Your first five minutes
What this chapter does
Choose one way to begin. You can start with a question, a document, or a statement you want to assess. Each path ends with something useful. You do not need to complete all three.
Reader outcome
Finish one small research task and keep enough information to return to what you found.
Before you begin
Public searching and reading can begin without a private research account. For restricted documents, private saving or Check execution, use the appropriate account and permission. The Check path is optional and depends on access to the chosen operation.
1. Pick a starting path
| Your starting point | Try this question | Useful result |
|---|---|---|
| A question | Why is the Statue of Liberty green? | A source-backed explanation with a document citation |
| A document | What does the SEC’s Theranos complaint actually allege? | The specific filing and its procedural status |
| A statement | What did EPA’s 2015 Volkswagen notice say about defeat-device software? | A prepared, bounded statement and, if executed, its actual Check result |
Recommended first path: the Statue. It needs no Check and shows how a search becomes a document you can read.
2. Search for a subject, not a magic phrase
Enter Statue of Liberty and inspect the returned types. Choose the monument on Liberty Island rather than a photograph or similarly named subject. Note what collection or provider supplied the result.
Follow the material about its copper surface to the National Park Service FAQ. Read the paragraph on oxidation and the green patina. Record the page title, publisher, URL and date accessed.
Expected result: you can answer the color question and cite a source you actually opened.
3. Try the document-first alternative
Open a named source or start from a source reference. The SEC’s 2018 Theranos complaint is an example of why document status matters: a regulator’s allegations in a complaint are not interchangeable with a later criminal verdict.
Identify the publisher, proceeding, date and relevant passage. Leave with a citation to the complaint as a complaint. If the exact source is not registered or retained by Counterpedia, use the original publisher destination and say so.
4. Use Check only for a statement that needs it
Take a narrow proposition about the contents of the EPA’s September 2015 Volkswagen notice. Keep the statement and the specific notice together in the preparation step. Review the scope and permission requirements before an authorized Check.
When the operation runs, read each recorded question, outcome and reason. When it cannot run, the result is not a completed Check. Do not infer a verdict from the preparation form.
For the full steps, see Using Counterpedia Check.
5. Keep your result and move on
For the question path, keep the NPS citation. For the document path, keep the SEC filing identity and procedural role. For a completed Check, retain the operation or result identity, source context and any retrieval material provided under its access rules.
If a path stops early: refine an ambiguous query, follow an authorized public source when a copy is missing, or examine a stated access/error reason without inventing an assessment.
One finished task is enough. You can now follow connections, sources, or your workspace.