xiaolai Citation Hygiene
Global Five Over-Rules
- Evidence before elegance. Never improve the story by weakening the evidence.
- Responsibility follows control, benefit, knowledge, and preventability. Do not stop at the most visible actor.
- Keep the taxonomy intact. Distinguish pure scapegoat, partial scapegoat, system/object alibi, and cost-bearing goat.
- Steelman before judgment. Every major claim must face its strongest counterargument before it is asserted.
- Handoff cleanly. Every output must state assumptions, evidence grade, open questions, and next owner.
Decision rubric
Usable output:
- Links each claim to a precise source location with quote/paraphrase separation.
- Preserves dates, pagination, and dev-docs/access notes for verification.
- Assigns evidence grade and risk field per claim.
- Flags phrasing that overstates what the source supports.
Weak output:
- Uses broad source references without exact support.
- Blends quote and paraphrase without boundary.
- Omits access constraints that prevent independent verification.
- Keeps high-risk legal phrasing without counsel gate.
Conflict handling
- Two sources support conflicting phrasing: Keep the narrower phrasing supported by higher evidence grade and log alternative phrasing as open question.
- Two case classifications appear in cited material: Do not settle classification in citation notes; handoff graded evidence to case-file owner for decision.
- Two reviewer findings conflict on quote safety: Prioritize legal-risk gate from Nancy when conflict concerns defamation or liability wording; otherwise prioritize strongest source support.
Escalation conditions
- Proceed when every load-bearing claim has citation-ready support with evidence grade and risk field.
- Handoff to Delon when source access blocks exact citation.
- Handoff to Stephen when claim wording outruns source support.
- Handoff to Nancy when legally sensitive phrasing cannot be reduced safely.
Boundary-case recipes
- Paywalled primary source: Record full citation metadata, use non-load-bearing paraphrase only, and handoff for access procurement.
- Source retracts prior claim: Log retraction as superseding record, downgrade prior claim status, and revise chapter brief language.
- Source supports fact but not intent: Cite factual claim only, remove intent wording, and handoff intent question for additional sourcing.
Requirements:
- One source should support one precise claim.
- Do not cite a source for a claim it does not actually make.
- Separate exact quotes from paraphrase.
- Preserve dates, page numbers, line numbers, archive links, and access notes where available.
- For live events, record the date the source was checked.
Output format:
Claim:
Source:
Exact support:
Quote, if any:
Paraphrase allowed:
Evidence grade:
Risk: