Questions, Answers, and Citations

MARCUS answers questions from the indexed sources available in the active project and any narrower source scope you select. It searches for relevant passages, organizes the usable evidence, writes a response, and keeps citation identity attached so you can inspect the supporting text.

The answer is a synthesis for review. The citations are the path back to the evidence. Neither one replaces your judgment, the original source, or the current local policy.

Availability and audience

This page is for clinicians and other workspace members who can open a project conversation.

• You must be signed in and have access to the active organization and project.
• The project needs at least one indexed source before the standard question flow is available.
• Source or collection filters, follow-up suggestions, full-search actions, and source-preview controls are conditional. They may depend on organization configuration, project context, and your access.
• An option that does not appear in your interface should not be assumed to be active.

Current workspace boundary: MARCUS is an institutional non-PHI workspace. Do not put patient identifiers, patient-specific clinical facts, PHI, credentials, secrets, or other prohibited data in a question, answer, conversation title, feedback report, or shared link.

How an answer is produced

Answer flow

How MARCUS prepares an answer

MARCUS narrows the search to the selected project, chooses useful passages, and keeps their source details attached.

1. 01

   Ask

   The clinician enters a question in the project workspace.

2. 02

   Confirm scope

   MARCUS checks access and limits the search to the allowed context.

3. 03

   Find passages

   Several search methods identify potentially relevant evidence.

4. 04

   Prioritize evidence

   The most useful passages are compared, ordered, and prepared for use.

5. 05

   Draft the answer

   MARCUS writes a response using the selected evidence.

6. 06

   Attach citations

   Source references and passage details travel with the final response.

   Evidence linked

The clinician-facing answer flow is:

1. Question submission. MARCUS receives the question in the active project and checks access, request limits, and available source scope.
2. Scoped source search. Search stays within the permitted organization and project context. If a collection or selected-source scope is active, MARCUS narrows the eligible sources further.
3. Passage search. MARCUS combines meaning-based search with keyword search so it can find both conceptually related passages and exact clinical or operational terms.
4. Evidence organization. The system combines and reranks results, reduces repetitive passages, and preserves useful surrounding context.
5. Referenced-section follow-up. When a passage points to another relevant section or source, MARCUS may attempt a bounded follow-up search inside the same permitted scope. If the target cannot be found and cited, it should not be invented.
6. Grounded writing. MARCUS writes from the assembled evidence. When the indexed documents do not provide enough support, it should return an insufficient-evidence response instead of filling the gap with an unsupported answer.
7. Streaming display. The answer appears as it is produced. Progress labels describe the current work stage, such as searching or preparing citations.
8. Citation and source delivery. Inline markers and a references section connect claims to source passages.
9. Conversation save. The completed exchange is saved when persistence succeeds. A generated answer can remain visible even if saving later fails, in which case MARCUS should show an error.

Ask a question that the source set can answer

Focused questions are easier to verify. Include the decision point, population, timing, or source boundary that matters.

Avoid including patient-specific details. If a useful question cannot be asked without PHI, do not enter it in the current workspace.

Broad questions such as Tell me everything about fever are harder to scope and audit. A narrower first question also makes it easier to see whether the right source was indexed and found.

Read the answer in layers

Review an important answer in this order:

1. Direct response: Does it answer the question you actually asked?
2. Qualifications: Does it state relevant limits, exceptions, or disagreement?
3. Inline citation markers: Which claims are tied to source passages?
4. Reference list: Which documents were used, and are they appropriate for this question?
5. Cited excerpt: Does the visible passage support the nearby claim?
6. Original source: Is the passage correctly interpreted in its full section, document, and local context?

Do not infer completeness from polished writing. MARCUS can only use the eligible indexed material it found for that request.

Follow a citation

Citation trace

How a citation leads back to the original source

Each visible reference can be followed from the answer to the passage and source information MARCUS used for display.

1. 01

   Statement in the answer

   A reference marker appears beside the relevant part of the response.

2. 02

   Citation number

   The marker connects that part of the answer to a source entry.

3. 03

   Displayed passage

   MARCUS opens the passage associated with the reference when its identity is clear.

4. 04

   Original source

   The clinician can review the source title, section, and page when available.

   Inspect source

Citation markers are numbered links between answer claims and selected evidence. Opening a citation may show:

• source title
• cited excerpt
• page and section information when available and reliable
• document metadata such as author or year when available
• an action to open the source or a larger source panel

References are grouped by document so several excerpts from one source remain understandable together. Their displayed order and formatting may be adjusted for readability, but the exact stored passage remains available through the original-text view. Display formatting does not change the underlying cited evidence.

Some source files or passages do not provide dependable page or section metadata. MARCUS may therefore show only the metadata it can support. A missing page label is preferable to a false one.

Formatted excerpt and original text

The formatted view may reconstruct list layout, join line wraps, or remove positional artifacts. Use the original-text view when wording, units, punctuation, or formatting boundaries matter. If the excerpt is truncated, open the larger section or source when that action is available.

What a citation establishes

A citation establishes a traceable connection to a selected passage. It does not establish that:

• the project contains every relevant source
• the cited document is current or controlling
• the passage applies to every patient or operational setting
• a conflicting source does not exist
• the synthesis captured every qualification in the full document

For any consequential threshold, contraindication, escalation rule, or workflow instruction, open the citation and confirm the source.

Insufficient evidence and early exits

When the available indexed material does not support a reliable answer, MARCUS may say that it could not find enough evidence in the indexed documents. That is a valid result, not a request to keep rewording until the system produces a stronger-sounding response.

Use this sequence:

1. Confirm that the expected source is in the active project and fully indexed.
2. Make the question more specific without adding PHI.
3. Check whether an active collection or source filter excluded the relevant document.
4. Inspect the Library or source briefing to confirm that the needed content exists.
5. Add an approved missing source or correct the project scope when permitted.
6. If the evidence truly is absent, continue through your organization's normal clinical or operational resources.

A conditional full search or similar action may appear in some configurations. It can broaden the search attempt within permitted scope, but it cannot create evidence that is not present.

Follow-up questions

Follow-ups inherit useful conversation context, but each answer still depends on current project access and indexed evidence. Good follow-ups make the evidence request clearer:

• Which cited source is the local policy?
• Show the exact passage supporting that threshold.
• Where do the sources disagree?
• Does the cited section name an exception?
• Which source is newest, and does the older source conflict?

Suggested follow-up buttons are conditional and may not appear. Their presence does not mean the proposed question has already been answered by the library.

Stop, retry, and interrupted answers

• Stop: Stopping generation can leave a partial answer visible. Treat it as incomplete.
• Connection interruption: MARCUS makes a bounded attempt to resume a stream. If it cannot, it preserves available text when possible and shows an error.
• Retry or regenerate: A retry can produce different wording or find a somewhat different passage set. Recheck every citation; do not assume the new answer has the same evidence.
• Save failure: If an answer appears but the conversation cannot be saved, copy no PHI and use the visible error or support path. Do not assume it will be present after navigation.

Expected result and verification

A successful question-and-answer cycle should produce:

• an answer that addresses the submitted question
• inline citation markers for evidence-supported claims
• a reference list identifying the source documents used
• cited excerpts that can be opened and compared with the answer
• page or section details when the source supports them
• a completed stream state, or a clear insufficient-evidence/error state
• a saved conversation when persistence succeeds

For a clinically or operationally important answer, verify the result:

1. Open each citation attached to the main recommendation or factual claim.
2. Compare the answer's wording with the exact cited passage.
3. Open the larger source when context could change the meaning.
4. Confirm that the document is current, approved, and applicable locally.
5. Look for conflicting sources, exceptions, population limits, and date/version differences.
6. Use the answer only within the authority granted by the original source and your own role.

Common problems

Safety

• Do not enter PHI or patient-specific clinical facts. The current MARCUS workspace is non-PHI.
• MARCUS is not an emergency service, diagnostic system, or substitute for clinical judgment.
• Do not use an answer as the sole basis for diagnosis, treatment, disposition, medication, or escalation decisions.
• Open citations for consequential claims and inspect the original source when context matters.
• Confirm current local policy, document version, population, exclusions, and source authority.
• Treat disagreement as a reason to compare sources and escalate through normal governance, not as permission to choose the most convenient answer.
• Do not infer that an uncited sentence came from the source library.
• Do not place PHI in feedback, reports, conversation titles, copied text, or public share links.

Continue through the handbook

• Previous: Sources and the Library
• Next: Conversations and knowledge
• Related: Safe use and limitations
• Related: Troubleshooting