General preparation · Source checked 2026-11-09 · AI-assisted editorial

Record What You Know, What You Remember and What Remains Uncertain

Record a fact together with how you know it. Distinguish what you observed, what you remember, what a document says and what remains uncertain. That habit helps prevent a tentative detail from becoming a confident statement as it is copied into later notes. This page offers a writing method, not an evidence ruling.

In this article

Use labels that reveal the basis

For a direct observation, describe what you actually saw, heard or did without adding an explanation you cannot support. For a recollection, state that you are remembering it and when you made the note. For a document statement, identify the record and the relevant passage.

An uncertainty label can be simple: “approximate date,” “recipient not confirmed,” “attachment not located” or “meaning needs explanation.” Avoid using a percentage to make a guess appear measured. You are identifying the limit of your information, not assigning an evidence score.

Keep the speaker’s statement distinct from the underlying fact

“A person told me a document was sent” records a statement. It does not establish when you received the document or what it contained. Preserve the statement and ask for the missing record if needed.

Similarly, your understanding of a provider’s explanation should remain separate from the provider’s actual recorded opinion. If you do not understand a term, quote only the short term needed to ask the question or point to the original page. Do not replace it with a diagnosis you found online.

The Pennsylvania WCOA hearing guide distinguishes a worker’s personal account of physical condition from professional medical opinions. It also describes different sources of evidence that may be needed. Those distinctions support careful labeling, but they do not determine what evidence would be accepted in your case.

Use precise corrections

When you discover an error, identify the earlier statement, explain what changed and record the basis for the correction. Keep the original note. A later recollection can be useful while still being labeled as later.

If you cannot resolve a conflict, show both accounts. “These dates differ and I do not yet know why” is more accurate than choosing the one that best fits the rest of the narrative. Give an adviser the sources rather than asking them to rely only on your rewritten summary.

Read each sentence that sounds certain and ask whether its wording matches its source. Watch for changes from “may have” to “did,” from “I understood” to “the person confirmed,” or from “not found” to “never existed.” Those shifts often happen during editing rather than deliberate misstatement.

Keep your open questions visible at the end of the note. DLI’s injured-worker pamphlet is general guidance and cautions that it is not an official interpretation of the law. It likewise should not be used to turn an uncertain personal account into a legal conclusion.

Your finished note should help a reader see both the account and its limits. Individual medical, legal and evidentiary questions require review of the actual facts and records.

Sources and scope

Checked 2026-11-09. These sources explain the Pennsylvania background identified below. The organizing methods and suggested questions on this page are editorial guidance, not filing requirements.

WCOA: Important Information About the Petition Filing and Hearing Process (LIBC-387) — Page 1 Then What; page 2 medical reports and testimony. Brochure revised April 2018; use current WCOA information for administrative routes.
PA DLI: Workers’ Compensation & the Injured Worker — Introductory scope paragraph.