Not As Easy As Chewing Gum
You’ve heard the humorous axioms about doing something while chewing gum while doing something else.
“It is my indignant opinion that 90 percent of the moving pictures exhibited in America are so vulgar, witless and dull that it is preposterous to write about them in any publication not intended to be read while chewing gum.”
–Wolcott Gibbs
In my apparent series of articles about writing a book and what I’m learning along the way – using WordPress to write a book, my research library, what I’m learning about myself at the same time – is that this book writing thing, specifically the non-fiction category is fraught with pitfalls and research. Research I don’t mind doing but the number of mind numbing articles on the internet about any particular subject can be confusing, especially when you’ve spent an hour doing what you think is learning only to find out that all you’re reading is a marketing ploy designed to get you to buy chewing gum. Even with the massive reading library that I’ve developed for you to read, there are rabbit holes and false trails that abound with poor information. Thus, I have turned my attention to developing some rules for myself on the topic of research.
- How does one know whether or not one is finding accurate information?
- Is there a marketing ploy behind some scientific information?
- Are there politically correct motivations behind definitions?
- Does the scientific paper have good quality citations?
What I’ve found is that when you’re researching a particular topic to learn about is that one of the most important search terms to use when looking for good quality musings and research papers are three simple letters to include in the search.
Most missives that you find on the internet are like the one that you’re reading right now. Blog posts. Opinions, No basis in scientific fact. To get to the meat of a topic, it’s important to peel away the skin before biting into the research topic. What I’ve found is that most writings that are scientific in nature – that is written by someone that has actually done science to get to a conclusion – are available as a PDF document.
Blog posts and opinion writings are not typically done as a PDF. Live it, love it, learn it.
The late Ted Bird, age 22
Ambrose Butterbutt, age 16
Peanut Butter, age 16
Little Ted Bird, age 6 months
The late Sweetie Pie
The late Sweetie Pie