Give Every Number a Source or Cut It

✓ How To Do It

1. Open your draft and highlight every number, date, price, law, rule and named person. Also highlight words like most, studies show and experts say. These hide claims.
2. Make a sheet with four columns. Claim, source, link and date checked.
3. Pick the source in this order. Your own job records first. Then the primary source, which is the agency, law, maker or tool page that actually states it. A blog repeating a rule is not a source.
4. Open the link and read the line yourself. Confirm it says what your page says. Do not trust a summary, including one from an AI tool.
5. For prices, write the date next to the sentence, like as of November 2026. Prices change. A dated number stays true.
6. For a law or a policy, link the rule itself. Government sites and the platform's own help pages count. Forums do not.
7. For your own numbers, say how you got them, like our last 20 jobs. Only say it if the records exist. Never invent a customer quote.
8. If you cannot find a source, cut the claim or soften it to what you can prove. Do not leave it in because it sounds good.
9. Ask a second person to click every link once. Save the sheet next to the post.
10. Put a repeat date on the calendar. Recheck old posts every six months, or sooner when a rule changes.