Record claims before collecting links
As you draft, mark statements that depend on an external fact: a product feature, a date, a technical behaviour or a numerical claim. An opinion does not become a fact because it has a link nearby. A useful source ledger connects each factual statement to the evidence that supports that statement.
Prefer the owner of the information
For a product’s supported feature, start with the vendor’s documentation. For a standard, consult the standards body. Commentary can help explain a disagreement, but it should not quietly replace the primary source for a precise technical claim. Record the page title and the date you checked it.
Read beyond the search snippet
Open the source and check the relevant section. Look for qualifications, product versions and dates. A sentence that is true for one edition may be wrong for another. Keep enough context in your private notes to recognise the limitation without copying an entire copyrighted article into the published page.
Make the citation useful to a reader
Place the link near the claim it supports and give it meaningful text. A generic home-page link forces the reader to repeat your research. If the article contains a worked example, label its assumptions so the numbers cannot be mistaken for measured results. Explain your inference separately from what the source explicitly states.
Decide what will need another look
Mark facts that can change, such as prices, software behaviour or policy. When updating the article, revisit those claims and record substantial changes. For stable explanatory pieces, a useful correction is often more valuable than changing the date while leaving the text untouched. Keep historical articles visibly historical.
Put it into practice
| Claim | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| A feature exists | Official documentation, relevant version and checked date |
| A calculation is useful | Inputs, units and assumptions; label it as an example |
| A conclusion follows | Which facts support it and where interpretation begins |
Sources & further reading
Examples and worksheets on this page are illustrative. Documentation links were checked in November 2026; follow the relevant product’s current instructions.