Evidence trace (paragraph ↔ sources)

Evidence trace is a workspace feature for long-form and research writing. It lets you record, in structured form, which sources you say support which part of the draft—typically by paragraph (or list item)—so you can review coverage and share an evidence ledger with an advisor or team.

What it is (and is not)

• What it is: Your declaration of support: you (or a collaborator with edit access) link a paragraph to a saved reference from your library, or to web evidence you have explicitly promoted for trace use. The Evidence ledger groups those links under document headings (for example Methods, Results). Small count badges can appear next to linked blocks in the editor when links exist.
• What it is not: It is not automated fact checking, completeness checking, or a substitute for course or publisher originality rules. Typing author names in parentheses or pasting prose from Clara does not by itself create trace rows.

How this relates to Insert citation

Insert citation adds in-text citations and feeds the bibliography when you refresh. Evidence trace is an extra step: you declare which saved sources (or approved web evidence) support which paragraph, for the evidence ledger and export. A common pattern is to cite while drafting, save sources you rely on to Saved references, then use Evidence trace to link paragraphs to those rows—see Citation management overview for the full workflow.

How links get into the ledger

1. Open Evidence trace — Use the Evidence trace control in the document title bar (same row as Clara and document settings). The side panel opens beside the editor.
2. Link a paragraph to a saved reference — Place the cursor inside the paragraph (or list item) you want to label. Under Link current paragraph, choose a row from Choose saved reference, then click Link source to paragraph. You need saved references on your plan (see Saved reference library); the list comes from your library, not from free‑typed text in the draft.
3. Clara suggestions — After some Clara replies, the panel may show Suggested links with Approve or Dismiss. Nothing is stored until you Approve; dismissed suggestions do not change the document trace state.
4. Web evidence — Web rows are added through the promote / pin flows tied to Clara and trace APIs (your deployment may expose this in the UI in more than one place). Only approved web snippets count toward trace links.

Why the ledger can show “(0)” everywhere

That means no approved trace links exist yet for this document: no manual links, no approved suggestions, and no linked promoted web rows. Insert citation nodes and a normal bibliography are separate—see Citation management overview.

Export

From More document actions (⋯) → Export, you can turn on Include evidence ledger when you download Word or copy HTML, and use Print / Save as PDF with the same option so a ledger appendix is included for handoff. You can also download trace data as JSON from the export submenu when available. Details: Export to Word, HTML, and PDF.

Related

• Insert citation: DOI, URL, and library — structured in‑text citations and bibliography
• Citation assist vs similarity check vs insert citation — review tools vs metadata insert
• Document editor — title bar layout including Evidence trace