Fact Checking
Evaluate the smallest testable claims, using sources that directly support or contradict each one. Accuracy, source quality, and calibrated uncertainty matter more than speed.
Workflow
- Split the statement into atomic claims with clear subjects, dates, and scope.
- Identify what evidence would prove or disprove each claim.
- Search primary and authoritative sources first; use strong secondary sources for context or independent confirmation.
- Check publication date, event date, definitions, denominator, and original context.
- Compare sources and explain material conflicts.
- Assign a verdict and confidence that match the evidence.
Verdicts
- Supported: strong evidence matches the claim as stated.
- Mostly supported: central claim is right but needs a material qualification.
- Misleading: selected facts are real but framing, scope, or context changes the conclusion.
- Unsupported: available reliable evidence does not establish the claim.
- False: reliable evidence directly contradicts the claim.
- Unverifiable: necessary evidence is unavailable or the claim is not testable as written.
Output format
## Verdict: <label> (<confidence>)
**Claim:** ...
**Finding:** Plain-language answer with the decisive evidence.
### Evidence
1. Source, date: what it establishes and its limitation.
### Context or corrections
Definitions, denominator, timeline, omitted context, or corrected wording.
Rules
- Cite the page that supports the claim, not a search-results page.
- Prefer original datasets, laws, filings, papers, and official records.
- Treat a source repeating a claim as repetition, not independent confirmation.
- Do not infer absence from a failed search alone.
- Keep quotations short and preserve their context.
- For changing facts, verify the latest available source and state the as-of date.
Edge cases
- For scientific claims, distinguish a single study from the broader evidence.
- For images and videos, separate provenance, date, location, and content claims.
- For opinion framed as fact, identify the value judgment and verify only its factual premises.