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# Attribution

> Credit the people behind your content as Contributors, and describe your ministry as your team's Organization

This guide covers giving credit for your content. Your content lives in [Sources](/console/content/how-content-works#sources-are-the-unit): single pieces of content, such as an article, a video, or a podcast episode. Two kinds of record carry the credit, and both have their own entries under **Attribution** in the left-hand navigation.

A **Contributor** is a person credited on a Source, such as its author, a speaker or a translator. Your [Agent](/console/get-started/overview) names a Source's Contributors when it cites it. Your **Organization** is the ministry, publisher or other body your team works for, and your team has one.

| You want to                             | Use                                                                                       |
| --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Add a person who is not in Console yet  | [Add a Contributor](#add-a-contributor)                                                   |
| Give a person a public page             | [Give a Contributor a Page On the Directory](#give-a-contributor-a-page-on-the-directory) |
| Credit a person on a Source             | [Credit a Contributor On a Source](#credit-a-contributor-on-a-source)                     |
| Combine two records for the same person | [Merge Duplicate Contributors](#merge-duplicate-contributors)                             |
| Describe your ministry or publisher     | [Describe Your Organization](#describe-your-organization)                                 |

## Purpose

Credit the right people on your Sources, so your Agent names them when it cites your content, and describe the organization behind it.

## Prerequisites

* A Source to credit. See [Adding and Editing Content](/console/content/adding-and-editing-content).
* Permission to edit content for your team.

## Add a Contributor

You may already have Contributors: importing a book, or a web page that names its author, adds each author who is not already one. Add one yourself when the person you want to credit is not already in your team's Contributors list.

Select **Contributors** under **Attribution**, then **Add Contributor**. **First Name** and **Last Name** are required. **Title** is an honorific such as Doctor or Reverend, and **Suffix** is anything after the name, such as Jr. Console puts them together into the name people see, such as **Rev. Miriam Hale**.

![The Add Contributor form in Console on its Summary tab, with First Name Miriam and Last Name Hale filled in, Title set to Reverend, empty Suffix, Year of Birth and Year of Death fields, and the Add Contributor, Add and Add Another and Cancel buttons.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/d52e8269731a118ebd7fd3a6b1b561049f334c81734047fe369c7d09671371a9/docs/assets/images/console/contributor-create-summary-light.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=5f56c696c4494c2b428354891a4aee7f1b848c7f2e807918eef1d0c13e4cb52c&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)![The Add Contributor form in Console on its Summary tab, with First Name Miriam and Last Name Hale filled in, Title set to Reverend, empty Suffix, Year of Birth and Year of Death fields, and the Add Contributor, Add and Add Another and Cancel buttons.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/ca7c2d5d38c7b09dc0b2583c416c9cf090b5de2ddde167da9dd4d9e374a1619e/docs/assets/images/console/contributor-create-summary-dark.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=18a64190878ef4f8ca1bc9af89829a52b0d690f3497bcd348b4e3d78b1ec8dfd&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)

**Year of Birth** and **Year of Death** are optional. Select **Add Contributor**, and Console opens the Contributor for editing.

The **Categories** tab is filled in for you from the Sources the Contributor is credited on, so there is nothing to choose. It is brought up to date when one of those Sources has its categories changed, so a Contributor you have just credited can show none at first.

### Give a Contributor a Page On the Directory

A Contributor can have a page of their own on the **Directory**, Apologist's public catalogue of resources at [apologist.com](https://apologist.com/). Fill in their **Listing** tab: an **Image** and a **Bio** to show on the page, a **Learn More URL** for the page people are taken to when they select **Learn More**, and a **Slug**, the last part of the page's address. Then turn on **Show Listing on Directory** and select **Save Changes**.

The page is published only once the Contributor is approved. Select **Contribute** at the top of the Contributor and confirm, and Apologist reviews it. **While it is waiting for review, its fields cannot be changed.** For more on listing and approval, see [Where Your Content Appears](/console/content/where-your-content-appears#list-content-on-the-directory).

## Credit a Contributor On a Source

Open the Source from its list, such as **Articles & Papers**, and select the **Contributors** tab below its form. Select **Add Contributor**, choose the person and their **Role**, then select **Add Contributor** in the dialog, or **Add and Add Another** to keep going.

![The Add Contributor dialog in Console, with Rev. Miriam Hale chosen as the Contributor and Author as the Role, above the Add Contributor, Add and Add Another and Cancel buttons.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/39c8c8e98f17267d32a2d3d216a4af5deace03f24bc33a23410e52e8d46c2b90/docs/assets/images/console/source-add-contributor-light.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=93a825a08ebb8f4a8e5e1654eb56a40bdee504e836caeeb8e96287bc67200806&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)![The Add Contributor dialog in Console, with Rev. Miriam Hale chosen as the Contributor and Author as the Role, above the Add Contributor, Add and Add Another and Cancel buttons.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/1e569f916df6387bedd8b6faf38297c8ca4e6c54584ff7cbadcafd548f51da68/docs/assets/images/console/source-add-contributor-dark.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=b6789b43c275e43fe96d80994ae61c6f122cc27856218c182d1f506c9e74e0e8&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)

**Role** says what the person did:

| Role            | For                                                |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Author**      | The person who wrote it                            |
| **Editor**      | Someone who prepared or revised it for publication |
| **Translator**  | Someone who translated it                          |
| **Foreword**    | The writer of a foreword or introduction           |
| **Commentator** | Someone who wrote commentary on it                 |
| **Host**        | The host of a podcast or program                   |
| **Speaker**     | Someone who gave a talk or sermon                  |
| **Interviewee** | Someone interviewed in it                          |
| **Producer**    | Someone who produced it                            |

Add each person separately. A Source can credit as many people as you need, and the same person can be credited on any number of Sources.

![The Contributors table below the article Where Was God When I Prayed? in Console, selected beside Benchmarks and History, listing Rev. Miriam Hale with the role Author, with the Add Contributor button above it.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/8539a433082cbf3072fc71b1c30a4d3fadda05f404fea5d52187fa080df1ca1c/docs/assets/images/console/source-contributors-table-light.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=a180f5d445fc4c7874ce9c4bbe5070a0f7cc1e462153d5a65a5ac2b25de52a4c&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)![The Contributors table below the article Where Was God When I Prayed? in Console, selected beside Benchmarks and History, listing Rev. Miriam Hale with the role Author, with the Add Contributor button above it.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/01368b38a40a179add17f3416f226044b393acc76cb82e576d0715521037824d/docs/assets/images/console/source-contributors-table-dark.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=2ebc0b463403e7a89db15362a1f23e77133b54ff368a41440d03372b8ae50b64&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)

To credit one person on many Sources at once, open a Sources list such as **Articles & Papers**, tick the Sources, and choose **Add Contribution** from the **Contributor** menu above that list. **Remove Contribution** in the same menu takes a person off every ticked Source.

You can also work from the Contributor: the **Contributor Roles** table below their form lists every Source they are credited on, and **Add Contributor Role** credits them on another.

### What People See In Your Agent

When your Agent cites the Source, the names appear under its title wherever the Agent lists its sources. Selecting **View Sources** under an answer opens that list as **Sources Used in this Response**. The Agent is also told who wrote each Source it draws on, so it can name them in its answer.

![The Sources Used in this Response dialog on the Seeker Agent, listing the article Where Was God When I Prayed? with Rev. Miriam Hale under its title, above a Learn More button and a Close button.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/9cfcceb75c409b61241c18d712993545b753b609beba1170ae546f50e13cfea8/docs/assets/images/console/agent-view-sources-contributor-light.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=15e2b3148aec32db5f177e192ce04c7fb180caaf6c82408525dff7d53d0c219b&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)![The Sources Used in this Response dialog on the Seeker Agent, listing the article Where Was God When I Prayed? with Rev. Miriam Hale under its title, above a Learn More button and a Close button.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/05fe7d8d8d3c6bee955a37a274ab0aae1e823e4fd10d2c7d6fd83f86d1bbc0d5/docs/assets/images/console/agent-view-sources-contributor-dark.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=91a6f8d5a3073f04aeee212433359440859a34fc10d57ff034d8628e1b18cea1&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)

**Reindex after crediting someone on content your Agent already uses.** Adding a Contributor does not index the Source again, so your Agent goes on citing it without the name. Select **Reindex** on the Source's **Agent** tab and confirm.

## Merge Duplicate Contributors

The same person can end up as two Contributors, for example when their name is spelled differently in two imports, or when someone adds them by hand without noticing they already exist. Merging keeps one.

Open the Contributor you want to get rid of and select **Merge** at the top. Choose the Contributor to keep and select **Confirm**. Every credit moves to the one you kept, and the one you opened is archived, which you will see once you reload the page.

## Describe Your Organization

Select **Organization** under **Attribution**. The first time, it opens a form to add your team's Organization; after that, it opens the one you added.

![The Add Organization form in Console on its Summary tab, with the Name filled in as Three Fifteen House, Type set to Ministry, empty Denominational Alignment and Tax ID fields, and the Add Organization and Cancel buttons.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/40bee45b869d5ae1df80de0b2d9e225a29712c8279704552d36f518e5ce44765/docs/assets/images/console/organization-create-summary-light.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=70e30af97c0ab2eb7220126c35edf7420cc65fb468175718c0dcbd6e561c4c10&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)![The Add Organization form in Console on its Summary tab, with the Name filled in as Three Fifteen House, Type set to Ministry, empty Denominational Alignment and Tax ID fields, and the Add Organization and Cancel buttons.](https://fdr-prod-docs-files-public.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/apologist.docs.buildwithfern.com/cfb5853c33d7e1f223d2419a40939f4e155ad3c9a85a604b5c8f82e111181ac6/docs/assets/images/console/organization-create-summary-dark.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6KXJSKKNFOCF7G4B%2F20260919%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260919T130619Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-Signature=fc08f4fcf75b07e90d4038a57f82e4e106b89973d4169683348e7871e9d88fcc&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)

Give it a **Name** and a **Type**: **Ministry**, **Publisher** or **Other**. **Denominational Alignment** records the Christian tradition your organization's content reflects, such as Roman Catholic or Reformed; the same field on a Source is described in [Adding and Editing Content](/console/content/adding-and-editing-content#add-a-source). **Tax ID** is optional. Select **Add Organization**.

Your Organization is for the Directory, where it has a page of its own; your Agent does not show it. Its **Listing** tab fills in that page the way a Contributor's does, with a **Description** in place of a Bio, and it is listed the same way, through **Show Listing on Directory** and **Contribute**; see [Give a Contributor a Page On the Directory](#give-a-contributor-a-page-on-the-directory). Its **Categories** are filled in from your team's Sources as their categories change.

## Troubleshooting

* **Add Contributor does not offer the person you want.** They are not a Contributor yet. [Add them](#add-a-contributor) first, then credit them.
* **Your Agent does not show a name you added.** The Source has not been indexed since. Select **Reindex** on the Source's **Agent** tab.
* **The Categories tab is empty.** Categories are copied from the Sources a Contributor is credited on when those Sources' categories change, so a new credit does not fill them in on its own. See [Organizing Content](/console/content/organizing-content#file-sources-under-categories) for a Source's categories.
* **The fields cannot be changed, with a note that the Contributor is pending approval.** Someone on your team selected **Contribute** to list it on the Directory, and it stays read-only until Apologist reviews it. See [Give a Contributor a Page On the Directory](#give-a-contributor-a-page-on-the-directory). The same applies to your Organization.
* **A merged Contributor still shows its credits.** The page does not refresh after a merge. Reload it.
* **Organization opens an existing record rather than a new form.** Your team already has an Organization, and a team has one. Edit that one.

## Next Step

Your content is added, organized, published and credited. To choose which of it your Agent draws on, continue to [Curating Sources](/console/configuration/curating-sources).