The Self-Contained Research and Verification Workflow
My usual process for research using
NotebookLM is to first start by uploading my own verified sources. I then ask the system many questions and immediately compile all the key answers into a Note.
I do this because the questions and answers in the main NotebookLM chat panel (the centre section) tend to be cleared when you access the notebook again, so I make sure to save everything into the Note (the right-hand panel) for permanent keeping.
When I feel I have run out of initial questions to ask to further develop my notes, I then use the following prompt in the NotebookLM chat:
'I want to ask Google Gemini, what questions that I need to ask to improve my technical propose so I also can enrich my notes.'
The list of critique questions that NotebookLM generates in response is then what I take and pose to Google Gemini to find the answers. I will then insert those answers into my Note.
Crucially, the completed Note that we have gathered can eventually be saved and re-uploaded as one of our sources for future referencing.
The core purpose of this entire method is to establish and strictly limit our sources to our own verified documents. This ensures that our work does not become mixed with external, unverified sources—a primary concern when using general tools like ChatGPT.