Understand sources and check statements

Key takeaways

• A source marker shows where a statement comes from, not whether it is represented correctly.
• Docsi removes markers that have no matching passage in the original.
• Assess the reliability of your sources before adding them.
• Watch for lost qualifications such as time period, sample or conditions.
• For papers, add author and year in your discipline’s citation style.

What a source reference means

Docsi works with the sources you add. For PDF text, a reference can identify the exact page. The app checks that a quoted passage occurs in the corresponding source text; unknown source markers are not accepted as valid evidence.

A real quotation does not automatically prove that the conclusion is correct. Even a genuine passage can be shortened or understood in the wrong context.

Review important passages

1. Start with statements containing numbers, dates, definitions or broad conclusions.
2. Compare the cited passage and the surrounding paragraphs with the original file.
3. For OCR text, also check the page image. A wrongly recognised word can later be quoted correctly.
4. Ask for an explanation of the conclusion and mark unresolved points before exporting.

Use the right version

Choose one clearly current file and identify older versions if you want a comparison. References apply to the content actually imported. A revised file is a new source and should be reviewed again.

Evaluating the source itself

Docsi checks whether a statement is in your file – not whether the file itself is reliable. So evaluate beforehand where your material comes from: who wrote it, when was it last updated, for what purpose was it written and which evidence does it rely on? University libraries and writing centres such as the Purdue OWL recommend exactly these questions.

Lecture notes from your chair are authoritative for an exam; a forum post is not. If you mix both, tell Docsi the order of precedence: “Notes take priority; forum post only as an example, not as evidence”. The result then shows which statement rests on which source.

From source marker to correct citation

A Docsi source marker is a working reference, not a finished citation. For a paper you need your discipline’s citation style, such as APA, Harvard or a footnote style. APA guidelines, for example, require author, year and, for direct quotes, the page number. Docsi gives you file and page; you add author and year from the document’s bibliographic details.

Never take wording over as your own without checking. If the result reproduces a sentence almost verbatim, put it in quotation marks or rephrase it yourself. Many universities check papers for matches; Docsi’s page reference helps you cite properly.

Recognising typical errors

Language models like to shorten: “the value increased in the group studied” becomes “the value increases”. So watch for lost qualifications such as time period, sample or conditions. Equally common are swapped figures from tables read as running text, and statements that merge two separate passages into one claim.

A quick check: take the three statements that matter most for your result and read the whole paragraph at each location. If they hold, the rest is more likely to be sound; if one does not, ask Docsi to back every statement in that section with a verbatim quote.

Working with several sources

If you attach several files, Docsi numbers them as sources (Q1, Q2 …) and the passages in them with their own markers. In the result you can see whether a statement comes from the lecture notes, the article or your notes. If the sources contradict each other, explicitly ask Docsi to name the contradiction instead of resolving it.

With the search across all sources, Docsi finds the best-matching passages for a term or question and reads whole pages when needed. Still: what is not in the files, Docsi cannot back up. He does not go online by himself; you have to add further evidence as another file or as a window.

When a source changes

Docsi keeps a checksum of the original file for every source. If you replace a file with a new version, old source markers no longer match automatically; Docsi rejects outdated references instead of silently reinterpreting them. So have a result recreated with the new version when the source has changed.

Name versions clearly, for example with the date in the file name (“Notes_2026-10-20.pdf”). The ISO year-month-day format sorts correctly in every file manager. That way, even weeks later, you can tell which version a study sheet or report is based on.

Why Docsi does not search the internet

Docsi deliberately works only with the sources you give him. That makes results checkable: every statement can be traced back to a file and page you know. An automatic web search would mix in sources whose quality you have not assessed beforehand.

If you need current information from the web, open the page yourself, check it and add it as a window or copied text. Note the address and date accessed, because web pages change; the Docsi result then refers to exactly the version you saw.

A worked scenario

An example: Docsi has written you a summary of a report that says “usage rose by 40 percent”. You follow the source marker to page 17 and read: “In the pilot group of 30 people, usage rose by 40 percent during the test period.” The figure is right, but sample and period are missing from the summary.

You write in the same conversation: “For every percentage, add the group and period from the source.” Docsi revises the passages, and the statement is now correctly qualified. This one check was enough to spot a typical pattern and fix it for the whole document.

Key terms explained

Evidence

The passage in a source that a statement relies on.

Direct quote

A sentence taken over unchanged in quotation marks, with a page number in the citation style.

Paraphrase

A statement from the source in your own words. It also needs a source reference.

Checksum

A fingerprint of a file (SHA-256 in Docsi). If the file changes, the checksum changes.

Citation style

A set format for references, such as APA or Harvard. Docsi provides file and page; you add author and year.