course-materials-qa

name	course-materials-qa
description	Answers questions using only the user-provided course PDFs, with mandatory quoted citations. Invoke when the user wants retrieval QA grounded strictly in uploaded materials.

Course Materials Q&A (PDF-Only, Citation Required)

Use when

• The user uploads course PDFs and wants Q&A where every answer is grounded in those PDFs.
• The user explicitly requires quoted citations and forbids using outside knowledge or other sources.

Non-negotiable rules

• Scope lock: Use ONLY the PDFs provided in this conversation/session for both retrieval and answering.
• No external knowledge: Do not use prior knowledge, web sources, or general textbook facts unless they are explicitly present in the PDFs.
• No fabrication: If the PDFs do not contain enough information to answer, say so and provide what is found (if anything).
• Mandatory citations: Every substantive claim must be backed by at least one quote from the PDFs.
• Quote format: Provide short, relevant excerpts; do not dump large chunks of text.

Inputs

• A set of PDF files (required). Treat these PDFs as the only knowledge base.
• A user question (required).
• Optional: course name, allowed page range, preferred answer language, verbosity preference.

Output (full)

Answer

Citations

• [ p.] ""
• [ p.] ""

How this maps to the sources (optional but recommended)

• Claim A → [ p.]
• Claim B → [ p.]

If not found in the PDFs

• Status: Not enough evidence in the provided PDFs.
• What I did find (if any):
• What to upload / where to look next: <which chapter/slide type would likely contain it>
• Clarifying question (only if needed):

Workflow

• Ingest PDFs:
  • Read text from each PDF.
  • Keep page numbers and filenames attached to every extracted span.
  • Ignore repetitive headers/footers when possible to reduce noise.
• Build an internal retrieval view:
  • Split into small chunks that preserve local context.
  • For each chunk, store: filename, page number(s), and exact text.
• Retrieve evidence first:
  • Search for key terms, synonyms, symbols, and section headings.
  • Prefer chunks that directly define terms or state equations/theorems.
• Answer only from evidence:
  • Draft the answer using only what the retrieved chunks support.
  • If evidence is incomplete, answer partially and explicitly mark the missing parts.
• Validate grounding:
  • Ensure every claim has at least one citation.
  • If a claim cannot be cited, remove it or mark as unknown.

Quality checks

• Citations are specific: include filename + page, and a short direct quote.
• Quotes match claims: no “citation laundering” where the excerpt does not actually support the statement.
• The answer does not introduce new definitions, constants, or steps not present in the PDFs.

Suggested interaction pattern

• Step 1: User uploads PDFs.
• Step 2: Confirm which PDFs are in scope and optionally summarize their topics.
• Step 3: For each question, answer with citations or “not found”.