Research workflows from start to finish
What this chapter does
A research session should produce something you can use, explain and return to. It might be a citation, a comparison of evidence, a completed assessment, or an identified record for an application. The most important decision is what you need to accomplish, not how many features you use.
Reader outcome
Finish a discovery-to-citation task, choose an optional statement assessment, return to the same material later, and reuse one identified object in another client without losing context.
1. Choose the outcome
| Your task | Helpful starting point | End product |
|---|---|---|
| Answer a factual question | Statue of Liberty | A publisher-backed explanation and citation |
| Compare competing positions | Theranos or FTX | Attributed allegations, proceedings, decisions and unresolved questions |
| Investigate a measurement | Flint water crisis | A value accompanied by population, sampling method and date |
| Assess one stated proposition | Volkswagen emissions notice | A bounded Check result when executed and authorized |
| Reuse data in software | Boeing 737 MAX | The same identified object and edition in a second client |
You can stop after the first useful result. Check is not the conclusion of every research journey.
2. Complete discovery and citation
Ask Why is the Statue of Liberty green? Search for the monument, confirm its identity, and follow the relevant reference to the National Park Service explanation. Read the passage explaining oxidation and patina. Record the publisher, document, URL, date accessed and any version shown.
Expected result: one answer supported by a passage you actually read. You can stop here, even if you never open a graph or assessment.
3. Compare accounts when a question is contested
For Theranos, distinguish a regulatory complaint’s allegations, the scope of a criminal verdict and decisions about specific devices or assays. For a Flint lead measurement, keep the test’s population, sampling method, date and reported unit attached to the number. An authentic value does not answer every question about a city’s drinking water.
Use Reading an entry, Cases, or Tracing a source depending on which document or proposition you need.
4. Trace documents and the version used
From the question, move through the subject or investigation to the named source document, then to the specific passage. Confirm whether you read a public publisher page, archived edition, or retained copy. A reference alone is not proof of source custody. If a document changed, cite the edition you actually consulted rather than the newest page by default.
5. Evaluate a particular statement only when useful
A narrow question about what the EPA’s Volkswagen notice alleged makes a better Check input than an unbounded claim about “everything Volkswagen did.” Prepare the precise statement and notice together, review the operation’s scope and permissions, and execute Check if the chosen release permits.
Inspect the returned question-by-question outcomes and reasons. If the operation did not run or a question was not evaluated, say so. A receipt’s content identity is a different question from the truth of the claim.
6. Finish your first session
Keep the source-specific citation, a version or object reference where supplied, and any completed Check result under its proper access rules. Do not call a browser bookmark a saved private result, or assume a public link grants access to restricted material.
7. Return in a later session
Reopen the original document, specified edition, or authorized saved result. Compare identifiers, version and source context with the information recorded earlier. If the current source has changed, preserve the old citation and inspect the change separately.
Expected result: you know whether you resumed the original work or opened a newer representation.
8. Reuse the object in software
For a Boeing example, use the documented read operation to retrieve the same record and edition in a separate client. Keep the exact returned source identities and limits in the client’s explanation. Software reuse should make evidence easier to inspect, not quietly grant new authority.
If a step is blocked
An empty search, inaccessible document, missing retained copy, refused action and unresolved Check are different outcomes. Record the actual stopping point, use an authorized alternate source or query, and do not invent missing material to complete the diagram.
Continue with Saving and sharing, Using agents, or Help and limitations. A successful research workflow ends with something attributable, not necessarily something conclusive.