Find the original sources
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Find out who issued a document, which edition you are reading, and whether a link opens the publisher’s original, an archive, or a retained copy. Begin from a citation or look for a document in Source Atlas.
Why the source’s address is not its identity
A report can be issued by one organization and hosted by another. It may later be reissued, archived, or cited in research. Those links are useful, but they do not turn separate files into the same edition or make the hosting organization the report’s author.
Consider the Deepwater Horizon / Macondo investigation. The U.S. Coast Guard’s investigation repository brings together reports written by different institutions. The National Commission’s report offers a broad investigation and policy account. The Chemical Safety Board’s investigation examines process-safety questions. A corporate report and a federal investigation are not interchangeable simply because they discuss the same accident.
Start from a citation
- Select a citation in an entry or research record. Read the named document and the organization credited as author or issuer.
- Open the cited destination. In the Deepwater example, choose a specific report from the official investigation repository, not just the repository index. Check the title page, report date, issuing organization, and volume before treating it as the source you intended.
- Identify the exact question you want the document to address. A Coast Guard marine-casualty report, an offshore well-control investigation, and a policy commission report examine different parts of the event.
- Keep the document title, issuer, report date, access URL, and any edition or volume identifier. If your question involves a particular claim, record the relevant page or passage.
Expected result: you can name the document and its author, rather than cite the topic or repository homepage as if either were the report.
Or begin with Source Atlas
Source Atlas is the other starting point: look for a registered Source Record if one exists for the report you chose. Search using the issuing organization and a distinctive part of the report title, then open a matching record instead of assuming the first similarly titled result is the same document.
Match a Source Record to the document
Inspect the record’s title, issuer, date, edition, and recorded destinations. Compare those details to the external document you opened. A Source Record describes an identified document; it does not automatically prove that Counterpedia holds a copy, that a URL still works, or that any associated claim was checked.
Check the available destinations
Follow a permitted original, archived, or retained-material destination when that destination is actually present. Compare the edition or capture date before treating two files as interchangeable.
| What you find | What it means | Your next step |
|---|---|---|
| An observed citation | Someone recorded a pointer to material | Follow and inspect the document yourself |
| A Source Record | A document has registered identity and metadata | Compare issuer, title, edition, and destinations |
| An original or archival link | A place from which material may be retrieved | Check the actual file or page and its date |
| Retained bytes with custody details | Specific material has been retained under a recorded identity | Inspect that copy and its provenance; do not infer claim support |
| An assessment or Check result | A separate question was evaluated under a stated scope | Read its exact outcome rather than promote a source link into a verdict |
When the documents disagree
Do not collapse disagreement into a single quotation. Note each report’s mandate, evidence available at its publication date, and which exact proposition it addresses. Later documentation can improve an explanation without changing what an earlier author actually wrote. Even an authentic official report cannot answer every causal or legal question.
When a report is unavailable or only a citation is recorded, keep that state visible. You can still identify the publisher and look for another lawful source destination; you cannot describe unread bytes as examined.
Finish with a usable document identity
You should be able to say: I read this named report, issued by this organization on this date, at this destination, and this is the specific passage I used. Then continue to the manual’s source-reading workflow, or trace one statement to a passage.
Related manual chapters
- Exploring sources and references — inspect references and Source Records.
- Tracing information to sources — follow a statement’s documentary trail.
- Saving, citing, sharing, and exporting — cite and return to the document.