Lesson 419 of 1570
How to Find Real Sources When AI Hands You Fake Ones
AI loves to invent citations that sound real. Here's how to verify before you turn anything in.
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What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1How to Find Real Sources When AI Hands You Fake Ones
- 2hallucinated citations
- 3DOI lookup
- 4source verification
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
How to Find Real Sources When AI Hands You Fake Ones
AI loves to invent citations that sound real. Here's how to verify before you turn anything in.
What to actually do
- Search the exact title in Google Scholar — no quotes first, then with quotes
- Check that the DOI actually resolves (paste it after doi.org/)
- Look up the author — real researchers have a publication history
Key terms in this lesson
The big idea: AI guesses what a citation should look like. You have to confirm it actually exists.
End-of-lesson quiz
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