What makes a source citation useful?
A document name is a beginning. A precise passage is much more helpful.
A useful citation identifies the source and a location inside it. For text this may be a passage; for a workbook, a sheet and cell; for slides, a slide and text region.
What should a citation identify?
A useful citation identifies the source and a location inside it. For text this may be a passage; for a workbook, a sheet and cell; for slides, a slide and text region.
Why does precision matter?
Readers should not need to search an entire file to verify one claim. Exact anchors reduce that work while preserving the surrounding context.
Keep the claim and the evidence close enough to compare.
What happens when a location is uncertain?
The interface should say that the exact location is unavailable. It should never highlight an entire page to disguise a missing anchor.
Try the workflow
Open the sample workspace, ask a question, and follow the citation to its passage. Add a note explaining what the passage does—and does not—support.
Explore an exampleRelated questions
How are answers connected to sources?
Citely retrieves relevant passages from your documents and associates answers with source references. Open a citation to inspect its context; a citation does not by itself guarantee that a claim is correct.
Can I try Citely without creating an account?
Prepared sources, conversations, citations and notes demonstrate the complete review workflow. Request demo access to try the actual product.
Editorial draft for design review. Product-specific details should be verified before publication.