So, I’m given an assignment
from my English class Instructor and I have no clue about the particular subject. What’s the first thing most people do? They go to Wikipedia. Oh, I can hear the gasps
now. Let me explain.
To start with when you
know anything about a subject or a participle topic, you have to start simple
and as you learn, you begin to ask better and better questions. Have you ever been in a
meeting and the person facilitating the meeting asks, “Does anyone have any questions?” I think to myself “I don’t know enough to know
what I don’t know”. I’ll give you an
example.
A few years ago, the wife
and I needed another can. My “Man Van”
just wasn’t cutting it anymore. We only
knew that we wanted an SUV. Well we went
to a local dealer who specialized in used cars.
They had everything type and kind of used cars you could imagine. So, when we meet the salesmen and I asked
where we would find SUV’s, He pointed us in the write direction. Well we walked around some , sat in some,
walked right by some, and in the end what models we were leaning to were out
the window. We had found the basic make
and model of what we wanted. What is
interesting is what we thought we wanted was totally wrong for us. So, by starting simple and slowly learning
about the models; when the salesman come over and asked if we had any
questions, I got out my list and let him have at it. So in my example, the salesman was like Wikipedia
in as much as he started us out on our journey.
Well after we got the
make and model figured, we had to find the perfect one. We that can be a chore. Like finding information, we went to other
dealers but now we know what to ask, what options, etc. So when we go to Wikipedia first, and start
to query articles, we find ourselves asking “Is this accurate”, or does the
salesman just want to make a sale? This
is why you may take that perfect specimen of a used car and take it to a dealer
for a Pre-Purchase Inspection. It's the same
for writing papers, well sort of. We
need to learn how to read “Laterally”.
What reading Laterally
means is to open another tab on your browser and research that article to validate
the information. In Wikipedia, the
bottom of the page has links and references to there the information in the
article came from. Look it up and verify
for yourself. (I found a great YouTube video which explains it very well. Check it out here.) It’s like the dealer
telling you after your inspection that that car is in great shape, or they
could to you to just have it towed back because you may not make it back to the
dealer. In any case, now you know.
Wikipedia is only a
starting point. From their you can go to other web sites and research their
information which will lead you somewhere else (I.E. the Vertical reading). With all of this new found information, you will have enough to produce a
great paper for your instructor and I’m sure you will have learned something
along the way.
Until we talk again.
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