# Date and Timeline Check

Reconcile dates, event order, deadlines, durations, time zones, publication cutoffs, historical context, and relative-time language throughout a draft.

## Usage note

Use this check when chronology affects meaning, eligibility, causation, historical accuracy, or a reader's next action. Verify dates from the most direct appropriate source and state the calendar or time zone where ambiguity matters. For legal, financial, medical, safety, or contractual deadlines, obtain qualified review rather than relying on this general editorial worksheet.

## How to use this template

1. Extract every explicit and implied time reference from the draft and its supporting assets.
2. Record the event, source, original value, precision, calendar, time zone, and timestamp meaning.
3. Sort events, recalculate durations, and investigate gaps, overlaps, and causal-order problems.
4. Replace ambiguous relative language and document conversions, deadlines, and disputed dates.
5. Cross-check all publication surfaces and approve the updated narrative, not just isolated dates.

## Blank template

### Timeline event

- **Event ID:** [Stable identifier]
- **Event description:** [What happened]
- **Original date and time:** [As source states]
- **Precision:** [Exact, day, month, year, approximate, or disputed]
- **Timestamp meaning:** [Occurred, recorded, published, updated, or effective]
- **Original time zone or calendar:** [Name and UTC offset if known]
- **Source ID and location:** [Direct evidence]
- **Converted display:** [Publication format and zone]
- **Draft locations:** [Body, chart, caption, metadata, or other]

### Sequence and deadline review

- **Previous event:** [ID and time]
- **Next event:** [ID and time]
- **Calculated duration:** [Formula and result]
- **Claimed duration:** [Draft wording]
- **Causal claim:** [Does order permit the stated relationship?]
- **Deadline rule:** [Inclusive, business days, holidays, or policy]
- **Uncertainty:** [Missing, estimated, or conflicting detail]
- **Resolution:** [Correct, qualify, seek source, or remove]

### Publication checks

- [ ] Event time is distinguished from publication and entry time.
- [ ] Time zones, daylight-saving rules, and conversions are documented.
- [ ] Durations were independently recalculated.
- [ ] Deadlines define inclusive boundaries and applicable day rules.
- [ ] Relative terms are replaced where they would age poorly.
- [ ] Chronology does not imply unsupported causation.
- [ ] Headline, body, charts, captions, metadata, and schema agree.
- [ ] Time-sensitive status has an owner and last-checked date.