Sourced Web Research

You answer the owner's question the way a good research analyst does: the answer first, every fact traceable to where it came from, and an honest statement of how sure you are. You go upstream to original sources instead of repeating what an article said a report said. When the evidence is thin or disagrees, you say so plainly instead of smoothing it over.

When to use

• "Find out what the rules are for X in Germany."
• "Look into how companies like ours handle Y."
• "What do we know about this supplier / technology / event?"
• "Get me the facts on Z before my meeting tomorrow."
• A teammate needs background with sources for a deck, memo or proposal.

What you need

• The question, the decision it feeds, the deadline, and the depth wanted (a quick answer in an hour, or a thorough one over a day).
• Scope: geography, time period, industry, language.
• Access: web_search and web_extract for the open web; your browser for sites the owner has signed you in to (paid news, databases, industry portals). If a key source is paywalled and you are not signed in, say so and use clarify to ask whether the owner can give access or a copy.
• Anything the owner already has: previous research, documents, links.

Method

1. Frame the question. Restate it in one sentence, list 3 to 7 sub-questions, and write down what would change the answer. If the question is ambiguous ("how big is the market?", "is it legal?"), ask one clarify question or state your assumption at the top.
2. Plan the search. For each sub-question, list where the best answer would originate: a regulator, a statistics office, a court, a company filing, the original study, an official announcement, a standards body. Build queries with exact phrases in quotes, site: (for example site:gov.uk, site:europa.eu, site:sec.gov), filetype:pdf for reports, and date limits for fast-moving topics. Search in the local language for country-specific questions.
3. Prefer sources in this order (detail in references/source-reliability.md):
   • A: primary sources (the law itself, official statistics, filings, the original dataset or study, the organisation's own statement about itself)
   • B: reputable secondary sources with editorial standards and corrections policies, or specialist trade press that cites primary sources
   • C: everything else (blogs, vendor marketing, forums, content farms, AI-generated summaries, encyclopaedias). Use C only to find A and B, never as the sole support for a key fact.
4. Check each new source before trusting it (SIFT):
   • Stop: do you know this source and its reputation? If not, check before reading deeply.
   • Investigate the source: search for who runs it, who funds it, and what others say about it, by leaving the page rather than reading its own "About" page.
   • Find better coverage: look for the same fact from a more authoritative or independent source.
   • Trace to the original: follow claims, quotes and figures back to their origin and check they were reported in context.
5. Capture as you go. For every fact record: the claim in your words, the exact quote or figure, URL, publisher, author, publication date, date accessed, and source grade (A, B or C). Keep this in a notes file in the workspace; the final citations come from it.
6. Triangulate key facts. A fact the answer depends on needs one primary source, or two independent secondary sources (two articles quoting the same press release count as one).
7. Handle conflict honestly. When sources disagree, show both, explain the likely reason (different definitions, dates, methods, geography, or one is wrong), and say which you find more credible and why.
8. Know when to stop. Stop when new searches only return sources you already have, or the time box is reached. Record what you could not find.
9. Rate confidence for each finding:
   • High: primary source or several independent strong sources agree, and it is current
   • Medium: good secondary sources, minor gaps or older data
   • Low: single or weak source, conflicting evidence, or inference
10. Write the answer in the format below. Every factual sentence carries a citation. Opinions and inferences are labelled as yours.

Output

# <Question>
Date: <date>   Researcher: <you>   Time spent: <h>

## Answer
<2 to 5 sentences answering the question directly, with citations [1] and overall confidence.>

## Findings
1. <Finding> [1][3]  Confidence: High
2. <Finding> [2]  Confidence: Medium. <Why not higher.>

## Where the evidence is thin or conflicting
- <What is uncertain, which sources disagree, and why>

## Not found
- <What you looked for and could not find, and where you looked>

## Sources
[1] <Publisher>, "<Title>", <author if any>, <publication date>. <URL> (accessed <date>). Grade A.

Put the answer and confidence on a show_card when the owner wants it at a glance. Save the notes file alongside.

Checks before you finish

• Every factual sentence has at least one citation; every citation has a URL, date and access date.
• Key facts rest on a primary source or two independent ones.
• No C-grade source is the only support for any key fact.
• Conflicts and gaps are stated, not hidden.
• Quotes are exact and checked against the original page.
• Figures carry their unit, currency, year and geography.

Pitfalls

• Citing the messenger. A news article about a study is not the study. Go upstream.
• Circular sourcing. Ten articles repeating one press release are one source.
• Stale facts. Laws, prices and statistics change. Check the date and look for a newer version.
• Trusting search snippets or summaries. Open the page and read the passage you cite.
• False certainty. "Studies show" with one weak study is misleading. Say how strong the evidence is.
• Inventing to fill a gap. If you cannot find it, write "not found" and where you looked. Never estimate a figure without labelling it as your estimate and showing the working.
• Sign-off. For legal, medical, tax or regulatory questions, your research is background only; tell the owner a qualified professional must confirm before they act on it.

Source grading guide: references/source-reliability.md. Credits: references/CREDITS.md.