Researching and Making Claims
In Researching and Making Claims by Seth Graves, he discusses the importance of research and how it can affect how we interpret the world/issues of the world around us. Using his example of walking through a forest with a friend, the debate on which specific tree they liked the most arose because they were able to differentiate between each individual tree through research. If this research had not been done, all the trees would have looked the same to them and the question would have never arose. The reason why we do research is because it provides credibility to our claims/arguments. However, in this “fake news” era, it is hard to determine which news source is credible or not. A recent study even showed that the majority of people were unable to tell whether or not a news source was actually credible.
One interesting sentence that I read from this piece was, “Credibility contributes to the ethos of the person making the claim.” In my opinion, I agree with this statement and believe that it could go both ways. If someone with a good reputation and large following makes a statement, people are more likely to agree with them. This shows that the ethos of a person can make a statement seem more credible regardless of whether or not it’s true. Another example is that if someone is always accurate with their information and never issues any false statements, it can build up people’s perception of them. This shows that the amount of credibility a person has can influence their ethos.
The Research Process
Research does not always mean academic or scholarly research done in classes or professional work spaces. It is actually a broad term to describe the process of inquiry or the process of wanting to know more about a certain area or topic. Research can happen in extremely casual settings as well. For example, in the first example provided, someone texts their friend to give them some good ideas on what to watch in a movie theater. They asked the friend for advice/suggestions which made them wonder why they found the movie so interesting. The person who asked would then go see the movie themselves to satisfy their curiosity. This is also considered a form of research since they are trying to answer a question and using that to gain more knowledge on a topic.
One interesting phrase that I read from this piece was, “Research, in this sense, isn’t so much a collection of facts that prove your case but rather a type of exploration. Researchers are people who have developed a curiosity to go on a trip through brand new ideas and points of view.” I thought this was a really accurate metaphor to describe the process of research. Research in its most basic form is essentially wanting to know more about something. Explorers who go on explorations often explore areas unknown to them in order to learn more about it through first-hand experience. Therefore, the correlation between research and exploration is visible here since both are a process of learning more about something that they previously had little to no knowledge of.