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Citation audit

A verified citation table with source status, accuracy check, and flagged issues.

Intermediate
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Citation audit

A verified citation table with source status, accuracy check, and flagged issues.

Steps4Time~55 minArtifactCitation audit tableLevelintermediate
Before you start
  • A draft with citations to verify
  • Access to the cited sources
Tools in this guide
ZoteroClaude
0%0/4 steps

Research author · 45–60 minutes

Citation errors are the most common reason reviewers question your rigor.

This runbook checks every citation for accuracy, relevance, and proper attribution.

Citation audit table

Citation audit table

A table with every in-text citation, its source, page number, claim it supports, and accuracy status.

Extract all citations

10 minZotero

Build a table: every in-text citation → source reference → page/section → what it supports.

Complete citation inventory.
Pitfall
Missing indirect citations — 'Smith (2020) argues...' without the original source.
Verification
Every citation in the draft appears in the table.

Verify source accessibility

15 min

Open each cited source. Confirm it exists, is accessible, and the metadata matches your reference list.

Source access status for every citation.
Pitfall
Citing a paper you haven't opened — the abstract may not represent the full findings.
Verification
Every cited source is open in your browser or reference manager.

Check claim accuracy

20 minClaude

For each citation: verify the claim you attribute to the source is actually supported by that source.

Claim-source accuracy status.
Pitfall
Citing a source for a claim it only mentions tangentially — reviewers will check.
Verification
Each citation's claim can be verified by reading the cited page or section.

Flag and fix issues

10 min

Document every issue found (wrong page, mismatched claim, inaccessible source) and fix or remove the citation.

Clean citation table with fixes applied.
Pitfall
Removing citations without replacing them — this creates unsupported claims.
Verification
Every remaining citation passes all three checks: exists, accessible, claim accurate.
Finish line

You should now have: Citation audit table.

  • Every in-text citation has been opened and verified against the source.
  • Every claim attributed to a source is actually supported by that source.
  • The citation table is complete — no draft citation is missing from the audit.

PrivacyDo not upload full-text PDFs of copyrighted papers to cloud tools for citation verification. Use excerpts, metadata, or open-access versions.