1. A machine-implemented method for generating a graphical user interface (GUI) for a research system that identifies documents relevant to a plurality of categories, the method comprising: receiving a user objective and at least one initial category for a recurring search that identifies documents relevant to a plurality of categories for presentation to a user, wherein the user objective comprises a purpose for which the user plans to use the identified documents; providing for display in the GUI a plurality of selectable additional categories related to the received initial category for the user objective; receiving a selection of a set of additional categories for the recurring search through the GUI, wherein the recurring search identifies documents relevant to a set of search categories comprising both the initial category and the selected set of additional categories; analyzing the user objective, the selected set of categories, and a quantity of documents stored in the research system that are relevant to the selected categories to determine an optimized modifiable set of filters; after the set of additional categories for the recurring search are selected, providing for display in the GUI the optimized modifiable set of filters for removing specific types of documents that are relevant to the set of search categories from the recurring search, wherein a first set of selected additional categories results in a first optimized set of filters and a second set of selected additional categories results in a second, different optimized set of filters; and generating the recurring search for the user based on the set of search categories and a modified set of filters.