Extract only what you need
Work from a presentation you are entitled to inspect. Keep the slide number and any visible footnote. Crop out confidential notes, names or unrelated charts before uploading an image copy to a search service.
Follow the reference trail
- Check the slide's citation first.
- Search the image or a distinctive caption phrase.
- Open the original publication.
- Compare its description with the way the slide uses it.
A photograph illustrating a general industry trend may be mistaken for evidence about a named company when placed beside its logo. The original caption can reveal that the connection was only illustrative.
Document the gap
Record whether the image source was found, whether the citation is complete and whether the source supports the specific claim. Do not equate a professional-looking slide with verified provenance. If the reference is missing, ask the presenter for it rather than inventing an attribution from a similar search result.
Continue with tracing an original source.