Practical resource
A checklist for preserving credible writing-process evidence.
Good process evidence is created during the work, not reconstructed after a dispute. Use this checklist before writing, while revising, and when you share the final text.
Before writing
Save the brief, purpose, policy, research plan, and any requirement about AI or collaboration.
During writing
Keep dated notes, sources, versions, comments, and an optional controlled-session record.
At publication
Bind the evidence to the exact final version, add disclosures, and select a privacy-appropriate sharing method.
Before the first draft
Clarify what needs to be demonstrated. Authorship, originality, policy compliance, factual accuracy, and absence of AI are different questions. Record the assignment, commission, editorial brief, or self-imposed standard before the work begins.
- Save the dated brief, topic, audience, deadline, and expected final format.
- Record the applicable AI, collaboration, citation, and confidentiality rules.
- Create a source list and label interviews, research notes, and licensed material.
- Decide whether a controlled writing session or ordinary version history fits the task.
While the text develops
Preserve the real working trail rather than manufacturing a polished one. Abandoned outlines and substantive revisions can be useful because they show the reasoning and editing that led to the final result.
- Use dated versions or a trustworthy document history for long-form work.
- Keep citations connected to the claims they support.
- Record collaborator names and the type of feedback or editing they provided.
- Document generative, translation, grammar, research, or transcription tools according to policy.
- If using HumanTyped, review replay visibility before sealing the session.
Before sharing evidence
Confirm that the evidence refers to the exact published version and disclose changes made elsewhere afterward. Share the minimum material that answers the question, especially when drafts contain personal information, confidential sources, or deleted ideas.
- Verify the final URL, date, text, and receipt or version identifier.
- Check signature, reconstruction, replay visibility, and revocation state where applicable.
- Add a plain-language authorship or AI-use statement.
- State what the evidence cannot establish, including identity and unobserved assistance.
- Keep an offline export when the dispute or retention requirement is significant.
Evidence, not certainty