When using supplied material, make a source-use record before drafting. Identify what was actually provided, what it can support, what remains unknown, and how you used it. Do not fill gaps with guessed metadata.
The record is part of the writing
A source-use record is a short account of the material available to you and the role it plays in your work. It is not a decoration added after the writing is finished. It helps you keep a claim connected to the evidence you actually received—and prevents an unknown detail from quietly becoming a fact in your draft.
Record what is observable: the source label or identifier supplied, the material’s format or title if provided, and the relevant passage or detail. Then note what you used it to support and what it cannot establish. If a field is missing, write “not provided” or “unknown,” rather than guessing. A useful record can be brief; accuracy matters more than making it look complete.
Use a four-part record
For each item, write four things:
1. **What was supplied?** Copy the provided identifier or label exactly. Describe the material only as specifically as the supplied information allows. If there is no author, date, title, or publication detail, do not invent one. 2. **What part matters?** Point to the passage, table, image, or other feature you actually consulted. If the material has no page numbers or section labels, identify the passage in plain words rather than creating a page reference. 3. **What does it support?** State the narrow claim the material can reasonably support. Keep this separate from your interpretation or from a broader claim you would need more evidence to establish. 4. **What are its limits?** Note relevant unknowns: missing context, unclear authorship, an incomplete excerpt, or the fact that the supplied material does not answer a particular question. Do not imply that you checked the original or verified details unless you did.
This format separates provenance—where the material came from as supplied—from interpretation—what you think it means. It also makes a useful distinction between “the material says” and “I infer.”
Worked demonstration: a supplied excerpt
The following miniature scenario is fictional. A student receives a handout labeled “Garden note,” containing this sentence: “The class planted mint beside the walkway.” The handout gives no author, date, location, or explanation of how the sentence was recorded.
A careful source-use record might say: “Supplied item: handout labeled ‘Garden note’; author and date not provided. Relevant detail: the sentence says the class planted mint beside the walkway. Use: supports the limited statement that the handout reports this planting. Limits: the handout alone does not establish when the planting happened, who wrote the note, whether the plants grew, or whether the walkway is at a particular school.”
Notice the wording “the handout reports.” It preserves the link to the supplied material without claiming independent confirmation. The record does not turn missing details into blanks to be filled creatively. It keeps the student’s next sentence proportionate: “The note reports that mint was planted beside the walkway.” A broader sentence—such as “Mint grew successfully at the school”—would go beyond the supplied sentence.
Revise claims that outrun the record
A source-use record is most valuable when you use it to revise. Compare each factual sentence in your draft with the material noted beside it. Ask: Would a reader be able to find this detail in the supplied material? Have I marked an inference as an inference? Have I added a date, author, location, or outcome that was never provided?
In the fictional garden-note scenario, the first version below adds an outcome and a setting that the handout does not establish. The revision removes those unsupported additions and names the material’s role. If you still need the missing information, identify it as a question for further checking; do not make the sentence sound as though the answer is already known.
**Before:** “At the school, students planted mint beside the walkway in spring, and the plants flourished there.”
**After:** “A handout labeled ‘Garden note’ reports that the class planted mint beside the walkway; it gives no date or information about what happened afterward.”
The revised sentence works because it names the basis for the statement, preserves the handout’s limited wording, and makes two gaps visible. It does not claim a specific school, season, or successful growth. The limit is part of the useful information: a reader can see both what the note reports and what it leaves unanswered.
Check the record before you submit
Make a final pass with your record beside your draft. Check that supplied labels and identifiers are copied accurately; missing metadata is marked as missing; and each claim stays within the material’s limits. If you paraphrase, preserve the original meaning and do not add certainty. If you draw an inference, signal it with wording such as “this may suggest” and explain what it rests on. If the material does not support a claim, remove the claim, narrow it, or flag the information as something that would need further evidence.
Do not use a polished-looking citation to disguise a gap in the information you received. A record that honestly says “author not provided” is more useful than a guessed author. The goal is not to make every source seem complete. It is to let you—and your reader—tell what was supplied, what you did with it, and where the evidence stops.
The revision, explained
At the school, students planted mint beside the walkway in spring, and the plants flourished there.
A handout labeled ‘Garden note’ reports that the class planted mint beside the walkway; it gives no date or information about what happened afterward.
The before sentence adds a school location, a season, and a successful outcome that are absent from the fictional handout. The revision attributes the limited claim to the material and explicitly preserves the unknowns instead of filling them with guesses.
Try the idea.
A supplied card is labeled “Room observation.” It says, “Three paper boats were on the windowsill.” No author, date, room number, or explanation is provided. Write a brief source-use record and one sentence you could responsibly use in a draft. Include at least one limit.
See the self-check +
Record: “Supplied item: card labeled ‘Room observation’; author, date, and room number not provided. Relevant detail: it says three paper boats were on the windowsill. Use: supports the limited statement that the card reports seeing three paper boats on a windowsill. Limits: it does not establish when or where the observation occurred, who made it, or what happened to the boats.” Draft sentence: “A card labeled ‘Room observation’ reports that three paper boats were on a windowsill.” Self-check: the answer keeps the supplied label, attributes the statement to the card, and avoids inventing a location, date, author, or later outcome.