These reference audit prompts in Gemini help me catch missing metadata, duplicates, and broken links before submission. I speed up citation cleanup, improve style compliance, and verify source integrity. Crossref exposes 150M+ records for DOI checks Crossref, 2024, and education guidance outlines responsible AI use in learning contexts U.S. Department of Education, 2023. For style policy updates, see ICMJE, 2025.
What Are Reference Audit Student Prompts?
These prompts produce a fast, systematic reference audit that fills missing fields, validates DOIs and URLs, and aligns style rules for me. They’re built for high school and college students, grad students, and teachers who want submission-ready bibliographies.
They differ from general research & citation prompts by focusing on error detection and compliance, not prose. See related guides like weaving evidence and citations. Try our free AI note taker at Polar Notes AI.
How to Use These AI Reference Audit Prompts
Pick 3–5 prompts, paste your references or a RIS/BibTeX export, then run the steps in Gemini. Export cleaned entries to Google Docs or CSV. New to AI note-taking? Read the Get Started with AI Note Taking guide.
Metadata Completion Prompts (1–18)
Use these to fill missing author names, years, titles, journals, volumes, issues, pages, DOIs, and publisher fields. I also normalize capitalization and fix garbled imports from PDFs or citation managers.
- I scan each reference and list missing fields with suggested completions from Crossref.
- I match titles to DOIs, returning JSON with author, year, journal, volume, pages.
- I correct author order using Crossref canonical ordering and expand initials where available.
- I infer missing year from DOI metadata and flag conflicts across duplicate records.
- I fix title casing to sentence case for APA and retain proper nouns and acronyms.
- I populate journal, volume, issue, and page range from authoritative metadata sources.
- I standardize publisher names and locations for books and book chapters consistently.
- I fill missing editors, edition numbers, and chapter page spans for edited volumes.
- I add URLs for online-first articles and include access dates where style requires.
- I normalize conference names, locations, and proceedings identifiers from official records.
- I enrich author records with ORCID iDs when available in Crossref metadata.
- I resolve arXiv preprints to final published versions and update all fields accordingly.
- I detect incomplete page ranges and complete them using official journal tables of contents.
- I validate book ISBNs and fetch publisher, city, and edition details for completeness.
- I expand abbreviated journal titles to full titles according to style preference.
- I assign stable archive URLs or DOIs for web pages using available snapshots or registries.
- I add dataset DOIs and creators, repository names, versions, and access statements.
- I check license information and add open access indicators if present in metadata.
Consistency & Deduplication Prompts (19–36)
These prompts eliminate duplicates, unify name variants, and align capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations. I also reconcile preprint/published pairs and merge partial entries.
- I cluster near-duplicates by title similarity and DOI equality for safe merging.
- I flag preprint and journal versions and keep the peer-reviewed record as canonical.
- I unify author spellings and diacritics across entries to a single canonical form.
- I standardize journal name abbreviations or full names according to target style.
- I normalize punctuation, spacing, and en-dash usage in page ranges and dates.
- I align capitalization rules for titles, subtitles, and proper nouns consistently.
- I detect phantom “et al.” truncations and restore full author lists where required.
- I reconcile multiple DOIs pointing to the same article and keep the primary record.
- I merge split book citations that list chapter and book separately without linkage.
- I align conference proceeding series names and volume numbers across entries.
- I enforce consistent “Retrieved Month Day, Year” formatting where style demands it.
- I harmonize edition labels, translator credits, and series statements for books.
- I standardize organization authors and government agencies with official names.
- I unify month names or numeric months per style and localize if needed.
- I check title-case acronyms and protect chemical symbols and gene names from recasing.
- I normalize “in press,” “ahead of print,” and “online first” descriptors consistently.
- I align capitalization of book titles in references with sentence-case requirements.
- I produce a change log listing all normalized fields and merged duplicate clusters.
Link & DOI Validation Prompts (37–54)
Here I verify every DOI and URL, check for redirects and 404s, and add archive links. I also screen for retractions and expressions of concern using public databases.
- I test each DOI for a 200 response and capture the final resolved landing page.
- I fix malformed DOIs by stripping prefixes, whitespace, and extraneous punctuation.
- I verify HTTPS availability and update insecure HTTP links where possible.
- I add archived snapshots for unstable web sources using permanent archive URLs.
- I re-resolve short links to the canonical source and update the reference accordingly.
- I check Retraction Watch and Crossref retraction status and label affected citations.
- I flag expressions of concern and link to notices in journal pages when present.
- I confirm dataset and software repository DOIs resolve and include version identifiers.
- I validate government and NGO PDF links and store a fallback citation if inaccessible.
- I check publisher changeovers and update legacy links to current journal platforms.
- I add Crossmark status badges where available to indicate corrections and updates.
- I detect paywalled landing pages and suggest open versions in repositories if permitted.
- I verify that each URL matches the described resource type and publication year.
- I standardize DOI presentation as URL or bare DOI per the required style guide.
- I generate a link-check report listing 200s, 3xx redirects, 4xx/5xx errors by entry.
- I confirm license pages and permissions links resolve for open access references.
- I reformat bare URLs with human-readable titles and publisher names where allowed.
- I export a clean CSV of validated links, DOIs, access dates, and error notes.
Style & Formatting Prompts (55–72)
I align references to APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, or journal-specific styles. These prompts enforce punctuation, italics, capitalization, et al. rules, and ordering logic from your target guide.
- I convert every entry to APA 7 format and list deviations needing manual review.
- I transform the bibliography to MLA 9 formatting with hanging indents and italics.
- I apply Chicago Author-Date rules, including capitalization and page range punctuation.
- I convert selected entries to IEEE numeric style and renumber in-text citations.
- I format government reports with publisher agency names and report numbers correctly.
- I enforce sentence case for titles and title case for journal names per APA guidance.
- I reorder author lists with ampersands and commas exactly as the style specifies.
- I set capitalization of subtitles after colons and protect proper nouns from recasing.
- I ensure “et al.” thresholds follow the target style for in-text and reference lists.
- I format edited books and chapters with editors, parentheses, and page spans precisely.
- I order references alphabetically and by year within authors where styles require.
- I format DOIs and URLs as live links or plain text per journal submission rules.
- I add hanging indents and consistent spacing for direct paste into Google Docs.
- I convert bibliography manager export quirks into clean, style-ready references.
- I enforce capitalization of journal abbreviations per NLM or full-title preference.
- I produce a side-by-side before/after view for quick visual style compliance checks.
- I generate a style error summary grouped by rule frequency for targeted fixes.
- I export the final, style-conformant list as formatted HTML and plain text.
Evidence Quality & Relevance Prompts (73–90)
Finally, I verify source quality, recency, and fit. I screen for retractions, ensure primary sources where possible, and map citations to claims so weak sources are replaced before submission.
- I screen every citation for retraction or concern and list required replacements.
- I tag sources as primary, secondary, or tertiary and prefer primary where feasible.
- I check each citation’s year against assignment windows and flag outdated support.
- I map claims to citations and highlight unsupported statements needing stronger evidence.
- I identify paywalled references and suggest legal open alternatives where applicable.
- I add missing datasets and software citations that the paper depends on materially.
- I flag non-scholarly sources used as key evidence and propose peer-reviewed options.
- I verify quoted page numbers exist and align with the cited edition or version.
- I check author affiliations and conflicts when policy requires disclosure in references.
- I ensure each figure or table citation has its original source credited properly.
- I confirm clinical or policy claims cite authoritative guidelines or systematic reviews.
- I annotate each reference with a one-line rationale for inclusion and contribution.
- I confirm citation count parity between text and bibliography and list mismatches.
- I detect circular self-citations and recommend neutral, higher-quality alternatives.
- I verify transliterated titles include original language titles where styles request them.
- I check that figures, datasets, and code licenses permit cited reuse and distribution.
- I label secondary citations clearly and replace with primary sources when available.
- I produce a readiness score and prioritized to-do list for final reference submission.
Printable & Offline Options
Export your cleaned list to Google Docs, then print or save as PDF for submission checklists. For more offline-friendly prompt sets, browse the Student Prompt Hub.
Related Categories
- Research & Citations Prompts
- Evidence + Citations Prompts
- Paraphrase & Synthesis Prompts
- Study Guide Prompts
- Exam Planner Prompts
FAQ
What sources should I use to verify citation metadata?
Use publisher pages and Crossref records to confirm titles, authors, year, journal, volume, issue, pages, and DOI. For medicine and life sciences, confirm style and ethical notes against ICMJE recommendations. If a DOI conflicts with the landing page, the publisher site prevails.
How do I handle preprints vs. published versions?
Prefer the peer-reviewed version when available and cite it as canonical. If you must cite the preprint, label it clearly and include the DOI or arXiv identifier. When both exist, keep only one reference unless your assignment requires both.
How can I check for retractions quickly?
Search the Retraction Watch Database or check Crossref/Publisher pages for Retraction or Expression of Concern notices. Replace retracted sources with high-quality alternatives before submission.
Which style should I choose if my instructor didn’t specify?
Default to APA 7 or a field-standard style. Stay consistent across the manuscript. Use the same rules for capitalization, italics, DOI/URL formatting, and ordering. Document decisions in a brief style note.
Can I rely only on AI to fix my references?
No. AI accelerates checks but final responsibility is yours. Spot-check against authoritative guides, confirm DOIs and URLs, and ensure every citation supports a specific claim in your paper.
Final Thoughts
These prompts deliver clean, verifiable references that pass style checks and link validation. You reduce last-minute edits, prevent broken links, and avoid citing retracted work. Want more? Start AI note taking instantly for free with our AI note taker or build a study plan with the AI study-guide generator.
Helpful references: Crossref, 2024 • ICMJE, 2025 • U.S. Department of Education, 2023
