Research Standards¶
OIR does not present a claim as fact unless it can be independently verified.
Most pages are AI-processed drafts under human direction. Unsourced AI output is not evidence. Prefer facts and citations over interpretation.
Evidence Labels¶
verified_fact: directly supported by a cited source.historical_context: contextual explanation based on cited sources.technical_analysis: technical interpretation with stated assumptions.legal_analysis: legal interpretation with jurisdiction and authority level.commentary: editorial or interpretive material.recommendation: proposed action or strategy.unverified: material that requires verification before use.
Source Preference¶
Primary sources are preferred whenever available. Legal authorities, official standards, court filings, official publications, archival records, and original technical materials should be used before summaries or commentary.
Source Reliability¶
| Tier | Examples | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Primary authority | Court opinions, statutes, RFCs, dockets | Best support for legal and technical claims |
| Official record | Contact pages, annual reports, faculty pages | Good for role, mission, and contact data |
| Self-reported profile | Staff bios, about pages, firm bios | First source only; corroborate before verified |
| Secondary reporting | Journalism, scholarship, case summaries | Corroborate biography and impact claims |
| Tertiary summary | Wikipedia, snippets, uncited AI | Not sufficient alone |
Staff biographies and “about us” pages are useful for orientation but are self-reported. Pages that rely on them should stay in draft until independent sources confirm major claims, and should list what is still needed under Research Debt.
Per-Claim Footnotes¶
Every bullet in Verified Facts must cite a source with a Markdown footnote:
- Example fact supported by a source.[^1]
[^1]: `SRC-EXAMPLE` — Source title. Reliability note.
See CITATION_GUIDE.md and RESEARCH_STANDARDS.md in the repository root for complete rules.
Review Status¶
draft— typical public state after merge into the draft corpus; not full human verification.needs_sources— missing adequate evidence.in_review— editorial or deep-audit review underway.verified— human deep-checked claims against cited sources (scarce verified core).deprecated— retained for history only.
Merge accepts a page into the draft corpus. Promotion to verified is a separate deep audit.