Contradiction Harvester Pattern

Problem

Solution

Implementation steps

1. After retrieving all source material, run a contradiction pass: for each key claim, find all sources that address it
2. Where sources disagree: create a contradiction record: { claim, source_a, source_a_position, source_b, source_b_position, possible_explanations[] }
3. During synthesis: for each contradiction record, explicitly choose resolution strategy: accept_a, accept_b, both_partially_true, insufficient_evidence
4. Output must include contradiction section: list all unresolved contradictions with confidence level for each resolution
5. Never synthesize across contradicting sources without a contradiction record — require it as a precondition

Examples

• –Medical literature synthesis where study outcomes conflict
• –Technical documentation where versions differ
• –News event reconstruction from multiple partial accounts

Anti-patterns

• –Passing all retrieved content to synthesizer without contradiction pre-processing
• –Treating all contradictions as noise to discard rather than signal to examine
• –Outputting single definitive answer when contradiction records exist for key claims