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Method5 minute read

How a citation resolves to an exact page or section

A citation marker is a pointer you can follow. This is what has to be true before Virtus shows one, and what it still leaves to you.

The marker

Each sentence of a Virtus answer carries a numbered marker. Selecting it opens the source passage beside the conversation, in a sheet on a phone, so the answer and anything you were typing stay where they are.

A marker is not decoration. It stands for a specific place in a specific document, and the rest of this article is about what has to be true before it is shown.

  1. Marker

    [1] after a sentence in the answer

  2. Locator

    IRS Private Letter Ruling 202627005, page 4

  3. Passage

    The published text at that location

  4. Original

    The publisher’s PDF, opened at the page

The four parts of a citation, using the public ruling as the example.

The locator

A locator names the document and the place inside it. For a PDF, the place is an exact page: page 4 of IRS Private Letter Ruling 202627005. For a Code section or a regulation, it is the section. A document-level pointer with no page or section does not meet the standard, so it is not used as evidence.

When a citation points into an original PDF, opening it takes you to that page in the publisher’s file.

Published text only

Before an answer is shown, each citation is looked up in the library’s published record. The passage has to exist there, carry a page or section location, and match the stored source text. A citation that names something Virtus does not hold, or text that differs from what it holds, is not accepted.

The document’s publication details record its version and identifiers, so a passage can be traced to the exact published version it came from.

Sentences without support

A sentence that cannot be tied to a passage is removed from the answer. If no sentence survives, Virtus does not fill the space: it shows No cited answer and the reason.

Similar wording in a document is not evidence. A search match tells Virtus where to look; only a resolved citation lets a sentence stay.

Research conversationIllustrated state

What is the sales tax rate in Ohio?

Virtus

No cited answer

No documents matched this question, so no cited answer is shown. Try a document number, a Code section, or a different phrase.

When nothing supports an answer, the response says so.

What it leaves to you

A resolved citation shows where a sentence came from. It does not establish that:

  • the passage supports the position you want to take;
  • the source is the current or controlling authority for your period;
  • a scanned page was read perfectly. Scanned pages are shown as a transcription of the original and labelled that way.

For the authority label on a ruling, see what “nonprecedential” means. For the limits of the library itself, see what “searchable” means.

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