How to separate an original source from a useful summary

Separating an original source from a useful summary helps readers understand whether a note is based on primary evidence, interpretation, or convenient explanation.

A useful summary can be valuable, but it should not silently replace the original source. For example, a news article may summarize a regulator notice, a blog post may explain a technical release, and a forum answer may translate a confusing policy into plain language. Those summaries help readers, but they add interpretation and may omit caveats.

A clear source trail labels each source by role. The original source might be a law, official documentation, changelog, dataset, transcript, paper, court filing, or public notice. The summary source might be an article, guide, explainer, forum post, newsletter, or community answer. The note should say which one supports the factual claim and which one helped interpret it.

This distinction matters when sources disagree. If the summary says a feature is available everywhere but the official documentation lists regional limits, the note should preserve that tension instead of choosing the easier sentence. The reader should be able to see where the claim came from.

A practical structure is: original source for the claim, summary source for context, unresolved gap if any. If no original source is available, say that. Do not pretend a secondary summary is primary evidence just because it is well written.

Good summaries are still worth linking. They can explain jargon, show examples, or reveal how practitioners understand the source. The key is to make their role visible.

How to separate an original source from a useful summary

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