Tracing information back to its source

What this chapter does

When you read a statement somewhere in Counterpedia — on an entry, on a relationship, in a search snippet — this chapter shows you how to walk it back to the actual document it came from, confirm which version of that document you read, and record it so you or anyone else can return to the same place. It also shows where tracing stops: reaching a document tells you where a statement came from, not whether the document supports it.

Reader outcome

Trace one statement to its reference, the document version behind it, and the specific passage — and tell source inspection apart from an assessment of support.

Our statement and sources

We continue the example from Searching Counterpedia, which ended with a statement in our own words:

The Statue of Liberty’s copper exterior turned green through oxidation.

The reference we recorded was the National Park Service FAQ. A companion NPS facts page describes the same material, and a 1905 Library of Congress photograph shows the monument earlier in its life. The two NPS pages share one publisher, so their agreement is not independent corroboration.

Before you begin

You need a statement and the reference attached to it — here, the oxidation statement and the NPS FAQ. Reading a public publisher document needs no private research access. Inspecting a Source Record, a retained copy, or a privately saved result keeps its own account and permission requirements.

1. Start from the statement, not the subject

Write down the exact claim you are tracing: the copper exterior turned green through oxidation. A subject page collects many statements; tracing works on one at a time. Identify the reference attached to this statement — the pointer that records where it came from — rather than the general list of everything linked to the Statue of Liberty.

2. Separate where the reference was imported from who published the document

The origin of a reference and the publisher of the document it points to are two different things. A relationship or snippet imported from Wikidata — item Q9202 identifies the monument — can point to a document published by the National Park Service, the Library of Congress, or anyone else. Note the import origin, then follow the reference through to the publisher’s own document.

3. Follow the reference to the document and read the passage

Open the referenced document — the NPS FAQ. Identify its publisher (National Park Service), the page, and any date or revision shown. Find the passage that actually addresses your statement: the explanation that the copper surface oxidized and developed a green patina. Read it in context rather than trusting a snippet — a matching title or URL is not the same as having read the supporting passage.

Expected result: you can point to the publisher, the page, and the specific passage behind the statement.

4. Record the version you actually used

Keep the edition or version you read, not just the title. A live publisher page can change; a frozen edition or a retained capture — where one legitimately exists — has a different identity and covers a different point in time. Record the URL, the publisher, and the date you read it, so a later visit can be compared against what you cited.

5. Tell a reference, a Source Record, and a retained copy apart

These are different objects, and finding one does not establish the others:

• an observed reference points to material — the citation you followed;
• a Source Record identifies a document’s documentary identity and its recorded destinations;
• a retained copy is material actually held that you can open and inspect;
• custody information describes that retained material — how and when it was captured — not whether it supports your statement.

A cited URL with no Source Record can still lead to a perfectly good document. A Source Record does not by itself mean a retained copy exists. Record which of these you actually reached.

6. Handle the reference-only case

If the reference has no Source Record and no retained copy, you can still open the publisher document directly and cite it as an external original source — just record that you reached it outside Counterpedia and that no retained copy was available. A reference you cannot open at all is still worth keeping: note that you could not inspect its content rather than dropping it.

7. Stop at traceability — support is a separate question

Reaching the document tells you where the statement came from. It does not, on its own, establish that the passage supports the statement, that a quotation is accurate, or that the source is current. Those are assessment questions. When evaluating support is your goal, prepare the statement with this source context and run Check — a separate, recorded assessment, not part of the trace.

Finish and continue

You have traced the oxidation statement to the NPS passage behind it, recorded the version you read, and kept the trace distinct from any judgment of support. Continue to Exploring sources and references for these object types in more depth, save and cite the trace, or assess the statement with Check.

Optional tutorials

The main procedure does not require these exercises. Choose a tutorial for a field-level comparison, or skip to the closing explanation below.

Tutorial: Trace shared source origins

Inspect whether references in a Theranos source set derive from common material. Report documented derivation separately from unresolved origin.

Starting material

Use the source set associated with one question or attributed statement in the Theranos material. Start with the full supplied set, not a subset chosen because it supports an interpretation. Record the exact record and version whose source set you are inspecting.

1. Inventory the references

List each reference, its document identifier or locator, publisher, edition or date, and the statement it is attached to. Keep a local worksheet row number separate from the document’s actual identifier. Multiple links to one document are multiple locators, not automatically multiple origins.

2. Follow documented derivation

Inspect any recorded derivation or citation relation and the document’s own attribution. Where a document expressly reproduces or derives from another source, record both endpoints and the evidence for that relationship. A matching title, similar language, different domain, or separate download is a lead to inspect, not sufficient evidence of independence or derivation.

3. Group the documented chains

On the worksheet, connect only the documented derivation steps. Two documents that repeat one upstream account remain distinguishable documents while sharing that recorded origin. Mark a link as unresolved when the next source cannot be inspected or its origin is not supplied.

Do not report a numerical count of independent lineages from the number of publishers, URLs, or apparent groups. Report the documented chains you found and the part of the source set whose origins remain unresolved.

4. Keep derivation separate from supersession

A later document can cite an earlier one without replacing it. Record a supersession only when the source or record explicitly supplies that relation. Keep document publication time, capture time, and the revision time of the Counterpedia record in separate columns when comparing versions.

5. Compare a narrowed set

Make a worksheet-only subset and list every omitted reference. Compare which documented chains remain represented and which disappear. Your comparison describes coverage of the selected set. It does not calculate claim support, invalidate an omitted document, or change the underlying record.

Output and completion check

Produce the reference inventory, documented chain diagram or table, unresolved-origin list, and subset-omission list. The exercise is complete when another reader can trace every drawn connection to its stated basis. An unresolved origin is an acceptable result; unexplained certainty about independence is not.

Apply the procedure elsewhere

Inspect two references attached to an Eotyrannus or Douglas Adams statement. Use the same method even when the available data yields only locators and no derivation relation. Keep that shorter result rather than filling it with inferred links.

Return to Tracing information back to its source, or continue with comparing attributed positions.

Corresponding overview

Find the original sources

Next tasks

• Exploring sources and references
• Using Counterpedia Check
• Saving, citing, sharing, and exporting