Documentary summary with source references

How can you turn a dossier of sources into a verifiable summary with NotebookLM?

1250 € per session, excl. VAT

In short

In a half-day session of 3 hours you will learn to build a NotebookLM notebook, query its sources and write a usable documentary briefing. The exercises guide you through checking citations, identifying contradictions and measuring how faithfully a summary reflects its sources before sharing it, using an entirely fictitious dossier.

Why this training?

A documentary dossier may combine older versions, current instructions and exploratory exchanges. NotebookLM makes them easier to query, but a fluent answer is not enough to establish which rule applies: you need to examine the sources used and their status. The training establishes an assisted reading practice: defining the source collection, asking targeted questions, finding cited passages and correcting the summary. Checks focus on faithfulness to the documents rather than writing quality alone. Running case study: The fictitious organisation « Avelune Équipements » is preparing a meeting on equipment loan arrangements. Its dossier brings together six documents: the current regulations, an older version, an inventory, meeting minutes, return instructions and frequently asked questions. You must produce a briefing that distinguishes applicable rules, contradictions and missing information. Transfer to the workplace: In the following week, revisit a small dossier authorised by the organisation, create a separate notebook and produce a one-page briefing. Reuse the verification checklist to compare NotebookLM’s first answer with the corrected version, then keep the most useful question formulations.

Objectives of this training

• Select relevant documents and identify their versions.
• Create a NotebookLM notebook with a clearly defined source collection.
• Formulate questions that specify the scope and expected format.
• Verify claims by consulting the cited passages.
• Produce a concise briefing and measure its faithfulness to the documents.

Who is it for and what are the prerequisites?

Roles and tasks concerned

• Staff who regularly prepare summaries based on several documents.
• Assistants and documentation officers wishing to find and present information with source references.

Prior skills

• Have previous experience of asking a generative AI assistant simple questions.
• Be able to handle files and distinguish a reference document from a working document.

What you will work on

1. Define and upload the source collection

   Objective: Build a notebook whose sources can be identified. Creating the notebook, adding compatible sources, document readability and distinguishing the current version from archived material. A reminder of internal data restrictions.

2. Query without implicitly broadening the scope

   Objective: Obtain answers focused on the dossier. Factual, comparative and summarising questions; selecting the sources to query; instructions to flag missing information.

3. Check citations and discrepancies

   Objective: Distinguish a plausible answer from a substantiated claim. Consulting cited passages, reading the context, checking effective dates and contradictions. A citation may support only part of a sentence.

4. Write and evaluate the briefing

   Objective: Deliver a short summary suitable for use in a meeting. Structuring the briefing into applicable rules, discrepancies and points to confirm; document references and limitations of the source collection.

What you take away

• NotebookLM notebook containing the selected source collection.
• Source record with dates, versions and status.
• One-page documentary briefing with references and caveats.
• Claims verification checklist and reusable questions.

Method and assessment

• Short explanations followed by immediate practice using the running case study.
• Individual work followed by work in pairs, with peer review of the outputs.
• Guided group discussion: what works, what needs correcting and what remains a human decision.
• Preparation: Have access to NotebookLM authorised by the organisation; check that you can create a notebook and add the planned sources. Download the fictitious dossier provided; no personal or confidential documents are needed for the exercises.

Observable criteria: Each selected source has an identifiable title and an explicit status. ; Questions specify the documentary scope and the expected output. ; Each factual claim in the briefing is linked to a verified passage. ; Contradictions and missing information are flagged without inventing a conclusion. ; The proportion of substantiated claims is calculated before and after correction..

Frequently asked questions

Do you need to be familiar with NotebookLM before the session?

No, notebook creation is guided; initial experience of asking an AI questions is sufficient.

Can you use your own documents?

The exercises use the fictitious dossier. Any application to your own context requires anonymised or explicitly authorised documents, in accordance with internal rules.

Do citations remove the need to reread the sources?

No. You must check the passage, its context and the document version before accepting a claim.

Does the session cover all available features?

No. It focuses on the notebook, sources, questions and verified summary; options may vary depending on your access.