From a highlighted PDF to a useful research brief.

A highlight marks something you noticed. A research brief explains why it matters. The step between them is where useful research happens.

Integrity lets you read and annotate PDFs in the workspace, then work on a document alongside the source. Use that proximity to distinguish what the document says from what you think it means.

Decide what you are trying to learn

Start with one question. For example: “What would make our workshop easier for a first-time participant?” That question gives you a reason to select one passage and leave another alone.

Upload the PDF and open it in the workspace. Read enough surrounding context to understand a passage before highlighting it. A memorable sentence can be misleading when detached from the limitation in the next paragraph.

Keep annotations short and specific. Instead of “interesting,” write “supports offering a guided first exercise” or “small sample; do not generalize.” You are leaving a useful instruction for your future self.

Open a brief beside the source

Create a document with four sections: the question, findings, implications, and things to check. Keep the PDF visible in another pane while you write.

For each finding, record the source and page, the relevant observation, and your interpretation. Treat those as separate pieces of information. A reader should be able to tell where the evidence ends and your recommendation begins.

An illustrative note might look like this:

Observation: Several participants asked for an example before starting.
Interpretation: The first instruction may be too abstract.
Next test: Show one completed example before the exercise.

This is a made-up research example, not a claim about a study or a screenshot of an automatic result.

Give AI a checking task

Mention the source and the working brief. Ask the assistant to summarize the relevant material, compare passages, or look for a claim in your brief that the source does not support.

A useful request is:

Check this brief against the attached source. Separate supported findings from my inferences. Identify what needs verification and include page references where available.

Verify the references yourself. Extraction quality varies across PDFs, especially scans, complex tables, and unusual layouts. If text is missing or garbled, return to the visible page; a fluent answer cannot repair missing evidence by itself.

Turn the finding into a decision

A research brief should help someone do something. End with a proposed decision, the evidence supporting it, and the remaining uncertainty.

If the next step is an experiment, give it an owner in the project database. If the conclusion is “we do not know yet,” write that plainly and define the next question. Keeping the source nearby makes later revision easier when new evidence appears.

For longer material, Integrity also supports reading books in the workspace. The same habit applies: capture enough context that a note remains useful after you have forgotten the sentence that first caught your eye.