Editing
Check a quotation against its source
Check the words, but also the boundaries and context of a quotation. A faithful transcription can still give readers the wrong impression.
Give the claim a home
Research notes often begin as a collection of links. Months later, the links still open, but the reason you saved them has disappeared. Record the claim, observation or question alongside the source from the start. “Background for chapter three” is weaker than “Explains why the old station moved; relevant to the journey described here.”
Keep the source’s words separate from your own. Use an unmistakable quotation convention in the research file, even if the note is never intended for publication. Include the location of the passage and enough surrounding context to recover its meaning. A note that blends quotation and paraphrase creates avoidable uncertainty when you return to draft the chapter.
Capture identifying details while they are visible: author or organisation, title, publication date if supplied, edition where relevant, and a URL or other location. For a changing online source, note when you consulted it. A bookmarked home page is rarely enough to locate a particular table or statement again.
Connect notes without tying them to page numbers
Page numbers in a draft change constantly. Give a source note a stable label and use that label in a temporary comment or research reference near the relevant passage. A short descriptive identifier can work as well as a reference manager, provided it is unique and you use it consistently.
When a claim moves to another chapter, move its reference too. When it is deleted, mark the note unused rather than assuming it remains evidence for whatever replaces the paragraph. The replacement may sound similar while requiring a different source.
Some claims draw on several sources. Write down the contribution of each. One may supply the date, another the interpretation, and a third a contrasting account. Keeping this division visible helps you avoid attributing an entire argument to a source that supports only a small part of it.
Leave a record of uncertainty
Flag missing pages, ambiguous wording and conflicting accounts. Do not resolve an uncertainty simply by removing the question mark from your notes. State what would settle it, such as checking an earlier edition or finding a primary record.
Before handing over the manuscript, test a few notes from cold. Pick a claim you have not worked on recently and try to locate its evidence using only the recorded information. If that takes a long search, improve the note now. The next person may know less about your research trail than you do.
Back up the research files with the manuscript, and keep any saved material organised under the same source labels. Preserve only material you are entitled to retain and share. The aim is a usable evidence trail, not an indiscriminate archive of everything encountered while researching.
