# Trace a paper’s citations

Find references, citing papers, and related work around a seed paper.

Use a paper as the starting point for finding connected research. Ask for papers it cites, papers that cite it, or related work.

## Start with a paper [#start-with-a-paper]

Provide the DOI, or the title with author and year. Ask Anara to confirm the paper before tracing its connections.

```text title="Prompt"
Find this paper by DOI: [paste DOI]. Show the papers that cite it and explain which ones test, extend, or challenge its findings. Give me source links and distinguish what you read from what you inferred from an abstract.
```

To search backward, ask for the references in the seed paper's bibliography. To expand by topic, ask for related papers and explain what makes a result relevant.

## Check coverage [#check-coverage]

Citation data depends on the available index. A missing connection is not evidence that a paper has never been cited. A highly cited paper is not necessarily the best source for your question, and a citation does not imply agreement.

Open relevant results, read the evidence, and [import your selection](/guides/import-by-url) into the project. Use [claim verification](/guides/claim-verification) to check what a source actually supports.