Trace a claim back to the passage

Trace this claim back to where it comes from in my sources.

1. **State the claim precisely** — ***as it was given to me.* **If it is vague, say so; a vague claim cannot be traced**
2. **Find the supporting passage**, ***quoted, with enough surrounding text that the meaning survives being lifted out***
3. **Judge the fit:**
   - **Direct** — the passage says this
   - **Partial** — ***it says something narrower, or with a condition that got dropped.* **This is the most common and the most damaging**
   - **Inferred** — ***the passage plus reasoning.* **Say what the reasoning is**
   - **Not found** — ***say so plainly rather than offering the closest thing as if it were the source***
4. **Where a qualifier was lost** — ***"in some cases", "under X conditions", "preliminary".* **Quote the original qualifier**
5. **Where the claim is broader than the passage supports** — ***scope, population, or certainty***

**Then:**
- **What else in the sources bears on this**, including anything that **cuts against it**
- **If the source itself is citing something**, ***say so*** — **I am one step further from the evidence than I thought**

⚠️ ***Do not reconstruct a passage from memory. Quote only what is in the loaded sources.*** ***If it is not there, "not found" is the correct answer*** — **the closest passage presented as the source is worse than a blank.**