Report what your sources cannot answer

Tell me what my sources cannot answer. ***This is the deliverable, not a caveat.***

1. **Per question I listed:** ***answerable from these sources, partly answerable, or not at all***
2. **For partly answerable** — ***what part is missing, and whether it is missing from the sources or genuinely unknown.* **Those are different problems with different fixes**
3. **Claims resting on a single source** — ***list them.* **In a finished piece they are indistinguishable from the rest**
4. **Claims resting on the oldest source in the set** — ***and whether this topic moves***
5. **Where the sources are all from one perspective** — ***one author, one institution, one country, one period.* **A consistent answer from a narrow set reads as consensus and is not**
6. **What I would have to go outside these sources to establish**

**Then:**
- ***Which gap most threatens what I am writing.* **If filling it would change the conclusion, the conclusion is not usable yet**
- **What kind of source would close each gap**, and where to look
- ***Which gaps do not matter for my purpose.* **Not every hole needs filling and saying so is part of the job**

⚠️ ***Do not fill a gap from outside knowledge to make the report look complete.* **A stated gap is a finding; a filled one is a fabrication.** ***Do not soften "cannot answer" into "limited information suggests".***