Sources & Citations

What we consider a strong source

• Official government or institutional pages.
• Universities, scientific and medical organizations, museums, and archives.
• Peer-reviewed research when relevant.
• Reputable books, reference publishers, and educational organizations.
• Primary documents where they are available and useful.

How we use sources

Sources should support the explanation, not decorate it. A citation is useful when it helps establish a fact, clarify a disputed point, or show where a claim comes from.

TinyThat avoids turning short explainers into academic papers. The reader should be able to understand the answer without fighting through citation clutter.

How we handle conflicting sources

When reliable sources disagree, we do not hide the disagreement. We explain the stronger view, the competing explanation, or the reason the question is uncertain.

When citations matter most

• Health, safety, science, and public claims.
• Historical claims that are often repeated incorrectly.
• Statistics, dates, legal facts, or technical mechanisms.
• Topics where a common explanation may be incomplete.

What we avoid

• Anonymous claims with no evidence.
• Unsourced viral posts.
• Copied summaries that do not lead back to a reliable source.
• Single-source certainty on disputed topics.

Reader corrections

If you know a stronger source or find a weak citation, contact editorial@tinythat.com with the article URL and the source you think we should review.