point to alternative viewpoints or explanations
Find recent publications: Highlight newer material available online

Important Academic Limitations

Faculty engaged in scholarly research should approach this feature with appropriate expectations. Discover Sources primarily draws from publicly accessible web content and does not access subscription-based academic databases, peer-reviewed journals behind paywalls, or institutional repositories. For rigorous academic research, you will still need to rely on established scholarly databases, library resources, and disciplinary research methods.

How to Use Discover Sources:

The Discover Sources button is located in the Sources panel next to “Add source.”

Initiate a source search: Click on the “Discover Sources” button in the Sources panel
Prompt the Search:
- Enter a search query in the “Describe something you’d like to learn about…” prompt box
- Or, click “I’m feeling curious” to randomly bring in something new and exciting
Search and review results: The most relevant search results will be presented in a list and will include the title, a brief description on how the source relates to your original query, and a link to open the full webpage in a new window.
Select sources and Import: You can select one or multiple sources from the search results to import into your notebook

Practical Applications for Faculty

These features represent interesting developments in how AI can help organize and explore information, but they serve best as supplements to, rather than replacements for, established academic research practices.

For instructional purposes, Mind Maps might offer a useful tool for helping students visualize relationships between concepts or for organizing course materials in a different format. The Source Discovery feature could serve as a starting point for introductory research or as a way to identify explanatory resources for students.

As with any AI tool, the value comes from understanding both its capabilities and limitations. NotebookLM works most effectively when paired with scholarly expertise and traditional academic resources, offering an additional perspective rather than a comprehensive research solution.

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