Enable citation tools
Citation tools are available by default in Non-fiction Book workspaces. In other supported workspaces, open Workspace Settings → Citations and turn them on.
Choose the citation style you want the workspace to use. Scribeist supports common author-date, numbered, and journal styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago author–date, Harvard, Vancouver, and IEEE.
Insert a citation
- Place the cursor where the citation belongs.
- Select Cite in the editor toolbar.
- Search the Research library and choose a source.
- Add a page or locator when the claim comes from a specific part of the source.
- Insert the citation.
The citation remains linked to its library source. Correct the source's author, title, date, publisher, or other publication details when the formatted result is incomplete.
Build a reference list
You can add a source to the document's references while inserting a citation, or add it without an in-text citation. Manual references are available for material that is not stored in the Research library.
Use /references to insert a reference list into the document. Linked references update when you change their citation style or source metadata.
Change citation style
Open the document's citation controls and select another style. Scribeist reformats linked in-text citations and references together. Review the result before submitting or publishing, especially when a source has missing metadata.
Use citations from AI Chat
When Search research is enabled, AI answers can include source links and supporting excerpts. Where citation tools are available, you can copy or insert a cited research source into your document.
AI-generated claims can be wrong or overconfident. Open the supporting source and verify important facts and quotations before using them.
Export
Supported document exports preserve linked citations, reference lists, and citation formatting. Use the export preview to check line wrapping and page layout before downloading the final file.