Fact-Based Reporting and Annotating Guide

Magazine editors expect authors to ensure the veracity of every fact in their stories and to annotate every fact with a source. Fact-checking is not limited to numbers. 

To ensure a smooth fact-checking process, The Science Writer provides you with the guidance below.

HOW TO ANNOTATE YOUR STORY

In your third draft, use Google Doc’s comment function to mark factual statements with a note about their source(s) and a link, if applicable. 

  • Every fact should be annotated, including but not limited to:

    • Quotes

    • Scenes or events you personally witnessed

    • Facts presented in multimedia products, including video scripts, infographics, interactives, etc.

  • Provide enough information for the fact-checker to easily find and verify the fact. For example, include details such as:

    • URLs

    • Page numbers and/or paragraph numbers

    • Time stamps 

    • Date and format (email, Zoom, in-person, etc) of interviews

    • Contact information for every person quoted, cited, or named in the article, including people representing the companies, organizations, and institutions mentioned. This might include sources that you reached out to in the course of your reporting but didn’t hear back from

    • Links to official websites showing interviewees’ professional affiliations

    • Any calculations or operations you performed to determine measurements or convert units.

  • Cite primary sources, NOT secondary sources. Primary sources provide original data, information, or first-hand evidence. Secondary sources often describe or explain primary sources. 

    • Examples of primary sources: 

      • Peer-reviewed research articles 

      • Reports by official institutions, organizations, or governments

      • Original texts of regulations or laws 

      • Interviews

      • Speeches 

      • Statistical data 

      • Poll or survey results

    • Examples of secondary sources: 

      • Wikipedia and encyclopedias 

      • Non-official web pages 

      • Blogs

      • Review articles, literature reviews, or commentaries in peer-reviewed scientific journals 

      • Many newspaper or magazine articles (unless the reported events were witnessed firsthand by the author)

  • Secondary sources can be good starting points to find information, but you should trace the information to a primary source. Never accept a secondary source at face value. Make a habit of asking yourself, “Where did the source’s author find this information?”

SAMPLE ANNOTATED PASSAGE

Your annotated text should look something like the example below. If the annotation comments make the draft hard to read, you can hide them using Google Docs’ viewing menu.

Sample annotated passage

 

TIPS TO ENSURE A SMOOTH FACT-CHECKING PROCESS

  • Keep track of your sources — and ensure you can tie your facts to primary sources — in real time, as you report and write, to save the headache of retracing all your steps when it’s time to annotate your third draft.

  • Retain interview transcripts, notes, and/or recordings in case we need to access them.

  • Know the difference between objective and subjective statements. Don’t confuse opinion for fact. Objective statements convey factual information that can be proven true or false. They are the “gold standard” of science writing. Subjective statements convey opinions, judgments, values, preferences, biases, or feelings, even if they involve facts (source).

  • Be sure to verify “widely known facts” with primary sources. Often, commonly repeated “facts” have apocryphal origins, or facts you learned in school may have since been revised by new research. It can help to ask yourself, “How do I know this is true?” If you can’t trace it to a primary source, reconsider using it.

  • Avoid superlatives like “most,” “only,” or “best,” unless you can support these claims with a primary source.

  • Determine if there are disagreements or open questions among experts about the truth of a fact. Acknowledge this uncertainty in your writing.

  • Paraphrase or quote source material to avoid plagiarism. Make sure paraphrased passages are sufficiently different from the source material. Plagiarism may be grounds for revoking your story’s acceptance.

  • Quote sparingly, and only when you can’t find a better way of wording the source material.

  • Keep quotes short, ideally one to two sentences.