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Concept

Reading a matrix cell: values, quotes and states

What Suggested, Accepted, Edited by you, No source found, Not reported, Check this one and Outdated mean in your literature matrix.

Each cell of the literature matrix is one paper's answer to one column's question. A cell never shows a bare value: an AI value comes with the page and the exact quote it rests on, and a small mark tells you who the value belongs to.

Click any cell to open it. You see the column and the paper, the value, the quote in quotation marks, and a p. chip with its page. Choose the chip, or Open in reader →, to see the quote highlighted on its page.

Suggested and Accepted

A value the AI found is Suggested until you accept it. In the grid it carries a small ✦ mark; when you open it, the top reads AI extracted · Suggested.

When you have checked the quote and agree, choose Accept. The cell then reads Accepted. You stay the author: nothing the AI writes counts as yours until you accept it. See Accept, edit or regenerate a value.

Edited by you

If you type your own value with Edit, the cell becomes Edited by you and shows a small pencil. Your own value has no quote from the paper. If you change your mind, History brings back the AI's value with its passage.

Confidence

Next to an AI value, a dot shows how sure the AI was: High confidence (a filled dot), Medium confidence (half filled) or Low confidence (an empty ring). The words appear when you open the cell. A low-confidence value is a good one to check in the reader first.

No source found

Every AI value must point to a passage that really is on the page it names. CurTask checks this before you see the value. When the AI's answer can't be matched to a passage on its page, the cell shows No source found and no value at all, rather than an answer you can't check.

You can type your own value with Edit, or try again with Regenerate. Read more in How CurTask's AI finds evidence.

Not reported, Unclear, Not applicable

Sometimes the honest answer is that the paper doesn't say. The cell then reads:

  • Not reported: the paper doesn't give this information.
  • Unclear: the paper mentions it, but not clearly enough to give a value.
  • Not applicable: the question doesn't fit this paper (for example, a sample size for a review of theory).

These are still Suggested answers, so you can accept them like any other.

Check this one

Some matrix values get a second check before you see them. When the quote may not fully back the value, the cell is marked Check this one, and opening it says: "The quote may not fully back this value, have a look before accepting." The value itself is never hidden or changed. Open it in the reader, then accept it, edit it or regenerate it.

Outdated

If you change what a column asks (see Change a column and refresh outdated cells), the AI values made for the earlier version are marked Outdated. The same happens when CurTask's analysis has improved since a value was made (see Improved analysis versions). They stay in place, with their quotes, until you choose Refresh outdated cells in the column's menu. Values you typed yourself are never outdated.

Other things a cell can show

  • A short line: the cell is empty. Fill the column to ask the AI, or type a value.
  • A grey shimmer: the cell is being filled right now.
  • Failed: the AI couldn't answer this cell. Regenerate it, or type a value.
  • Paper not ready or OCR with a count: the paper is still being read.
  • No PDF: add it to fill this row: the paper has no PDF yet. See Add a PDF later.
  • Saved on this device · will sync: you changed the cell while offline; it syncs when you're back online.

Where values come from

A value can be filled in three ways, and all three look the same and follow the same rules:

  • The AI reads the paper for this column (this uses credits, shown before anything runs).
  • The paper already answered this question in another project, so the answer comes from its Baggage at 0 credits.
  • For a few short facts, such as a sample size, another researcher's checked answer for the same paper is reused, but only after the same passage is found again in your own PDF. See Shared facts.