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Field notes / Practice · 8 October 2026

The draft is
only half the job.

By Rob Thompson / Digital Content Labs · A practical checklist for reviewing AI-assisted content.

An AI-generated draft gives you something to inspect. Before it reaches a customer, the useful question is whether it follows the brief and is supported by the material you approved.

1. Check the claims

Highlight names, dates, prices, qualifications, numbers and promises. For each, identify an approved source. Remove unsupported details or flag them for confirmation. An answer can be polished and still introduce a fact that was never supplied.

2. Check the task

Compare the draft with the original request. Does it address the right audience, include the necessary information and support the intended next step? A pleasant piece of writing can still miss the practical purpose.

3. Check what is missing

Look for assumptions disguised as certainty. If a source does not specify a deadline, a service or a result, the draft should not quietly fill the gap. Resolve the question with the person who owns the information.

4. Check the presentation

Read it in the place it will appear. Check headings, links, labels and image descriptions. Open the contact or booking route. Make sure the page works on a small screen as well as a desktop.

5. Assign the final decision

Someone needs to decide that the content is ready. For specialist material, identify the appropriate reviewer before drafting begins. Keep a record of changes that matter so the next update can start from something dependable.

Source → draft → check against the brief → resolve gaps → approve → publish.

A small exercise

Take a draft you understand well. Mark each factual claim, find its source and write down the intended next action. Anything you cannot verify becomes a question to resolve.

Explore the worked example in the DCL Lab, or try the free sample lesson.

Put the review process
into practice.

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