Follow citations back to source
Use this guide to open a citation from an Atlas answer, inspect the supporting passage, and decide whether the claim holds up.
When to follow a citation
Follow a citation whenever an answer will affect a note, a literature review, a decision, or a deliverable. Do not skip verification for important claims.
Steps
- Identify the claim in the chat answer that you want to verify.
- Select the citation badge attached to that claim.
- The source viewer opens at the cited passage.
- Read the highlighted sentence.
- Read the surrounding paragraph for context and caveats.
- Decide whether the passage supports the claim.
If a sentence has multiple citations, inspect them one at a time. One citation may support the method while another supports the result.
What to check when reading the passage
- Does the source make the claim Atlas described?
- Is the answer stronger or more certain than the source?
- Is there a caveat or limitation in the surrounding text?
- Does another source in the project disagree?
What to do based on what you find
| What you find | What to do |
|---|---|
| The citation supports the claim | Save or reuse the finding |
| The citation is related but incomplete | Ask a narrower follow-up question |
| The citation does not support the claim | Treat the answer as unverified, ask again with more context |
| No citation appears | Ask Atlas to cite the evidence for that claim |
Save verified findings
When a claim matters, save it in a note with a mention of the source it came from. A verified finding with a traceable source is more useful than one you cannot check later.