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How to Use Citations

Citations break an AI-generated answer into parts and label each one with how closely it follows its source and who wrote it.

Written by Saul Bard

Article Summary

Color coded bars beside the answer show at a glance which sentences are quoted directly from your content library, which the AI wrote, and which a person has written or edited. The Citations tab lets you open any part, read the exact quote it came from, and jump straight to the source content - so you can verify a claim before you send it.

Estimated Time

8-10 minutes

Prerequisites

  • A project with requirements to generate answers for

  • Content in your content library

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Generate Answers

  1. Create new project or generate new answers in a pre-existing project.

  2. In the final stage of response generation, citations will be created.

📝 Note: Answers from Ask AutoRFP, Slack, and Microsoft Teams do not carry citations. Citations are generated for project responses only.

Step 2: Read the Citation Gutter

  1. Look at the narrow column immediately to the right of any answer in the response grid.

    1. Hover a bar to preview which words are included in that classification.

    2. A tooltip appears naming the citation type and how many parts it covers.

    3. Click on a bar to open the full Edit Response view with that citation already selected.

Step 3: Understand the Four Citation Levels

Every part falls into one of four levels. The colour and icon are the same in the gutter and in the Citations tab.

Icon

Level

What it means

Verbatim Quote

Copied word-for-word from a single source in your content library. The strongest form of support.

Indirect Quote

Keeps the source's phrasing and structure with light edits - a synonym swapped, a qualifier dropped, tense changed. Still traced to one source.

AI Written

The AI rewrote, combined, or concluded something from your content. Also covers connective prose the AI wrote that has no source behind it.

User Written

Written or edited by a person.

An AI Written section that shows no source count is prose the AI wrote by inferencing indirectly from sources — linking sentences, framing, or references back to other parts of the answer. These deserve the closest read.

Step 4: Review Citations

  1. Click on the Blue Pencil Button, to the right of a response.

  2. Open the Citations tab - the first tab in the bar, alongside Content, Comments, Agent, and History.

  3. Each header shows the citation level with its icon, a count in brackets when the section covers more than one part, and the number of distinct sources behind it — for example, 1 Source.

  4. Expand sections to see the specific content that is being referenced in each section of your response.

  5. Review your response and the sources supporting generated responses.

    1. Each source appears as a card from your content library, with the exact sentence the answer drew on highlighted inside it.

    2. From a source card you can use the same actions as the Content tab, including Add to append it to your answer and Use to replace the answer with it.

Step 5: Edit an Answers

This is where citations track your team's work rather than just the AI's.

  1. Edit any cited sentence in the answer. Once the change saves, that part is re-attributed to you:

  • The gutter bar turns grey.

  • The level icon is replaced by your avatar.

  • The section in the Citations tab is retitled with your name.

  • The source block disappears - the part is no longer presented as source-backed, because you have changed the wording the source supported.

Step 6: Restore Citations from Version History

  1. Open the History tab in the Edit Response view.

  2. Choose an earlier version and select Restore.

    1. Citations are saved alongside each version of an answer.

  3. The answer is restored, and the citations saved with that version come back with it.

❓FAQs

  • Q: What happens when I type new text where there wasn't any before?
    A: It creates a new "User Written" part attributed to you.

  • Q: What happens if I keep typing next to my own writing?
    A: It extends that same attributed part, rather than creating a new one every time you pause.

  • Q: What happens if I revert text back to its exact original wording?
    A: It restores the original citation, source and all.

  • Q: What happens if I rewrite a sentence completely?
    A: It removes that sentence's existing citation.

  • Q: What happens if I accept an AI suggestion?
    A: You're credited with the change.

💡 Tips & Best Practices

  • Review the AI Written sections first — they are where the AI has interpreted or combined your content rather than quoting it.

  • Pay closest attention to an AI Written section with no source count. That text is loosely based on your library, not directly referencing content.

  • Treat Verbatim Quote and Indirect Quote as your strongest signals, but still open the source card to check the quote in context.

✋🏼 Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Restoring earliest version of response in order to revert citations. Versions saved before citations were captured for that answer have no citations stored, so restoring one leaves the answer without citations.

Need Help?

💬 Live Chat: Available in-app

📚 Learning Centre: learn.autorfp.ai/en

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