Innovation Advisory · Framework 18
6 questions · before publishingSource Before You Say It
Six questions to ask of every number and every claim before it goes into a report, a deck or a public page. The canvas comes from the rules behind Who Gave The Order and Off the Roll, where no claim appears as a fact without its source.
Where does this number come from, by name?
Name the document, the table and the page. Phrases such as studies show or experts say do not count as sources. If you cannot name one, cut the claim or say plainly that it is your own estimate.
When was it published, and what period does it describe?
A Census 2011 figure and a 2023-24 survey figure can sit in the same paragraph only if the reader is told which is which. Write the reference year next to the number.
Is this the original record, or someone’s report of it?
Off the Roll marks every figure that reached it through the press and says so on the page. Prefer the primary document, and when only a press report exists, attribute the figure to the outlet.
Is this a number copied from somewhere that can change?
In September 2026 this site carried six counts copied from another website, and all six had gone out of date with nothing to flag it. Either read such a number from its source each time the page is built, or stop stating it.
What do you not know, and does the page say so?
Who Gave The Order shows unknown in every field that has no source, and states that it has found no written order authorising force so far. A plainly stated gap is more useful to a reader than a plausible guess.
Has someone other than the author checked each claim against its source?
Off the Roll’s page on the National Register of Citizens keeps only facts that an independent second reading confirmed, and names the ones it could not confirm. Give the check to someone who did not write the draft.
What the six questions are doing
A report is trusted by its weakest sentence. These questions go through each claim in turn: where it comes from, when, at what distance from the original record, whether it can change after you copy it, what is still unknown, and whether anyone other than the author has checked it.
Use it on the final draft, one claim at a time. It is slow, and it is meant to be.