HCD.19:4.3 - Read the material at the reach of the claim

Inspect the meaning-bearing material that supports the task: the definition, example, representation, criterion, return, and any prerequisite relation. Follow a dependence until its needed contribution is supplied or its absence becomes clear. Do not stop at a heading that names it.

For a whole-route judgement, read the complete declared route in its actual sequence. Keep an unresolved question or dependency open until its endpoint. Independent local judgements do not establish that the route works as a whole. If several readers inspect parts, the integrator still needs sufficient connected evidence to judge the complete route and its cross-part dependencies.

At a narrative transition, use NSTD.8’s attachment question: what question is current, what does this block add, why is it needed here, and where is its contribution used next? Inspect both endpoints. At the next use, distinguish structure already introduced or available through legitimate prerequisites from the genuinely new relation the reader must construct.

A later explanation can support the present task when a precise, usable return makes it available now. Otherwise the later explanation does not repair an unsupported operation at this prefix. The repair may be one contrast, a worked step, a map, a recap, or a changed order.

For an existing product, current content and reader-use evidence can support a current-quality diagnosis without original manufacturing records. If source fidelity or actual construction history is part of the promise, use the separate evidence branches of NSTD.6. A plausible reconstruction of how a book could have been written is not an observation of its author’s actions.