5.6 — Information Provenance & Multi-Source Synthesis

CCAR-F Domain 5 · Task 5.6

What You Need to Know

Structured Claim-Source Mappings

Every finding must include:

• Claim
• Source URL
• Document name
• Relevant excerpt
• Publication date

Why Attribution Dies in Synthesis

Synthesis compresses and paraphrases; source details drop out unless explicitly preserved. Downstream agents must maintain and merge claim-source mappings. Explicit instructions required.

Conflict Handling

When two credible sources disagree: annotate both values with full attribution and dates. Never arbitrarily select one (most recent, average, most authoritative).

Temporal Awareness

Different publication/data-collection dates often explain different numbers (trend, not contradiction). Require dates in all structured outputs.

Content-Appropriate Rendering

Content type	Format
Financial data	Tables
News / current events	Prose
Technical findings	Structured lists

Completing Analysis with Conflicts Intact

Analysis agent completes work with conflicts annotated; does not resolve them. Coordinator or consumer decides.

Key Concept: Map every claim to source URL, document name, excerpt and publication date; keep mappings through synthesis. Annotate conflicts with both values; never pick one arbitrarily. Match format to content.

Exam Traps

• Selecting the most recent source when sources conflict
• Assuming different numbers are contradictions (check dates)
• Allowing synthesis to paraphrase without preserving mappings
• Rendering all content in a uniform format