# References

Every answer ResponseHub produces is built from references — the specific
material it drew on. Each reference is one of two things:

- A **knowledge base item** — an approved answer you already have
- A **chunk of a source** — a passage of text from one of your documents

References are what make an answer checkable. Rather than trusting the answer on
its own, you can look at what produced it.

## How sources become chunks

A policy document is too long to work with whole, so each source is split into
chunks when it is imported. A chunk is roughly 200 words — around 900 characters
— cut at sentence boundaries so it never splits mid-sentence, with a little
overlap between neighbouring chunks so a passage that spans a boundary isn't
lost.

Every chunk remembers where it came from: which document, and which section of
that document. That is why a reference can point you to the exact part of a
policy behind an answer.

## How references are used

Sometimes a single chunk contains the answer outright. More often the answer is
inferred across several — one chunk establishing that you encrypt data, another
naming the standard, a third covering key management.

That is why the references list usually holds more than one entry, and why they
are worth reading together rather than one at a time.

## Reading the references card

Each reference is badged:

| Badge | Means |
|---|---|
| **Used in answer** | The material informed the answer |
| **Used as answer** | The text was reused word for word — see [verbatim answers](/how-questions-are-answered/verbatim/) |

Anything retrieved but not drawn on appears separately under **Unused
references**. Each reference also carries a
[relevance](/how-questions-are-answered/relevancy/) rating.

**When there are no references:** If nothing in your material matches the question closely enough, the card shows
**Insufficient Context** and explains what was missing rather than showing an
answer. That means the topic isn't covered yet — either
[import a source](/sources/importing-sources/) that covers it, or write the
answer yourself.

## Next steps

- [Relevancy](/how-questions-are-answered/relevancy/)
- [Confidence](/how-questions-are-answered/confidence/)