Following a claim back to its source

The person who shares a claim is often not the person who produced its evidence. A social post may link to an article, which quotes a report, which summarizes a survey.

Tracing a source means following those connections to find where the relevant information came from. It helps you see whether a claim changed during retelling and whether the evidence actually supports the version you encountered.

The aim is not always to reach the oldest possible file. It is to reach the material that can answer your particular question, with enough context to interpret it.