diff --git a/src/routes/learningAI.js b/src/routes/learningAI.js
index 28c40f2f..6184eb62 100644
--- a/src/routes/learningAI.js
+++ b/src/routes/learningAI.js
@@ -152,9 +152,12 @@ function buildGeneratePrompt(opts) {
     source += '\nThe following excerpts come from this institution\'s indexed clinical library. ' +
       'Prefer them over your own recall wherever they disagree, and do not contradict them. ' +
       'They are reference material, not a template: write the resource in your own words.\n\n' +
-      'End the resource with a short References section listing only the excerpts you actually ' +
-      'drew on, by title and page. In a presentation this is the final slide, titled References. ' +
-      'Do not invent references, and do not list an excerpt you did not use.\n\n' +
+      'Do NOT cite in the body: no [1] markers, no bracketed numbers, no parenthetical ' +
+      '"(Nelson, p. 2604)" inside sentences. Teaching material reads as prose, and a slide ' +
+      'carrying citation markers is unreadable from the back of a room.\n\n' +
+      'Instead, end the resource with a short References section listing only the excerpts you ' +
+      'actually drew on, by title and page. In a presentation this is the final slide, titled ' +
+      'References. Do not invent references, and do not list an excerpt you did not use.\n\n' +
       'LIBRARY EXCERPTS:\n"""\n' + corpusContext + '\n"""\n';
   }
 
diff --git a/test/learning-retrieval.test.js b/test/learning-retrieval.test.js
index abb6ae2a..451493a5 100644
--- a/test/learning-retrieval.test.js
+++ b/test/learning-retrieval.test.js
@@ -113,7 +113,12 @@ test('the corpus block tells the model to prefer it over recall', () => {
   assert.match(route, /reference material, not a template/, 'so it writes rather than copies');
   // Provenance a clinician can check, on the deck itself rather than only in a
   // log. Restricted to excerpts actually used, and explicitly not invented.
-  assert.match(route, /In a presentation this is the final slide, titled References/);
+  // References belong at the end, never in the body: a slide carrying [1]
+  // markers is unreadable from the back of a room, and an article reads as
+  // prose, not as a paper.
+  assert.match(route, /Do NOT cite in the body: no \[1\] markers, no bracketed numbers/);
+  assert.match(route, /In a presentation this is the final slide, titled/);
+  assert.match(route, /'References\. Do not invent references/);
   assert.match(route, /Do not invent references, and do not list an excerpt you did not use/);
   // Opt in: a resource on something the library does not cover is better
   // written without it than padded with the nearest unrelated excerpts.