AI invents sources: how to check your references
An AI assistant can give you a reference with an author, year, journal and pages that look real and still does not exist. Sometimes the work exists but the quote or the page number is wrong. This guide covers what an invented reference can look like, how to check one step by step and what to do when you cannot find it.
01What they look like
An invented source often looks completely real.
An AI assistant writes text that sounds right, and a reference is text too. It can come with a credible name, a journal that exists, a year and page range that fit together and a title that sounds like it is about exactly your question. Sometimes the author is real but never wrote that work. Sometimes the work exists, but with a different year, another journal or other pages. A DOI or a link can point to an entirely different article. You can’t tell from the reference whether it is real, so it has to be looked up.
02Step by step
Four questions about every reference.
The check is ordinary source criticism. A reference from an AI is a tip about where to look, and it becomes a source once you have seen the work yourself. Does the work exist? Search for the title in your university library’s search and in Google Scholar, or on the journal’s website. Do the details match? Compare author, year, title, journal, volume and pages, and open the DOI link if there is one. Does the work say what is claimed? Open it and find the passage. Is the page right? Use the page number from the work itself. In a PDF, the page in the reader can differ from the printed page number.
03Quote and page
A quote has to be findable on its page.
Your supervisor, your opponent and whoever assesses the thesis should be able to find the passage in a few seconds. That the work exists is therefore not enough. An assistant can merge two paragraphs into one quote, put a summary inside quotation marks or give a page that is close but wrong. If you can’t find exactly those words on that page, they shouldn’t stand in quotation marks. Say in your own words what the source says and give the page where you actually found it, or remove the passage. If you have a translation or a different edition from the one the assistant went by, the pages can differ.
04Not found
If you can’t find it, it doesn’t belong in the thesis.
First try other spellings of the author’s name, the title in the original language and a search on the journal’s name. The work may sit behind a login that your university library gives you access to, and the library can help you search. If you still can’t find it after a proper search, treat the reference as invented. Remove it and the claim that rests on it, or find a source you have read that supports the same point. You should be able to stand behind everything in the thesis.
05Saving the check
Save the place next to the claim.
When you have checked a source, save the place: the page, the paragraph and the words, next to the claim in the text that rests on it, and note who checked. Then the next person in the group can see that it is done, and you avoid repeating the check the week before the deadline. In Knyte you read PDFs with numbered paragraphs, so a reference can point to a page and a paragraph. Knyte finds the reference details when you upload a PDF, and you confirm them with one click. What an assistant proposes in the knyte, such as a finding with a page reference, is a proposal until someone in the group has reviewed and confirmed it. Reading the passage is your job.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT make up sources?
It can happen, and the same goes for Claude, Gemini and other AI assistants. They write text that sounds right, and a reference can become part of that text without the work existing. Check references from every assistant in the same way.
How can I tell that a source is fake?
You can’t tell from the reference alone. Look up the work, compare the details and find the passage in the text. If you can’t find the work after a proper search, treat the reference as fake until you have seen the work.
Is it enough to ask the AI whether the source exists?
No. The answer is also text that sounds right, and it can sound just as sure when it is wrong. The check is done in the library, in a database or in the work itself. If the assistant has been given the text itself, for example a pasted section, it has something to go on. You still read the passage yourself.
What do I do if I can’t find a reference?
Try other spellings and the title in the original language, and ask the library for help. If you still can’t find it, remove the reference and the claim that rests on it, or replace them with a source you have read.
Keep track of what you have checked.
Start a knyte, invite your group and add the sources you have read.