Method

What kind of claim is being made?

Identity or foundation

Accounting or a theoretical relationship under specified conditions. Distribution accounting tracks value; it does not establish what a fund will earn or which tax treatment applies.

Measured evidence

An observed record with a population, period, and source. Historical stock outcomes, posted prices, and product records answer questions about that evidence set, not every future investor.

Modeled or illustrative

A result generated from stated inputs or a deliberately simple example. Simulated percentiles describe the assumed process, not confidence that the process is correct. A model is not a forecast.

Literature or evidence review

A synthesis of studies or claims, including counterexamples and limitations. Attribution matters: a public description of a book is not verification of its full contents.

Decision framework or protocol fact

A framework organizes tradeoffs; a documented mechanism describes what a system does. Neither supplies a price forecast, a personal allocation, or a guarantee of safety.

Primary texts and interpretation

Historical voices read in context and in tension. Edition, translation, speaker, and rights information belong with the passage. The commentary is an argument, not a universal creed.

A paper can use several classes. Read the local label and assumptions before carrying a conclusion from one class into another.

What is held equal?

Compare like exposures, cash-flow timing, horizons, and units before attributing a difference to skill or structure. State whether returns include distributions, which costs and taxes are deducted, and whether dollars are nominal or inflation-adjusted. A withdrawal is a flow; a portfolio balance is a stock. They cannot be added as though both were new return.

Where a model isolates a fee or wrapper, the simpler alternative should face the same market path and spending requirement. If assumptions differ, identify the difference rather than treating the result as a clean comparison. Equal inputs must produce equal displayed outcomes.

Then inspect what is absent. A scenario that omits taxes, severe tail events, or forced selling has not established that those risks are immaterial. Change an assumption to understand sensitivity, not to search for an attractive forecast.

A new page is not new evidence

The editorial review date records work on the reader's synthesis or presentation. Each paper's evidence review date describes its own research vintage; the source itself may cover a much earlier sample or have a different effective date. None is a live-market timestamp.

Follow the bridge's section links to the argument and its source ledger. Keep quotations, measurements, and product claims attached to their provenance instead of copying a large bibliography onto every entry page. A regulation's enactment date, for example, need not be its effective date.

What a visual must earn

A figure belongs when it explains a relationship, supplies evidence, or adds specific historical or human context. Decoration alone is not enough. The reader should be able to identify the question, the takeaway, the source, and the main boundary beside the figure.

Quantitative graphics need visible quantities, units, denominators, horizons, and dates where applicable. Comparisons share a justified scale; bars start at zero, signed values expose zero, and logarithmic scales say so. Conceptual maps use named relationships, not invented coordinates, ranks, or risk scores.

Meaning must survive without hover, JavaScript, animation, or color perception. Use direct labels, patterns or other non-color distinctions, and a nearby explanation or full data alternative. Text and essential marks must remain legible in both themes, at narrow phone widths and enlarged text, without horizontal plot panning.

Original diagrams are labeled as interpretations or illustrations. Borrowed images require real provenance and rights, truthful dimensions, and a purpose beyond atmosphere. If removing a figure loses no understanding, evidence, or useful context, it should be removed or moved out of the main reading path. These are inclusion standards, not a claim that every legacy figure has already been remediated.

Scope and corrections

This is educational research, not individualized investment, tax, legal, or gambling advice. Models cannot verify a household's circumstances or replace qualified review. Source criticism and literary interpretation also involve editorial judgment.

I write and build these papers with AI coding and research assistants.

AI assistance is not evidence or professional verification. Citations, quotations, numbers, and characterizations require checking against their sources. Report a specific error through the site's contact section, ideally with the paper, section, and underlying source.