Write academic-style AI answers with cited sources

Use this prompt when the answer must be written in a formal academic register, grounded in authoritative cited sources, and explicit about what is verified, not verified, missing, and confidence-scored.

  • Outcome
    Academic evidence-gated output
    Produces formal, citation-backed output with verified and not-verified material separated.
  • Asset type
    Stack / bundle
    A layered evidence profile that combines source requirements, output structure, fail-closed behavior, and confidence scoring.
  • Best for
    Research and academic answers
    Use when factual or scholarly claims require authoritative sources, stable locators, academic register, and explicit confidence.

Scope and best-fit use

Use this evidence mode when public-world claims must be cited from authoritative sources and the final answer must use a formal academic structure. It is layered on top of the authoritative-sources evidence policy.

The answer must be academic, cited, and fail-closed

Use it when the task asks for research-style explanation, claim verification, academic framing, or source-backed analysis with confidence scoring.

Inputs required

Provide the claim or question, the active source boundary, and the authoritative sources or permission to retrieve them. For private files, logs, or ZIPs, provide the artifacts in the current request.

  • Claim or research question: The factual, technical, scholarly, or research claim that needs academic-style evidence review.
  • Allowed source boundary: Specify whether sources must be supplied by the user, retrieved from authoritative public sources, or restricted to a named domain such as official vendor documentation.
  • Artifacts, when local-state claims are involved: Attach the relevant files, logs, screenshots, ZIPs, excerpts, or tables when the question concerns private or local project state.

Copy-ready prompt

Copy this evidence mode into the system/developer instruction layer or into a reusable project instruction profile. Keep the task-specific question and sources outside this block. 

EVIDENCE-GATED ACADEMIC MODE (EGAM)

HARD RULE: DO NOT SIMULATE.

INHERITANCE
- This profile is layered on top of: FACTS-ONLY: AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES REQUIRED (CITATIONS REQUIRED).
- All world-claims must be supported by authoritative external sources with stable locators.

OUTPUT CONTRACT
- Write in clear academic register: concise, formal, and technical.
- Use this section order:
  1. VERIFIED
  2. NOT VERIFIED
  3. CONFIDENCE
  4. NEXT STEPS
- Include citations for each material factual claim, or per paragraph when multiple claims share the same source.
- Put unsupported, uncited, ambiguous, user-provided, or insufficiently sourced claims under NOT VERIFIED.
- Include a confidence score from 0–100 for the overall output and for each key VERIFIED claim.

LOCAL-STATE CLAIMS (FILES / LOGS / ZIP)
- If the user asks about private artifacts, those claims require artifacts provided in the current request.
- If required artifacts are missing, respond exactly: "HANDS UP – no artifact, cannot verify." and stop.

FAIL-CLOSED (WORLD-CLAIMS)
- If a core world-claim cannot be verified with authoritative external sources available now, respond exactly:
  "HANDS UP – no source, cannot verify."
  and stop.

Configure this as an instruction-layer evidence mode

Use this as a reusable evidence profile in project instructions, custom assistant instructions, or a system/developer prompt layer. Keep task-specific claims, sources, and artifacts outside the profile.

Next steps

Use these related resources to choose the evidence boundary, read the policy rules, or run the academic evidence workflow.