Add and check citations

Get your sources into the library, choose a citation style, add citations as you write, check every one with Claim Check, and keep the reference list in sync.

Every claim in academic work needs a source that really says it. This tutorial takes you from a folder of papers to a draft where every citation is anchored to a real source, formatted in your style, and checked — the part of AI writing that most tools get wrong.

Before you start

You have a project with a draft open. If not, see start a thesis.
Have your sources to hand: PDFs, or an export from your reference manager.

1. Get your sources into the library

Multilo cites from your project library, so start there:

Add PDFs
Drop papers into the project’s library/ folder. They’re picked up within seconds, and when you cite one, Multilo uses the paper’s real details rather than guessing. Scanned PDFs can be read too.
Add reference files
Add a .bib, .ris, or CSL-JSON file. Each entry becomes its own citable reference.
Import from Zotero
With Zotero 7 or later running and its “allow other applications” setting on, ask in chat: “Import my Thesis collection from Zotero into my library.” Multilo shows what would come across and asks first.
Find what's missing
Use Sources Hub to mine the references inside your papers and search for gaps.

2. Choose your citation style

Multilo handles APA, IEEE, Harvard, MLA, and Chicago, and numbered styles such as Vancouver. Put your style in your project rules so every chat and agent uses it:

.multilo/AGENTS.md

# Citations
- Use APA 7 for every in-text citation and the reference list.
- Cite only sources from my library.

Changing style later is safe: in-text citations and the reference list reformat together. See citations & bibliography.

3. Add citations as you write

There are three ways to add citations. Use whichever fits the moment.

Inline suggestions. When a suggestion makes a factual claim, it comes with citations from your library — two or more when the claim needs them. Hover or click a citation in the preview to read the source passage. Accept, edit, or reject each source, then accept the suggestion.
Ask in chat. Point at the claim and the source you want. You can name a reference by its key, its DOI, or its place in the list.
Draft with citations. When chat or the Full Draft Writer drafts text, it cites from your library as it writes.

Add a citation from my library for the claim in the second sentence of this paragraph. If nothing in my library supports it, say so.

Cite smith2021 after "response rates fell sharply".

Citations are saved as real in-text citations in your Word or Markdown file, formatted in your style. Footnotes work too.

4. Read the source behind a citation

From any citation you can open the cited source and read it side by side with your draft — the quickest way to check a quote or confirm that a paper says what the sentence claims.

5. Check every citation with Claim Check

Claim Check reads every citation in your draft, fetches the source, and tells you which of three cases it is:

Result	What to do
Supported	Nothing — the source says what you claim.
Weak or unrelated	Read the evidence it shows you, then change the claim or find a better source.
Stronger source available	Accept the suggested source from your library. The in-text citation and the reference update together.

Run it on your own writing and on anything an agent drafted. It’s the last pass before a draft leaves your hands.

6. Ask targeted questions

For a quick check of one section or one source, ask in chat:

List every claim in this section that doesn't have a citation, and suggest a source from my library for each one.

Does [Smith, 2021] really support what I claim in paragraph 3? Quote the passage that supports it, or tell me it doesn't.

7. Keep the reference list in sync

Edits can leave the reference list out of step with the text. Ask the bibliography agent, or chat, to fix it:

Make the reference list match exactly what I cite in the text: remove anything I no longer cite and add anything that's missing.

Multilo handles the fiddly cases for you — for example, two works by the same author in the same year become 2020a and 2020b, in the text and in the list.

8. Make honesty the rule

Turn on strict integrity mode so the AI refuses to invent a citation and tells you when it can’t find a real source. Write your rules down once:

.multilo/integrity.md

# Research integrity
- Cite only real sources from the project library.
- Never invent authors, journals, years, or page numbers.
- Say clearly when a claim can't be verified.

You are the final check

Claim Check and strict mode catch most problems, but your name is on the work. Read the key sources yourself, especially for your central claims.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
The AI says it can’t find a source for a claim	That’s strict mode doing its job. Add the right paper to your library, or rewrite the claim.
A citation points to the wrong paper	Open the source to confirm, then run Claim Check and accept a better source, or ask chat to cite the right one by key or DOI.
A numbered style shows [1] for every citation	Update Multilo. This was fixed in October 2026.
The reference list has entries you no longer cite	Ask chat or the bibliography agent to make it match the text.

Watch the videos

Add real citationsAccurate sources you can actually verify.AI autocomplete with citationsYour next sentence, with the citation already attached.Autocomplete settingsSection-aware citations, deep mode, and paper context.Find real research papersSearch for papers Multilo can’t make up.

Next steps

Prepare for submissionThe final checks before you send your work.Claim CheckHow citation verification works.Library & sourcesEverything about the project library.Video tutorialsThe full tutorial series.