A method of sequencing a double-stranded target nucleic acid comprising steps of: ligating a pair of adapter nucleic acid sequences, comprising a first adapter nucleic acid sequence and a second adapter nucleic acid sequence wherein each adapter nucleic acid sequence comprises a primer binding domain and a single molecule identifier (SMI) domain, to at least one terminus of a double-stranded target nucleic acid molecule, thereby forming a double-stranded nucleic acid molecule comprising a first strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence and a second strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence; amplifying the first strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecule, thereby producing a first set of amplified products comprising a plurality of first strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecules and a plurality of its complementary molecules, and amplifying the second strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecule, thereby producing a second set of amplified products comprising a plurality of second strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecules and a plurality of its complementary molecules; sequencing the first set of amplified products, thereby obtaining a consensus sequence for the first set of amplified products; and sequencing the second set of amplified products, thereby obtaining a consensus sequence for the second set of amplified products wherein the consensus sequence for the first set of amplified products is compared to the consensus sequence for the second set of amplified products, wherein a difference between the two consensus sequences can be considered an artifact, characterized in that distinguishable amplification products are obtained from each of the two strands of individual nucleic acid molecules by thermally or chemically melting the double-stranded nucleic acid molecule and then physically separating the first strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence from the second strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence before amplification of each strand in separate reactions. ligating a pair of adapter nucleic acid sequences, comprising a first adapter nucleic acid sequence and a second adapter nucleic acid sequence wherein each adapter nucleic acid sequence comprises a primer binding domain and a single molecule identifier (SMI) domain, to at least one terminus of a double-stranded target nucleic acid molecule, thereby forming a double-stranded nucleic acid molecule comprising a first strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence and a second strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence; amplifying the first strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecule, thereby producing a first set of amplified products comprising a plurality of first strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecules and a plurality of its complementary molecules, and amplifying the second strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecule, thereby producing a second set of amplified products comprising a plurality of second strand adapter-target nucleic acid molecules and a plurality of its complementary molecules; sequencing the first set of amplified products, thereby obtaining a consensus sequence for the first set of amplified products; and sequencing the second set of amplified products, thereby obtaining a consensus sequence for the second set of amplified products wherein the consensus sequence for the first set of amplified products is compared to the consensus sequence for the second set of amplified products, wherein a difference between the two consensus sequences can be considered an artifact, characterized in that distinguishable amplification products are obtained from each of the two strands of individual nucleic acid molecules by thermally or chemically melting the double-stranded nucleic acid molecule and then physically separating the first strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence from the second strand adapter-target nucleic acid sequence before amplification of each strand in separate reactions. <EOS>