AI WriterGenerate Document

Generate Full Document with AI Writer

What Generate Document does

Generate Document is the fastest way to start a draft. You describe what you want, pick your sources and settings, and AI Writer writes a full first draft with citations added throughout. Then you refine it in the editor.

Use it when you know your topic and want a full draft to work from instead of building it up yourself. If you want the structure first, use Generate Outline. If you want to write it yourself with AI on demand, use Start from Scratch. (The Get Started page covers how the three compare.)

Generate Document works well for literature reviews, research articles, background sections, summaries, and reports.

How to generate a document

Open Generate Document

Click + New Document → Create new document, then choose Generate Document.

1. Describe your document

This is the most important step. What you write here drives both the quality of the draft and which papers the AI Writer cites.

  • Topic or research question: the subject of the document. Be specific about scope.

  • Reference instructions: guidance on the sources to use, such as journal or publication year (e.g., recent sources only, review articles preferred).

  • Writing instructions: style, tone, and structure (e.g., the sections you want, formal academic tone).

  • Optional context: attach rough drafts or notes for AI Writer to use as background.

The more specific the prompt, the more relevant the draft and the reference selection. A vague topic produces a generic draft; a scoped topic with structure and source guidance produces a draft closer to what you need.

2. Choose citation sources

Select where AI Writer is allowed to pull citations from:

  • Public research data: Paperguide's 200M+ indexed papers. Filter by journal quality, SJR, SNIP, and publication year.

  • Your reference manager: papers from your Paperguide library.

AI Writer cites only from the sources you select here, plus any papers already cited in the document. If you select neither, it has nothing to cite from, select at least one.

3. Set document options

  • Citation style: the format used for in-text citations and the reference list (1,000+ styles supported).

  • Language: the writing language of the document.

  • Number of references: the maximum number of references AI Writer may cite in the draft.

  • Word count: a target length for the draft. AI Writer aims for the nearest range, not an exact count, and prioritizes quality of writing for your topic within that range. Treat it as a target, not a guarantee.

Generate

Start generation. AI Writer produces a full draft from your prompt and selected sources, with citations applied in your chosen style, and opens it in the editor for you to refine.

How citations work in a generated draft

AI Writer does not keyword-match papers to your text. Citations come out of a structured retrieval and synthesis process applied to the sources you selected:

  1. Search: AI Writer searches your selected sources "public research data" and/or "your reference manager", for papers relevant to your topic or research question, applying the filters you set (journal quality, SJR, SNIP, year).

  2. Screen: Each retrieved paper is screened against screening criteria generated specifically for your research question and is either included or excluded. The criteria are decided dynamically per question, not fixed.

  3. Extract and synthesize: From the included papers, AI Writer extracts the relevant data from each paper and synthesizes it across the set—identifying patterns, surfacing gaps, and connecting findings.

  4. Write and cite:The synthesized evidence from the included papers becomes the basis for the draft, and AI Writer cites those papers automatically as it writes.

Because citations come from screened, included papers and the evidence extracted from them, every cited claim traces back to a source you can verify. AI Writer cites only from the papers that pass this process, plus any papers already cited in the document—never from sources outside your selection. Citations are applied in the citation style you chose during setup.

Writing a good prompt

Generate Document is only as good as the prompt it starts from. A strong prompt does four things:

  1. Scopes the topic: "The effect of intermittent fasting on insulin sensitivity in adults with type 2 diabetes" produces a more usable draft than "intermittent fasting."

  2. Sets source constraints: State the publication window and any source preferences (e.g., recent primary research, review articles, high-quality journals). These work alongside the filters you set in Step 2.

  3. Specifies structure: List the sections you want introduction, methods or background, evidence, gaps, and conclusion—so the draft is organized the way you need.

  4. Sets tone. State the register (formal academic, concise technical) and audience if relevant.

Example prompts

Write a literature review on the role of gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes. Use sources from the last eight years and prioritize higher-quality journals. Structure: introduction, proposed mechanisms, clinical evidence, research gaps, conclusion. Formal academic tone.

Background section on transformer architectures for time-series forecasting. Cite primary methodological papers, keep it concise and technical, and organize it from foundational models to recent variants.

Attaching your own notes or a rough draft as context further improves alignment since AI Writer uses them as background while generating.

After your draft generates

The draft opens in the editor. From here you continue with AI Writer's in-editor features:

  • AI Chat: discuss the draft, ask for changes, find and analyze additional papers, and generate more citation-backed text. (See the AI Chat page.)

  • Smart Continue: keep writing where you stopped while staying aligned with the draft's structure, tone, and argument. (See the Smart Continue page.)

  • AI Edit: select any passage and tell AI how to rewrite or refine it. (See the AI Edit page.)

You can also add inline equations, math blocks, tables, and other components as you build the document out. (See the Math formulas & components page.)

Tips

  • Run setup with intent. The describe step and citation sources shape the entire draft — a few extra minutes here saves more in editing.

  • Use word count as a target. Expect the nearest sensible range for your topic, not an exact number.

  • Treat the generated draft as a starting point. It is a researched first draft to refine with the editor's AI features, not a finished document.

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