Guide to your investigation

01Start an investigation

An investigation is a saved research run: it explores leads, reads sources, develops an angle and tests the story before producing an article and pitch. You provide a starting point and can guide the work as it develops.

1. Open New investigation. In What would you like to investigate?, enter a country, topic, question or observation. You can write in any language. A broad starting point is fine; a specific tension or question helps focus the work.
2. Expand Add context for useful links, a location, a time period, what you already know or what you want the story to explain.
3. Enable Allow feedback during this investigation if you want your comments considered while the research is running. This also opens the investigation's limits: enter a Budget limit · USD within the available allowance. You can keep the default Call limits or adjust model calls, source searches and readings.
4. Select Start investigation. Open Your research to follow it. The work continues if you leave the page.

Example starting point

Why do some small Japanese supermarkets choose to stay independent even when they can sell nationwide? Look for a specific business and explain the trade-off through the people doing the work.

The article and pitch are written in English. The budget is a spending ceiling, rather than a guarantee of a finished story. New investigations, feedback revisions and new translations use the workspace allowance.

02Follow the research process

Open Your research and choose an investigation from the Investigations list. Its progress and status appear beside the list on a larger screen, or below it on a smaller screen. Updates arrive automatically.

Expand Research process and open a question to understand what the research had available at that point:

• Why this question explains the recorded reason for pursuing it.
• Reported findings, Reported counterevidence and Reported limitations and unknowns show what the saved report supports, challenges or leaves open, when recorded.
• Next recorded decision shows the next action or question when available. Compare it with the findings to see how the direction developed.
• Search terms and selected collection plan shows saved search queries and reading targets. Materials available by this checkpoint lets you open the saved source text or select Open original.

Expand Full saved research report for the report behind an excerpt. Use Earlier steps to load older questions and More saved source records when a step has additional materials.

Select New steps or Updated steps when offered to bring the latest changes into view. Refresh process checks for an update manually. This lets you read a saved step without having new material replace it while you are reviewing.

Open saved context on a process comment returns you to the checkpoint it refers to. Later questions are hidden in that view so you can judge the decision using the materials available then. Select Show later steps to return to the current process.

03Guide work in progress

You can leave feedback on a specific research decision while the investigation is running.

1. In Research process, open the step you want to discuss and select Leave feedback.
2. Write Your comment. Explain what you would focus on at this point and why. Refer to the question or evidence you are looking at.
3. Expand Add a focus, question or source · optional to fill in Where would you focus?, What would you investigate next? or suggested source URLs. Add one URL per line, up to five.
4. Under How should this feedback be used?, choose Send to editor to ask the AI editor to consider it, or Keep as a review note to save your observation.
5. Select Send feedback and check the confirmation beneath the form. The comment then appears with its saved context and delivery status.

Example process comment

I would focus on how younger staff learn the cooking. We have the owner's explanation, but not the staff's experience. What changes when the person carrying that knowledge is absent? I would look for a staff interview before collecting more general background.

When does it affect the work?

For an investigation started with live feedback enabled, Send to editor queues your comment for the next eligible editorial decision. The editor can use it to reconsider the question, seek evidence or change the draft. A request already prepared keeps its existing instructions. If reader reviews are underway, the feedback may wait until those reviews finish.

If live feedback was not enabled, the investigation has finished or its final request was already prepared, your comment is retained for followup. It does not restart the investigation. Use Improve with feedback when a separate revision is needed.

04Read the story and leave comments

Under Research output, open Article to read the full story, Pitch for its proposed angle and Sources to examine the supporting material. Click a citation to inspect the relevant saved source and use Open original for the wider context.

1. For a paragraph: select the speech-bubble icon at the end of that paragraph. The comment form includes the passage you are responding to.
2. For the whole article or pitch: select Leave an impression. Describe the overall story, title, angle or explanation you want to discuss.
3. Write your comment, choose its purpose and select Send feedback. If useful, set Your assessment · optional to Sufficiently reflected or Needs more work.

Useful feedback says what interested you, what you understood differently, which connection is missing and what evidence would resolve it.

Example paragraph comment

This passage explains the decision to turn down branches, but I still cannot see how the existing shop depends on local relationships. Could we connect one staff member's daily work to that decision, using evidence from the sources?

Open Reader feedback and assessments below the documents to see saved comments. Process comments stay with their research steps. Open saved context shows the exact document or checkpoint reviewed, including the language and version.

You can edit or withdraw your own feedback using the actions on it. Earlier versions and any recorded uses remain available. An edit creates a new feedback version; it does not undo work already done with an older version.

05What happens after you send feedback?

Saving feedback records your comment. Its status tells you whether it is a note, waiting for the editor, available for a later revision or already reviewed.

Saved review note

The observation is saved with its context. It is not queued as a live instruction. It can be selected explicitly for a later feedback revision.

Received · next available Editor

The comment is queued for an eligible editorial decision. It has not necessarily been reviewed or applied yet.

Received · waiting until after the reader reviews

The current reviews finish before the editor can consider the comment.

Received for followup · no new work started

The comment is saved for a separate revision. No new research has started. A comment marked Not considered in this run · followup needed likewise needs followup.

Reviewed · Plan to apply / Partially addressed / Further reporting needed / Not applied

An editorial response explains how the comment was handled. Read its reason and inspect any linked next question, collected source or manuscript change. Plan to apply describes an intention; use the resulting evidence and text to judge what actually changed.

A comment may lead to another question, a source request, a change in the argument or wording, or an explanation of why it was not applied. The editor may only address part of a suggestion when the evidence is limited.

06Improve a finished investigation and compare

When an eligible investigation has a saved article, its creator or the workspace owner can start a feedback revision. If you are reviewing someone else's investigation, leave your comments for a person with that permission to use.

1. Select Improve with feedback below the research output.
2. Under Choose feedback to address, select the exact saved comments and versions to use. Use Load more feedback if needed, or Refresh feedback selection to reload the choices.
3. Describe the Scope of this revision: what question or connection should improve, what evidence should be sought and what can stay as it is.
4. Set the Separate budget and call limits. The workspace allowance also applies. Select Start feedback revision to begin.

Example revision scope

Address the selected comments about staff knowledge and local relationships. Use the retained sources where they support the claim, seek direct evidence for the missing connection, and revise the relevant passages. Qualify the explanation if that evidence remains unavailable.

This creates a separate investigation with inherited context. The original article, sources, comments and costs are preserved. Selecting a comment in the form starts no work until you submit the revision.

Check the result

Open the revision in Your research. Read the new article and the Changes from the parent manuscript section. Compare Before and After, read each editorial response and inspect additional materials in Research process. Open parent investigation returns you to the original version.

Judge the improvement against your original point: did the evidence change, did a missing connection become clear, and is the wording supported? Leave feedback on the new version, with Sufficiently reflected or Needs more work if helpful. This saves your assessment; it does not automatically start another revision.

Complete means the workflow finished. The final editorial judgment remains yours.

07Language, access and recovery

Read and comment in the language you need

Use English beside non-English content to display a translation, and Original to switch back. English content does not show this shortcut. For the article or pitch, use Translate to to choose another language. New translations use the workspace allowance and require translation permission.

Comments stay attached to the version and language you reviewed, even if you later switch languages. Check the original source when a translated claim needs closer reading.

Share an investigation for review

If you have permission to manage an investigation, expand Manage review access, enter the reviewer's Google sign-in email and select Grant access. Share the investigation's URL. A designated reviewer can read and comment on that investigation. Starting work, translating content or controlling an investigation requires the relevant permission.

When something needs attention

• Connection check timed out: select Check again.
• Investigation needs attention or review: open Run details and follow the explanation. Continue and Stop investigation are available only when the state and your permission allow them.
• Outcome needs verification: send Ryan the investigation link and status so the existing request can be checked before starting more work.
• Feedback save is unconfirmed: use Check saved feedback to check the same submission. If prompted, sign in again. Keep the current page open while checking an unsaved draft.

Use the moon/sun icon to switch between dark and light mode. The workspace's User guide link opens this guide in a separate tab so you can keep your current investigation open.