# 🔎 Verifying AI Suggestions Before They Enter Your Draft

By Better Wise

Your argument now has a claim, reasons, and evidence you have already stress-tested. In Module 2 you learned that a source earns trust only after you pressure it, and you wrote prompts designed to earn real pushback. That pushback has arrived, and it sounds confident. This lesson covers the gap between a confident suggestion and a sentence you can defend in front of a reader.

By the end you should be able to:

- Explain why fluent AI output is a claim to check, not a fact to paste
- Run the source, statement, and fit checks on any factual suggestion
- Keep suggestions in a quarantine note until they earn a verdict
- Assign Accept, Adapt, or Reject and record why

## What Actually Arrives in the Chat Box

AI writes by predicting likely next words. Fluency is the goal of that process, not accuracy. So a correctly remembered fact, a paraphrase that quietly drifted, and a citation invented from scratch all arrive in the same polished tone. Tone tells you nothing.

Here is a real-shaped example. A learner drafting an essay on later school start times gets this:

> "Research by Chen et al. (2019) found that 87% of districts that moved start times saw a 22% rise in attendance."

This is exactly the sentence a tired writer wants to paste. It is also three possible failures stacked on top of each other: the paper may not exist, the percentage may be invented, or the study may exist but measure something else entirely.

**Nothing enters your draft as a fact until you can trace it yourself.**

## Three Checks, In Order

| Check | The question | If it fails |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source | Does this source exist, and can I find it without the AI's help? | Reject, or mark as unverified and search independently |
| Statement | Does the source actually say what the AI says it says? | Rewrite the claim to match the source, or drop it |
| Fit | Does it support my thesis in my argument's terms? | Adapt or cut, even if the fact is true |

The statement check catches the most damage. AI tends to round numbers up, swap "associated with" for "causes", and attach a real finding to the wrong author. A true study cited inaccurately is still a citation error with your name on it.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A["🤖<br/>AI suggestion"] --> B["Break it into single claims"]
    B --> C{"📄<br/>Can I find the source?"}
    C -->|No| D["Reject or mark unverified"]
    C -->|Yes| E{"🔍<br/>Does the source say this?"}
    E -->|No| D
    E -->|Yes| F{"🎯<br/>Does it fit my thesis?"}
    F -->|No| G["Adapt or cut"]
    F -->|Yes| H["Accept into draft"]
```

> **Note:** 
> One kind of suggestion is not a fact claim at all: critiques of your own writing, such as "your second reason restates your first." You cannot look those up. You test them by rereading your paragraph with the critique in mind and seeing whether the problem is visible.

### Practice: run the checks

An AI hands you this line for your project essay on note-taking and attention:

> "According to a 2021 Stanford study, students who take notes by hand score 40% higher on exams than laptop note-takers."

Run all three checks and write your verdict in one sentence.

**Click to reveal a model answer**

Source check: the well-known study in this area is Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014), not a 2021 Stanford paper, so the attribution is probably wrong.
Statement check: the original research reported better conceptual understanding, not a 40% exam-score gap. The number is unsupported.
Fit check: if your thesis is about attention during lectures, an exam-score figure is only loosely on point.
Verdict: reject the citation and the number. You may keep the underlying idea only after locating and reading the real study yourself.

## Where Suggestions Live Until They Earn Their Place

Paste AI output into a separate scratch note, never straight into a paragraph. This quarantine habit does three things: it protects your voice, it forces a decision instead of a drift, and it leaves a record you can reread during revision.

Then keep a short verification log. Four columns are enough.

```tree
verification-log.md
  Suggestion  | claim, critique, or wording
  Type        | fact / critique / phrasing
  What I checked | source found? statement matched? fit argued?
  Verdict     | accept / adapt / reject
```

Copy by hand when a suggestion finally passes. Retyping a verified idea is slower than pasting, and that slowness is the point: the sentence comes out in your syntax.

## Accept, Adapt, or Reject

- **Accept**: traceable source, accurate statement, and it serves your thesis. It enters the draft, usually reworded.
- **Adapt**: the direction is useful but the details, framing, or wording are wrong. Keep the thought, rewrite it in your own voice, and verify anything factual separately.
- **Reject**: untraceable, misstated, or it supports a thesis that is not yours. It stays out, and the log records why.

> **Warning:** 
> The dangerous middle case is a suggestion that is interesting, well written, and slightly off-topic. It passes the source check, fails the fit check, and writers paste it anyway because it sounds good. A true fact that pulls your argument sideways is still a problem.

### Practice: assign verdicts

For each suggestion from your capstone draft, name the verdict and the reason.

1. "Add a counterargument about the cost of later bus schedules."
2. "Surveys show 90% of teachers support later start times."

**Click to reveal guidance**

1. This is a critique, not a fact. Check your own draft: is there a cost objection you have not answered? If yes, accept it as a plan item and write the paragraph yourself. If your essay already handles cost, reject it as redundant.
2. This is a fact claim with no traceable survey attached. Reject it unless you can locate the actual survey, confirm the wording, and confirm the sample. If you find a real survey with a smaller number, adapt: cite the real figure and state its limits.

## Habits of a Writer Who Checks

- Verify before you admire. Reread the suggestion in a flat voice and ask only what it claims.
- Search the title, not the sentence. If searching the AI's exact sentence finds nothing, that is a signal, not a coincidence.
- Ask for the claim, not the paragraph. "Give me one claim and the source for it" is easier to check than five polished sentences.
- Copy numbers exactly, then confirm each one against the source. Rounded numbers are where drift hides.
- Treat "I could not find it" as a verdict, not a delay. Unverified material does not wait in your draft.
- Log the rejects. Knowing what you threw out, and why, is the fastest way to see your own judgment improving.

A fact enters your draft only after you can _____.
The three checks are source, statement, and _____.
When the source exists but says something different from the AI's summary, the suggestion fails the _____ check.
Suggestions wait in a separate _____ note instead of inside the draft.
A verdict of _____ means the direction is useful but the details or wording must be rewritten in your own words.

## What to Carry Into the Next Lesson

Verification is a procedure, and procedures can be run mechanically: find the source, compare the words, test the fit, log the verdict. The harder question comes next, and it is not about accuracy. It is whether the help you accepted did your thinking for you. The next lesson, *Helpful Assistance vs Outsourcing the Thinking*, gives you a way to tell the two apart, using the log you just started.

Front: Why does fluent AI output still need verification?
Back: Fluency is the goal of word prediction, not evidence of accuracy, so confident tone tells you nothing about truth.

Front: What does the source check ask?
Back: Does this source exist, and can I find it without the AI's help?

Front: What does the statement check ask?
Back: Does the source actually say what the AI claims it says?

Front: What does the fit check ask?
Back: Does this claim support my thesis, in my argument's terms?

Front: You get a statistic with a named author and year. What is the first move?
Back: Try to locate the source independently. If you cannot trace it, you cannot cite it.

Front: Where do AI suggestions sit while you verify them?
Back: In a separate scratch or quarantine note, never inside the draft paragraph.

Front: What four things belong in a verification log?
Back: The suggestion, its type, what you checked, and the verdict.

Front: Define the Accept verdict.
Back: Traceable source, accurate statement, and it serves the thesis, so it enters the draft.

Front: Define the Adapt verdict.
Back: The direction is useful but details, framing, or wording must be rewritten in your own voice.

Front: Define the Reject verdict.
Back: Untraceable, misstated, or serving a different thesis, so it stays out and the log records why.

Front: How do you test a critique like 'your second reason restates your first'?
Back: Reread your paragraph with the critique in mind. It is a claim about your text, so you check your text, not a source.

Front: Two common failure modes in AI evidence suggestions?
Back: Fabricated or misattributed citations, and quote drift such as rounding numbers or turning correlation into causation.

Front: Why retype a suggestion that passed verification?
Back: Retyping forces a decision and keeps the sentence in your own syntax and voice.

---

## Contents

Part of [✍️ Think Before You Prompt: Develop Independent Writing and Original Thought](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought.md)

- **🧠 Think First: Draft Before You Ask AI**
  - [💭 Freewriting: Dump First, Judge Later](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/freewriting-dump-first-judge-later.md)
  - [🗺️ Outlining From Memory and Naming Your Knowledge Gaps](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/outline-from-memory-and-knowledge-gaps.md) (sign-in required)
  - [🎯 Thesis Development: From Topic to Defensible Claim](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/thesis-development-defensible-claim.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Thinking-First Foundations](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/checkpoint-thinking-first-foundations.md)
- **⚖️ Argue, Critique, Verify**
  - [🧩 Argument Construction: Claims, Reasons, Assumptions](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/argument-construction-claims-reasons-assumptions.md)
  - [🔍 Evidence Selection and Stress-Testing Sources](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/evidence-selection-and-stress-testing.md)
  - [🤖 AI as Critic: Prompts That Earn Real Pushback](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/ai-as-critic-prompts-for-pushback.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Argument and AI Critique](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/checkpoint-argument-and-ai-critique.md)
- **🛠️ Verify, Revise, Own It**
  - [🔎 Verifying AI Suggestions Before They Enter Your Draft](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/verifying-ai-suggestions.md) — this lesson
  - [🚧 Helpful Assistance vs Outsourcing the Thinking](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/assistance-vs-outsourcing-thinking.md)
  - [🏆 Capstone: Draft, Critique, Revise, Reflect](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/capstone-draft-critique-revise-reflect.md) (premium content)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Ownership and Revision](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/checkpoint-ownership-and-revision.md) (premium content)
- [Course cheatsheet](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/cheatsheet.md) (premium content)