Reusable Working Sheets

These sheets preserve decisions that disappear when a team saves only the final citation. Copy the fields into a matter-specific document or research system. Record an unresolved item as unresolved; an empty box should not be interpreted as a completed check. The sheets express Citation Code practices, subject to the applicable assignment, court, employer, and confidentiality requirements.

W01. Source card

Use when: a source becomes important enough to support a sentence, quotation, calculation, or recommendation.

Field	Record
Work and version	Full title, creator or issuing body, date, edition or document identifier
Source location	Official URL or repository identifier and local copy name
Proposition	The exact point for which this source is being used
Supporting passage	Printed page, assigned paragraph, section, line range, or timestamp
Context	Qualifications, definitions, exceptions, and relevant adjacent text
Role and status	Holding, separate writing, allegation, proposal, enacted text, or other role
Review	Reviewer, date, checks completed, and unresolved questions

Example entry: A fictional research card for an inspection report records “paragraph 12 describes the observed crack on July 7; it does not attribute the crack to the contractor.” This note prevents a later writer from converting an observation into a causation opinion. The source card should link the report and the sentence it supports.

W02. Receiving requirements

Use when: beginning a new assignment or preparing a document for a different recipient.

Field	Record
Recipient and document	Court or institution, case or assignment, document type, deadline
Governing instructions	National rule, local rule, standing order, case order, assignment, or journal instruction
Version	Effective date, amendment notice, retrieval date, preserved source
Citation requirements	Required source forms, publication preferences, status notation, short forms
Record requirements	Appendix, transcript, docket, exhibit, or other required coordinate
Delivery requirements	Format, tables, word limits, service or copy requirements, accessibility
Exceptions	The exact provision authorizing an exception and why it applies

Resolve conflicts before formatting a large document. A prior brief is evidence of past practice; it is not a substitute for the present rule. Record who will check for intervening changes before filing. For selected official provisions, consult the rule profiles.

W03. Authority and proposition matrix

Create one row per material proposition with the following columns: sentence identifier; proposed sentence; authority; exact passage; source role; jurisdiction and date; qualification; treatment or permission check; reviewer; disposition. If a sentence makes two materially different claims, use two rows or divide the sentence.

Useful dispositions: ready; revise sentence; find additional support; status unresolved; remove. Avoid a single “checked” column that hides which task was performed. A metadata match may justify marking identity complete while leaving support and status open. Revisit the matrix when the argument changes, not only when the citation text changes.

W04. Quotation audit

For each quotation, record the final document location, source version, exact source locator, original wording, displayed wording, each alteration, and reviewer. Read enough before and after the quoted passage to determine whether an omitted qualification changes the meaning.

Audit sequence: confirm the speaker or writing; compare words and punctuation; inspect omitted text; check brackets and emphasis attribution; verify the locator; read the final sentence for misleading attribution. Check visible source images when OCR is uncertain. A corrected quotation may require an analytical revision as well as a punctuation change. Preserve the reason for any substantive omission.

W05. Record-coordinate map

Field	Record
Document identity	Title, date, author or witness, docket entry, attachment
Native coordinate	Printed page, paragraph, transcript line, exhibit mark, Bates number
Filed coordinate	Final appendix volume/page, docket attachment, or other required locator
Proposition	Fact supported and any limitation
Conversion check	Whether pages, rotation, OCR, or redaction changed during assembly

Keep the native and filed coordinates together. After an appendix changes, recheck the mapping rather than updating every number by an assumed offset. Inserts, omitted covers, and separately numbered exhibits can make a single offset wrong. For a transcript, preserve both page and line; a viewer-page number alone usually loses the detail the writer needs.

W06. Version and effective-date chain

Record the event date, legal question, source instrument, publication date, effective date, transition language, amendment history, codified location, version inspected, and unresolved applicability issue. Link each claimed change to the document that made it.

Working question: “What text applied to this event?” differs from “What text is available today?” A timeline can expose a gap between publication and effectiveness or a delayed transition for a particular class of transactions. A current text with a historic date appended does not become a historical source. Retain the earlier text when the analysis depends on it.

W07. Review and release log

For each review pass, record the document filename or version, reviewer, date, scope, method, findings, corrections, and unresolved items. Distinguish identity, locator, support, status, receiving requirements, and export checks.

Release row: final artifact name; creation time; page count; source version; approval or review status; remaining qualifications; optional checksum. Reopening and exporting a document can alter pagination, links, or fields. The log should identify which exported file was inspected. A check performed on the editable source does not by itself establish the state of the submitted PDF.

W08. Research handoff

Give the next reviewer the question, current conclusion, strongest support, material contrary sources, unresolved issues, source packet location, access limits, and next action. Identify time-sensitive items such as expected amendments, pending proceedings, or scheduled updates without predicting their outcome.

Completion standard: another person can locate the decisive passage and understand both the conclusion and its qualification. A folder containing hundreds of downloaded PDFs fails this standard if it does not explain which document matters. A short handoff that preserves reasoning is more useful than an unexplained bibliography.

W09. Update register

Track each reusable rule, form, or advisory paragraph by stable identifier. Record its source, source date, last review, change trigger, assigned owner, affected products, and next review. When a source changes, identify every dependent template, article, form, and example.

Use a correction entry that states what changed, why, and which version contains the correction. Do not silently replace an earlier source packet if it supports a completed historical analysis. Preserve a current-use version and a historical record with clear dates and purpose.

W10. Dataset and calculation record

Record the research question, dataset provider, snapshot date, input file checksum, unit of analysis, exclusions, joins, deduplication, transformations, calculation, output version, and limitations. Save the query or calculation where a reviewer can inspect it.

For example, counts of citation rows, opinions, case clusters, and courts answer different questions. A table reporting ten million citations cannot be relabeled ten million cases. Document the denominator of a percentage and the meaning of missing fields. Reproduce the reported result from the preserved input before publishing the number.

W11. House-style and exception card

Record the default for case names, short references, source names, page ranges, dates, signals, explanatory parentheticals, quotations, and links. Add an exception column identifying the receiving instruction that displaces a default.

Keep decisions concrete. “Use a consistent style” is not enough; “write full page-range endpoints in this document” is actionable. Avoid changing a source identifier merely to make it resemble a preferred abbreviation. Review the card before a team-wide automated replacement.

W12. Reference usability comparison

Specify the task set, participants, experience level, reference editions, available tools, time limit, scoring criteria, and adjudication method before running a comparison. Measure completion, source retrieval, locator accuracy, support errors, permission errors, and time separately.

Use equivalent tasks in different orders to reduce learning effects. Retain failures and disagreements. Report the tested population and task limits with results. A larger page count, database, or list of features does not establish better performance. A claim of superiority should identify the evidence on which it rests.