After reading “Using Sources” from The Craft of Research, I learned the importance of being able to read and absorb information as accurately and critically as possible. Often times, people tend to get hindered by focusing too hard on finding information, which causes them to forget the importance of
recording what they find. Furthermore, our bias leads us to grasp onto our beliefs in a way that prevents us from retaining information objectively.
In order to stray from having our bad inclinations hinder our research, the author stresses how imperative it is to read within the context. In other words, when recording information or writing about it, we must look at that piece as a portion of a whole puzzle, rather than by itself. One reason for this is that “researchers build complex arguments out of several elements” (100). By disregarding the claim and support that the researchers build upon to establish a message, we are prone to misread its purpose. For example, the book compares “The war was caused by x” and “The war was caused by x, y, and z” (100). In the first quote, we miss two significant causes of the war, which is a grave mistake to make. By only using a portion of the quote, our applications of the information we find become very limited, which prevents us from further substantiating our claims.
This phenomenon is reflected by other parts of our lives, such as the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Instead of prematurely formulating a conclusion, we should learn to see the whole picture to not only get the optimal information, but also to get the most correct facts.
.jpg)
Sources:
https://images.megapixl.com/4295/42959312.jpg
http://weclipart.com/gimg/183E159F39EC6839/MissingPuzzlePiece_1.jpg
http://cdn1.theodysseyonline.com/files/2016/01/04/63587483323600346362412802_carrot%20(2).jpg