# Citations

> Links or references that show which source material supports a model's answer.

- Category: Retrieval & Grounding
- Stage: Established
- Also called: Source attribution, References
- Canonical: https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/citations

## Plain English

Citations let users inspect where an answer came from.

## Example

An answer about a contract clause links to page 12 of the uploaded PDF.

## Why it matters

Citations are a UX pattern for trust, auditability, and correction.

## Related

- [Grounding](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/grounding)
- [RAG](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/retrieval-augmented-generation)
- [Trace](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/trace)

## Sources

- [Google Cloud Generative AI Glossary](https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/generative-ai/glossary)
- [IBM: Retrieval-Augmented Generation](https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/retrieval-augmented-generation)