A citation should help you verify
A generated answer is easier to inspect when it includes a clear route back to the original source. A document title helps readers recognize the source. A specific passage helps them check the claim.
Consider an illustrative policy document with several revisions. A reference to the document alone leaves an important question open: which version supplied the answer? Keeping document identity, version identity, and passage location together makes the answer more useful.
The aim is practical: let someone move from “the assistant said this” to “this passage supports this statement” without repeating the search from scratch.
A valid reference can still be a weak reference
Two checks matter. First, does the reference point to a real passage that the current reader is allowed to see? Second, does that passage actually support the statement? Passing the first check does not guarantee the second.
For example, a reference to a real pricing page is valid in the identity sense. It still cannot justify a claim about a refund deadline if the cited passage mentions only the monthly price.
This distinction matters during evaluation. Check both whether source identifiers are valid and whether the cited text supports the answer. A list of working links is not enough.
Group references without losing detail
A single document can supply several useful passages. Showing every chunk as an unrelated source can make a short answer feel unnecessarily crowded.
A document-level reference can offer a simpler reading experience, with individual passages available when the reader opens it. Overlapping passages may also be combined to avoid repeating the same context.
These are presentation and context-assembly choices. They do not prove that the remaining citations are the smallest sufficient set. Keep that stronger claim separate, and verify every passage that remains available to the reader.