The AI workspace for your citations

The AI workspace for your citations

Every academic project begins with collecting references and ends with trying to find them. The paper you read in week 3 that's relevant to the argument you're writing in week 12 is in a PDF folder somewhere. The article a colleague recommended is in an email. The chapter you found through a database search is in your downloads, titled with a DOI nobody can parse. The reference list grows across tools: some in Zotero, some in a Google Doc, some bookmarked in a browser, some simply remembered. By the time you're writing, half the work is retrieval.

Fabric puts every reference in one searchable library. The PDFs, the articles, the book chapters, the notes you took about each one. Every source is findable by what it argues, not by what it's titled or where you saved it.

Search references by argument, method, and finding

AI search reads inside every PDF, article, and note and searches by meaning. "Studies using grounded theory methodology in healthcare" finds the relevant papers even if they don't all use that exact phrase. "Every source that addresses institutional bias in sentencing" finds them across your full library. "The paper that argued against the standard model in my literature review folder" finds it by what it argued, not by its author or title.

The search works across every format. A PDF downloaded from JSTOR, an article saved with the web clipper, a book chapter photographed from a library copy, and your own notes about a source are all searchable in the same query.

The AI finds the source you need

The AI assistant works from your reference library. Ask it to find every source in your collection that supports a specific argument. Ask it to identify the three most cited methodological approaches in your papers. Ask it to compare how different authors in your library address the same question. Ask it to find the source you're vaguely remembering: "the one that discussed cognitive load and multimedia learning."

For dissertations and theses, this becomes essential. By the time you're writing, you may have hundreds of sources. The AI can search them by concept, compare arguments across papers, and surface relevant evidence for the section you're drafting. Every answer cites the specific page.

Annotate as you read, find what you thought

Annotations let you highlight and comment on every source as you read. Mark the key argument. Flag the methodology. Note the connection to another paper. Note your own critique. Your annotations are searchable across your full library, so "my note about weak sample sizes" finds every source where you flagged that concern.

Read sources in the reader for a clean, distraction-free experience. Your highlights and marginal notes stay attached and are searchable alongside the full text.

Write with your references searchable alongside

Draft papers, chapters, and literature reviews in notes and docs with your citation library searchable alongside the draft. When you need to verify a claim, find a supporting source, or check what an author argued, search without leaving your writing. The canvas helps you map the structure of a literature review or arrange sources by theme visually.

Organised by theme, not by when you found them

Smart organization tags references by content and topic automatically. Papers on the same theme group together regardless of when you saved them. Methodological approaches cluster. Theoretical frameworks sort by tradition. The organisation reflects what the sources are about, not the order you happened to download them.

Connected to your course materials

For students, the citation library lives alongside lecture notes, transcripts, and course materials. The paper your professor assigned is searchable alongside the lecture where they discussed it and the notes you took about both. For the full student workflow, see Fabric for students. For managing research papers specifically, see research papers.

Who uses Fabric for citations

Students building reference lists for essays and dissertations. PhD students managing years of collected sources. Researchers maintaining personal research libraries. Writers collecting sources for articles and books. Anyone conducting a literature review or writing a dissertation.

Comparing tools? See the best research apps for students and Zotero alternatives.

Get started

Build a citation library you can actually search. Try Fabric free.

FAQs

Can I search references by what they argue?

Yes. AI search reads inside every source and searches by argument, methodology, finding, or theme.

Can the AI find the right source for my argument?

Yes. The AI assistant searches your library and surfaces relevant sources for the point you're making, with page citations.

Can I annotate sources as I read?

Yes. Annotations let you highlight and comment. Your notes are searchable across your full library.

Can I write alongside my references?

Yes. Draft in notes and docs with your citation library searchable alongside.

Are references organised automatically?

Yes. Smart organization tags by topic and theme without manual sorting.

Can I save references from the web?

Yes. Use the web clipper to save articles, and forward emailed papers to email-to-note.

Can I photograph a book chapter and make it searchable?

Yes. Snap a photo with the mobile app. The text is extracted and searchable.

Is my data private?

Yes. Fabric uses AES-256 encryption and is CASA Tier 2 compliant. Your data is never used to train AI models.