Using the research library
What this chapter does
A research pack organizes documents and analysis around a question. It is not one giant source, and publishing a research document does not automatically establish its conclusions. This chapter shows how to open one piece of research, follow its citations, identify the exact artifact, and carry it forward appropriately.
Reader outcome
Locate a research pack and a document within it, inspect at least one underlying source, and retain the document’s author, edition, artifact identity and reuse conditions.
Our example: Cambridge Analytica and data access
The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook record includes different kinds of documents. The FTC’s Cambridge Analytica case contains agency allegations and a subsequent final administrative disposition. Facebook’s March 2018 statement records the platform’s contemporaneous account. These sources have different authors and procedural positions. A research dossier that compares them is a separately authored synthesis, not a substitute for either document.
Before you begin
Start with a research topic or pack title. If Counterpedia lists a relevant research pack, open it and check the pack’s author, document identities and publication status. Otherwise the original FTC case record remains a valid external starting point, but do not describe it as an opened Counterpedia pack.
1. Find a research pack
From the research library or Search, select a pack whose title and subject match your question. Read the pack’s description, contributor or author information, publication/research status, and any release or version indicator. A pack containing multiple documents is a collection, not a single claim or a single publisher.
2. Open one named research document
Choose a document addressing Cambridge Analytica’s access to Facebook-derived data. Read its title, author, question, research cutoff and citations. Note if it is an unfinished synthesis, a curated document inventory, or a released research article. Do not silently promote research-stage material into admitted fact.
3. Follow an underlying document
Open the FTC proceeding from the document’s sources when the citation is present, or explicitly follow the external link when it is not. Read the issue date and procedural label of the specific FTC item: a complaint, an opinion, and a final order are not the same instrument.
For a different perspective, open Facebook’s own 2018 statement. Note that it is a first-party platform explanation, not the FTC’s subsequent determination.
4. Keep pack, analysis and source separate
| Object | What it does | What it does not establish by itself |
|---|---|---|
| Research pack | Groups subject-focused materials | That every document shares one author or standing |
| Research document | Provides an attributed synthesis or inventory | Admission or a verified conclusion |
| Cited FTC or platform document | Supplies an original account to inspect | Support for all conclusions in the synthesis |
| Artifact or export | Carries a particular file or representation | The reader’s rights to redistribute it |
5. Inspect or export an allowed artifact
Where the library offers an underlying artifact for this exact document, open or download it as permitted. Note the file title or name, documented edition, format, and recorded digest if one is shown. Compare the formatted reading copy with the identified artifact; similar titles do not prove byte identity. If no downloadable artifact is offered, record that constraint without inventing one.
6. Preserve attribution, rights and version
Record the research author, pack, specific document, date or version, actual publisher sources you inspected, and any displayed licence or reuse condition. Public access and permission to redistribute are different. When quoting or exporting, follow the applicable rights and attribution terms.
7. Return to the research question
Write down what the FTC record establishes, what the contemporaneous platform statement says, and which conclusion belongs to the research author. Keep a remaining uncertainty explicit, such as whether the inspected sources cover a particular person, dataset or downstream use. Do not convert document access into proof of an outcome those materials did not adjudicate.
Expected result: you can return to the same research document and source materials, identify the artifact you actually used, and accurately describe the boundaries of its conclusions. Continue with Cases and investigations or Source tracing.