Open-Before-Cite Final Audit

Module 4, Lesson 4.5 · five steps · concept

What this is. The final audit against the complete research-brief log — all three entries, all sources, all cross-references — asking: would I stand behind this under scrutiny?

How to use. Run this once, in order, immediately before you copy the three entries to /capstone/research-brief-log-v1.md. Do not skip steps. Do not run them in parallel. The order matters.

The final audit is non-delegable.

An agent cannot run this for you. The audit is your attestation that the habit is real. A second AI “confirming” the audit is not evidence of anything.

Before you start

All three entries drafted and saved: capstone-entry-1-scoping-brief.md, capstone-entry-2-fact-check-memo.md, capstone-entry-3-synthesis-brief.md.

source-list.md is populated.

triangulation-notes.md is complete.

synthesis-plan.md is complete.

The per-source checklist has been run on every source that appears in any of the three entries.

Step 1 — Every cited source is opened-and-confirmed

Step 1 · Status sweep

For each entry, walk through the body and list every citation. For each: find the corresponding entry in source-list.md, confirm its status is opened-and-confirmed. Anything else — open the source and confirm, or remove the citation and rework the claim.

Any source in a brief that is not in source-list.md at all is treated as fabricated until proven otherwise.

All citations in Entry 1 are backed by opened-and-confirmed entries.

All citations in Entry 2 are backed by opened-and-confirmed entries.

All citations in Entry 3 are backed by opened-and-confirmed entries.

Step 2 — Four-pattern fabrication sweep on every citation

Step 2 · Fabrication sweep

For each citation, run the four-pattern sweep from the Recipe Book entry spotting-a-fabricated-citation.md:

Pattern 4 — URL loads the claimed document, not a home page, 404, or typo-squat.

Pattern 1 — The source exists as described (title, author, year).

Pattern 2 — Any quoted text is actually in the document.

Pattern 3 — The claim the brief attributes to the source matches what the source actually says.

Most-commonly-missed pattern: Pattern 3. Read abstracts and conclusions. Check for “however” clauses the brief omits.

Citations reviewed: Passed all four: Reworked: Dropped:

Step 3 — Every load-bearing claim is tagged to its sources in-line

Step 3 · In-line tagging

Walk through each entry and mark every claim the argument depends on. For each:

The claim has a visible citation immediately adjacent. No “general support” citations at the end of a section.

For Entry 3 (synthesis brief), the citation matches what synthesis-plan.md's evidence map said would support this claim.

Any claim resting on a single source is either (a) flagged explicitly as such, or (b) reworked to rest on more than one independent source.

Synthesis-failure-mode check:

No paragraph contains a “fact-free connector” — a sentence that reads like a finding but has no source (“Experts agree that…”, “It is widely understood that…”).

No paragraph asserts consensus on the strength of a single source.

Step 4 — The brief's claims match the sources' claims

Step 4 · Random-audit

Pick three citations at random per entry (nine total). For each: open the source in sources/<tier>/, read the passage, read the brief's claim, confirm they match — not stronger, not missing the hedge, not generalized beyond the source's population or date range.

The random-audit catches what the per-source checklist missed. If any of the nine fail, you have a systemic problem — stop and re-audit every citation.

Random citations checked: 9 Matched exactly: Required tightening: Required drop:

Step 5 — The log is internally consistent and honest

Step 5 · Read as a reader

Read the three entries in order, as a single document. Check:

Entry 1 (scoping brief) stands on its own. A reader could re-derive question, reader, answer-shape, out-of-scope, and constraints from the entry alone.

Entry 2 (fact-check memo) stands on its own. The verdict label matches the explanation paragraph.

Entry 3 (synthesis brief) matches the synthesis plan. Thesis, structure, evidence map, and uncertainty ledger are visible in the drafted brief.

The uncertainty ledger surfaces in the brief itself, not buried in a footer.

There is nothing in any entry I would be uncomfortable defending to a parent, a teacher, or an expert.

Sign-off

Date signed off

Student (initials)

Freeze commands

Copy the three entries and the source-list to /capstone/module-04/:

mkdir -p ~/ai-architect-academy/capstone/module-04 cp capstone-entry-1-scoping-brief.md ~/ai-architect-academy/capstone/module-04/ cp capstone-entry-2-fact-check-memo.md ~/ai-architect-academy/capstone/module-04/ cp capstone-entry-3-synthesis-brief.md ~/ai-architect-academy/capstone/module-04/ cp source-list.md ~/ai-architect-academy/capstone/module-04/

Compile into the log:

cat capstone-entry-1-scoping-brief.md \ capstone-entry-2-fact-check-memo.md \ capstone-entry-3-synthesis-brief.md \ > ~/ai-architect-academy/capstone/research-brief-log-v1.md

Commit:

cd ~/ai-architect-academy git add capstone/ git commit -m "Module 4 capstone freeze — research-brief-log-v1"

Future research work goes into -v2.md or later. v1 does not change.

Safe defaults

If the audit surfaces a systemic problem, do not ship. Re-audit every citation. A brief frozen with known issues is a record that the habit did not install.
If you are tempted to skip Step 4 because “I already checked those sources,” run it anyway. Every student thinks they already checked.
The audit is non-delegable. A second AI confirming “this looks audited” is not evidence of anything.

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