RAG Formation · Lesson · Grounded answer generation
Citation design and source fidelity
Build citations that are stable, useful, and tied directly to the evidence behind the answer.
$ lesson --status
▸ course RAG Formation
▸ lesson 11 / 16
▸ phase Grounded answer generation
▸ status Complete
● build → measure → learnStandalone lesson
Learn the full lesson and test your understanding here.
The 16-lesson RAG Formation curriculum is complete. This page contains the complete lesson content, local reference material, and instant browser exercises.
Today’s tangible win
By the end of this lesson: a citation contract that nails down document identity, chunk/page identity, claim mapping, and deduplication rules.
Watch the walkthrough
1 · The skill
Pick one of q28, q30, q46, or q63 and audit it — trace every material claim in the answer back to the source that actually backs it up.
- Citation fidelity: the source you cited actually contains or backs up the claim, not just something adjacent to it.
- Citation completeness: every material claim has a solid source behind it — this matters even more once an answer chains several hops together.
- Citation identity: a stable document and chunk reference a user can actually look up and reproduce.
2 · Run the evidence loop
cd demo
python3 eval.py run --mode answer --workspace meridian_demo --tag lesson-11-citationsLog missing, extra, and misleading citations as their own category — don’t fold them into whether the answer itself was correct.
A filename isn’t a faithful citation if the document behind it never actually backed the claim you showed the user.
3 · Decision worksheet
| Baseline evidence | One hypothesis/change | Metric | Regression check | Bounded conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
4 · Retrieval practice
Question: The answer clearly leans on two sources, but only one shows up in the citations. What do you check first?
Mission connection
For a regulated chatbot, citations aren’t decoration — they’re the bridge between an answer and the controlled evidence a QA reviewer or auditor can go check for themselves.
5 · Deliverable and next action
- Save the command output or write up a short report.
- Fill out the decision worksheet.
- Write down one failure case and the next thing you’ll verify.
The deliverable: a citation contract that nails down document identity, chunk/page identity, claim mapping, and deduplication rules.
Next: Lesson 12 — Refusal, uncertainty, and hallucination control.
Ask me anything about the evidence, the metric, the failure case, or what to try next — that’s what I’m here for in this course.