Why a source on the right topic can still be the wrong source

You search for your claim, find a paper with the right words in its title, and cite it. It feels like research. But a source can be about exactly what you're writing and still not say what your sentence says.

Topic is not support

Say your essay claims that roughly 70% of teenagers sleep fewer than eight hours a night. A systematic review of school start times and adolescent sleep is clearly on topic. But it is about start times, and it doesn't give that figure. Citing it makes the sentence look supported when it isn't.

A CDC report found that 72.7% of U.S. high school students slept fewer than eight hours on school nights. That one does say it, so that's the one to cite, and your sentence should match what it says.

If you can't point to the line that says it, the source doesn't support you yet.

Check the details, not just the gist

Numbers, dates and who did the study are where sources and sentences drift apart. If your source says 72.7% of high school students, don't write “nearly all teenagers”.

How Tracely helps

Tracely reads each source it finds and shows it only if its own text backs your sentence, with the line it found. A source that's on topic but doesn't back the claim is left out.