Keep citations honest in business documents — every load-bearing claim sourced, links that actually contain the claim, the as-of dates that keep numbers honest, and the internal-vs-external sourcing rules for decks and memos. Use when asked check the sourcing in this deck, add citations to this doc, our slide says 'studies show' — which studies, or set citation norms for the team. Produces the claim-by-claim audit, the fixes (source found, claim softened, or cut), the citation format for the venue, and the team norm card.
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Use citation-hygiene to audit [document and venue] for its [load-bearing claims], using [available sources and internal-data provenance], and return claim-by-claim fixes plus venue-appropriate citation formatting and team norms.
Required inputs
[document and venue]
[load-bearing claims]
[available sources and internal-data provenance]
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SKILL.md
name: citation-hygienedescription: "Keep citations honest in business documents — every load-bearing claim sourced, links that actually contain the claim, the as-of dates that keep numbers honest, and the internal-vs-external sourcing rules for decks and memos. Use when asked check the sourcing in this deck, add citations to this doc, our slide says 'studies show' — which studies, or set citation norms for the team. Produces the claim-by-claim audit, the fixes (source found, claim softened, or cut), the citation format for the venue, and the team norm card."
Citation Hygiene Skill
Business documents run on unsourced confidence: "studies show," "industry-standard," the market-size number nobody can trace, the chart with no as-of date. Each unsourced load-bearing claim is a small loan against credibility — called in the moment a skeptic asks "says who?" in front of the room. Citation hygiene is not academia: it's the practical discipline that every claim someone might challenge or act on carries its source, the link actually contains the claim (the classic drive-by cite doesn't), numbers wear their dates, and claims that can't be sourced get softened or cut before the meeting does it for you.
What This Skill Produces
The claim audit — the doc's load-bearing claims listed, each: sourced / sourceable / soften / cut
The fixes — sources attached (verified to contain the claim — the source-triangulation quick check), softenings drafted, the cut list
The venue format — how citations look here: footnotes for memos, the source line for slides, links for docs
The norm card — the team's three citation rules, postable
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
The document — and its stakes/venue (the board deck's bar differs from the team memo's; both have one)
Which claims are load-bearing — the ones decisions or credibility rest on; hygiene triages (sourcing every sentence is academia cosplay — sourcing none is the current problem)
The available sources — where the numbers came from (the analyst's model? a report? memory?) — "memory" is an honest answer that routes to softening
Internal-data provenance — for internal numbers: which system, what query, as of when — internal claims need internal citations too ("revenue dashboard, July 15" beats "our data shows")
Framework: The Hygiene Rules
Triage by load-bearing: the claims that carry the recommendation, the sizing, or the urgency get the audit; connective prose doesn't. The test: if challenged in the room, would the author need to defend it? Then it needs its source now, cheaply, instead of live, expensively.
The link must contain the claim: the drive-by cite — a link that discusses the topic but never states the number — is the most common citation fraud, usually accidental (the chain of paraphrase drifted). The verify step: open the source, find the sentence. Absent, the claim inherits the source's actual wording or loses the cite.
Numbers wear dates and denominators: "as of Q2 2026" on every market figure and internal metric ("40% growth" — of what, since when?); an undated number in a living deck becomes silently false on schedule. Internal numbers cite system + date ("CRM export, Jul 15") so the inevitable "that doesn't match my dashboard" resolves in seconds.
Unsourceable claims soften or die: the options, in order — find the source · soften to earned confidence ("we believe, based on [basis]" / "directionally," per the triangulation phrasing rules) · attribute honestly ("our estimate") · cut. What never survives: the bare assertion whose defense is hope.
Venue formats keep it light: slides get the small source line (source, date) per chart/claim · memos get footnotes or inline links · docs get links. The norm card is three lines: load-bearing claims carry sources · numbers carry dates · "studies show" is banned without the study — light enough to enforce, sharp enough to matter.