Dunhuang Star Chart: building an evidence file

01

Start with the shelfmark

Use the complete shelfmark as the material key, then create separate source cards for catalogue, translation and paper. The key identifies the object; each modern account retains its own responsibility, title and version. A new translation or revised webpage can then be added without obscuring which account supported an earlier note.

Keep object name, holding institution, shelfmark, source link and access date separate. Distinguish author, copyist, collector, translator and researcher. Leave unverified responsibilities unresolved. An institutional domain tells you who hosts a record, not who composed an ancient text or copied a surviving witness.

02

Retain discrepancies and examine their scope

Catalogue fields, public guides and research papers can supply different numbers or dates for the same object. Record value, referent, locator and reasoning separately. Ask whether the figures count the same things or the dates describe the same layer before treating one as an error. A discrepancy is a question to investigate, not a licence to silently standardise.

The linked library records identify specific differences in dating and star counts. Return to the named field or abstract to check each. Unless the plotted points have been independently recounted, describe the task as comparing published counts. That wording preserves the distinction between reviewing a report and reproducing its underlying measurement.

03

Make an evidence file another reader can extend

For each claim, record what the source states, what you infer and what remains missing. Turn unresolved items into bounded tasks, such as checking a chart boundary or a translator's supplementation. Each task needs an object, locator and completion criterion so another reader can continue from the same evidence.

Keep a revision log stating the changed field, new evidence and reason for revising the earlier claim. If image reuse rights are unavailable, retain a link and locator instead. The illustration on this page is editorial artwork; identify the historical material through the catalogue and its images, not through the decorative illustration.

SOURCE RECORD

Source and connections

The recording steps, exercises and reflection are institute-authored teaching suggestions. Material descriptions draw on the linked source; citation implies no institutional affiliation or endorsement.