sources

Phase 2 — Find, evaluate, and cite at least 5 credible sources for the paper

PublishedMay 30, 2026

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Phase 2: Research & Sources

Requirements

Minimum 5 sources, ideally 8–12 for a 15+ page paper
Sources must be credible: peer-reviewed journals, academic books, government/institutional reports, or reputable industry research
At least 3 sources must be peer-reviewed academic publications
Sources must be relevant to the thesis and each major section

Source finding strategy

Search for sources in this priority order:

Web search — use web_search tool with targeted queries:
- "[topic] research" site:scholar.google.com OR site:pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- "[topic] systematic review" filetype:pdf
- "[topic] journal" peer-reviewed 2018..2024
- Search for each major section of the outline separately
Fetch source content — use web_fetch on promising URLs to extract:
- Author(s), year, title, journal/publisher
- Key findings relevant to the paper
- Quotable passages (max 30 words verbatim per source)
Supplement with well-known works — if web search is limited, cite established foundational works in the field that are widely known and verifiable

Source evaluation criteria

Only use a source if it meets ALL of these:

Published by an identifiable author or institution
Verifiable (has a URL, DOI, ISBN, or is a well-known publication)
Relevant to at least one section of the outline
Published within the last 10 years (unless it is a foundational/seminal work)

Source tracking table

Maintain a table as you find sources:

#	Author(s)	Year	Title	Source	Relevant to
1

APA 7th edition citation format

Journal article:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Book:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.

Website/Report:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL

Output of this phase

Produce a numbered reference list in APA 7th edition format. Present it to the user before writing begins.

⚠️ Always verify citations. AI can hallucinate sources. Check every DOI, author name, and journal title before submission.

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