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#do your research
reality-detective · 10 months
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Never Before Seen Mountain Top Tornado 🤔
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ask-the-prose · 8 months
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Do Your Research
This phrase is regularly thrown around writeblr and for good reason. It's important to research what you are writing about to know what to include, what can be fudged, and how to depict whatever you're writing. I see "do your research" most thrown around by well-meaning and highly traditionally educated writers. It's solid advice, after all!
But how do you research?
For those writers who don't already have the research skills necessary to write something comfortably already downloaded into your brain, I put this guide together for you.
Where do I even start?
It's a daunting task, research. But the best place to start is with the most basic, stupidest question you can think of. I'm going to talk about something that I already know a lot about: fighting.
When researching fight scenes, a great way to start is to look up what different weapons are. There are tons out there! So ask the stupid questions. What is a sword? What is a gun? How heavy are they?
Google and Wikipedia can help you a lot with these basic-level questions. They aren't great sources for academic articles, but remember, this is fiction. It doesn't need to be perfect, and it doesn't need to be 100% accurate if you don't want it to be. But knowing what is true to life will help you write well. Just like knowing the rules of writing will help you break them.
You may find in your basic research sweep that you have a lot more specific questions. Write them all down. It doesn't matter if they seem obvious. Write them down because they will be useful later.
How To Use Wikipedia Correctly
Wikipedia is a testament to cooperative human knowledge. It's also easy to edit by anonymous users, which means there is a lot of room for inaccuracies and misleading information. Wikipedia is usually pretty good about flagging when a source is needed or when misleading language is obvious, but Wikipedia itself isn't always the most accurate or in-depth source.
Wikipedia is, however, an excellent collection of sources. When I'm researching a subject that I know nothing about, say Norse mythology, a good starting point is the Wikipedia page for Odin. You'll get a little background on Odin's name and Germanic roots, a little backstory on some of the stories, where they appear, and how they are told.
When you read one of the sentences, and it sparks a new question, write the question down, and then click on the superscript number. This will take you directly to the linked source for the stated fact. Click through to that source. Now you have the source where the claim was made. This source may not be a primary source, but a secondary source can still lead you to new discoveries and details that will help you.
By "source-hopping," you can find your way across the internet to different pieces of information more reliably. This information may repeat itself, but you will also find new sources and new avenues of information that can be just as useful.
You mean I don't need a library?
Use your library. Libraries in many parts of the US are free to join, and they have a wealth of information that can be easily downloaded online or accessed via hardcopy books.
You don't, however, need to read every source in the library for any given topic, and you certainly don't need to read the whole book. Academic books are different from fiction. Often their chapters are divided by topic and concept and not by chronological events like a history textbook.
For example, one of my favorite academic books about legislative policy and how policy is passed in the US, by John Kingdon, discusses multiple concepts. These concepts build off one another, but ultimately if you want to know about one specific concept, you can skip to that chapter. This is common in sociological academic books as well.
Going off of my Norse Mythology example in the last section, a book detailing the Norse deities and the stories connected to them will include chapters on each member of the major pantheon. But if I only care about Odin, I can focus on just the chapters about Odin.
Academic Articles and How To Read Them
I know you all know how to read. But learning how to read academic articles and books is a skill unto itself. It's one I didn't quite fully grasp until grad school. Learn to skim. When looking at articles published in journals that include original research, they tend to follow a set structure, and the order in which you read them is not obvious. At all.
Start with the abstract. This is a summary of the paper that will include, in about half a page to a page, the research question, hypothesis, methods/analysis, and conclusions. This abstract will help you determine if the answer to your question is even in this article. Are they asking the right question?
Next, read the research question and hypothesis. The hypothesis will include details about the theory and why the researcher thinks what they think. The literature review will go into much more depth about theories, what other people have done and said, and how that ties into the research of the present article. You don't need to read that just yet.
Skim the methods and analysis section. Look at every data table and graph included and try to find patterns yourself. You don't need to read every word of this section, especially if you don't understand a lot of the words and jargon used. Some key points to consider are: qualitative vs. quantitative data, sample size, confounding factors, and results.
(Some definitions for those of you who are unfamiliar with these terms. Qualitative data is data that cannot be quantified into a number. These are usually stories and anecdotes. Quantitative data is data that can be transferred into a numerical representation. You can't graph qualitative data (directly), but you can graph quantitative data. Sample size is the number of people or things counted (n when used in academic articles). Your sample size can indicate how generalizable your conclusions are. So pay attention. Did the author interview 300 subjects? Or 30? There will be a difference. A confounding factor is a factor that may affect the working theory. An example of a theory would be "increasing LGBTQ resources in a neighborhood would decrease LGBTQ hate crimes in that area." A confounding factor would be "increased reporting of hate crimes in the area." The theory, including the confounding factor, would look like "increasing LGBTQ resources in a neighborhood would increase the reporting of hate crimes in the area, which increases the number of hate crimes measured in that area." The confounding factor changes the outcome because it is a factor not considered in the original theory. When looking at research, see if you can think of anything that may change the theory based on how that factor interacts with the broader concept. Finally, the results are different from the conclusions. The results tell you what the methods spit out. Analysis tells you what the results say, and conclusions tell you what generalizations can be made based on the analysis.)
Next, read the conclusion section. This section will tell you what general conclusions can be made from the information found in the paper. This will tell you what the author found in their research.
Finally, once you've done all that, go back to the literature review section. You don't have to read it necessarily, but reading it will give you an idea of what is in each sourced paper. Take note of the authors and papers sourced in the literature review and repeat the process on those papers. You will get a wide variety of expert opinions on whatever concept or niche you're researching.
Starting to notice a pattern?
My research methods may not necessarily work for everybody, but they are pretty standard practice. You may notice that throughout this guide, I've told you to "source-hop" or follow the sources cited in whatever source you find first. This is incredibly important. You need to know who people are citing when they make claims.
This guide focused on secondary sources for most of the guide. Primary sources are slightly different. Primary sources require understanding the person who created the source, who they were, and their motivations. You also may need to do a little digging into what certain words or phrases meant at the time it was written based on what you are researching. The Prose Edda, for example, is a telling of the Norse mythology stories written by an Icelandic historian in the 13th century. If you do not speak the language spoken in Iceland in 1232, you probably won't be able to read anything close to the original document. In fact, the document was lost for about 300 years. Now there are translations, and those translations are as close to the primary source you can get on Norse Mythology. But even then, you are reading through several veils of translation. Take these things into account when analyzing primary documents.
Research Takes Practice
You won't get everything you need to know immediately. And researching subjects you have no background knowledge of can be daunting, confusing, and frustrating. It takes practice. I learned how to research through higher formal education. But you don't need a degree to write, so why should you need a degree to collect information? I genuinely hope this guide helps others peel away some of the confusion and frustration so they can collect knowledge as voraciously as I do.
– Indy
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black-quadrant · 7 months
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ADHD isn't silly or quirky. it can hinder productivity, create a cycle of overcommitting and overextending to keep up with life, can give rise to feelings of guilt for things like resting and overall impacts relationship health (just to name a few). it's hard to manage and it's miserable.
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Remember when Biden told Ukrainian President Poroshenko he didn’t want Trump “looking into the details” of Ukraine $money$ laundering⁉️
Things to wonder about while we watch Biden and Zelensky tell American Taxpayers to open their wallets indefinitely.🤔
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mbilmey · 8 months
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"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
I...I thought Shakespeare was quoting and making fun of someone else. I didn't realize he made it up.
This quote. That has been quoted. And put on posters. Used in headlines. Analyzed for it's wisdom.
It's from 12th Night. The most hilarious play. It comes from a prank letter written to play into a stuffy guy's ego. It's a joke.
Shakespeare would be so pleased to see how it's been used. Like, this as good irony as people quoting Invictus in church or putting Caroline Bingley's ridiculous commentary on libarary tote bags.
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ace-hell · 2 months
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Can't be on any media anymore
Scolled peacefully on twitter when i saw this:
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And wow💀 just wow this shows how people REALLY don't understand ANYTHING and know NOTHING about israel.
I love this artist, sorry, i meant loved, they are from Argentina so no wonder they don't know shit and are fed only from extrimist propaganda on the media.
They call the iron dome "genocidal hero" 💀 the iron dome is a DEFENSIVE mechanism not OFFENSIVE it has NOTHING to do with killing people, in fact it PREVENTS DEATH.
The iron dome is built to retaliateand stop rockets from hitting israel and killing civilians- its a SHIELD not a WEAPON. If it was a hero he would break metal as a daily activity, he would break mirko's human bunny legs like they are twigs with no problem
Can people start actually doing their research about israel for exchange?
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witchyshit123 · 6 months
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Not my best but definitely my favorite herb! All of these are from my own experience working with and growing so it will be different for you!
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abirbable · 3 months
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Why are so many of the ignorant, hateful antisemites in their teens???
I guess this is less the “Age of Information”, and more like the “Age of Misinformation”. 😒
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7-percent · 1 year
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Learning How to Research
Seriously? One of my pet peeves is how the youth of today don’t learn how to do proper research. 
The internet has both opened doors for serious research and closed minds about how to do it. After years of teaching university students at both undergraduate and graduate levels (Including a course called “Research Methods”), I am still flabbergasted by how LAZY so many young people are. 
Let’s point out some of the most egregious mistakes: too many people
don’t learn how to phrase a question properly so you get a reasonable answer
don’t keep on refining the question you ask so the answer is up-to-date and from a reliable source
don’t read anything beyond the first page on google
don’t look at the DATE of the source that comes up on the first page
don’t use Google Scholar for serious peer-reviewed sources of information
don’t distinguish between different sources with different authors who may or may not have an agenda
don’t evaluate the quality of the source’s own research
don’t realise how much ad content is buying your attention rather than winning it by quality
don’t look for items that contradict what is “mainstream” thinking.
Algorithms are not fact checkers! They simply promote whatever rubbish gets the most clicks. That means a bad piece of nonsense can be promoted through crowd action. Lots of wrongs do not make a right.
There are serious consequences! Think about AI and how it will affect future searches. If you take “as given” what you first stumble on with a badly phrased research question, then misinformation, disinformation, deep fakes, and just plain stupidity are going to take over. Just because its on the internet doesn’t mean it’s right. 
Remember this old phrase? 
Garbage in, garbage out. 
Learn how to separate the rubbish from the valuable material. Exercise your mind. 
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murasaki-cha · 18 days
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The Prisoner's Throne spoilers!!
Bogdana: Your crown was secured with my daughter's blood
Jude: Yeah her and many others to follow including, but not limited to, me and my husband. Like seriously have you ever been to Elfhame?
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stargirlie25 · 3 months
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What is the true meaning of Elaine?
shining light
The French girl's name Elaine means "sun ray," "shining light," and "bright, and it would be an ideal name to give your little ball of light.
so yes in the bible Elaine´s name means ´´My god has answered me´´ but the true meaning is light. Also in Greek the meaning of Elain is,In Greek Baby Names the meaning of the name Elaine is: Shining light. The bright one. SJM follows greek mythology for her inspiration.
Also ´´My god has answered me´´ does not fit the actual Acotar character Elaine at all but light does. Not to mention feyre said she was always so full of light which connects with ´´The bright one´´
What does Elaine mean in Latin?
Meaning:Torch, shining light, sunlight.
Elaine's name means light. Deal with it.
In russian,italian,spanish,french,greek,english Lucien´s name means Light aswell.
Being a light fits both of them.
NOT TO MENTION THE MEANING OF VANSERRA
so its not as straight forward. Vanserra means ´´Man of the mountains´´ which to me still fits considering Elain is like the woman of the garden yk. and lucien does tons of travelling over the world or smth. Although if you spilt his name into two...
Van means-"cloud" and "gentle."
serra means-GREENHOUSE
Do with that what you will.
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Hey guys, so I recently got an interesting request to change the last kintype in my pinned post to “w+ndigo” or “forest deity”. This, for some reason, piqued my interest, so I did some research on them. Turns out it was NOTHING like what I thought! I was under the impression that they were some sort of bipedal bear type thing with a deer skull that was just some monster, and boy was I wrong haha!
Sooooooo I think that my last kintype might be some kind of cryptid/demon/ghost. Or maybe even some kind of shapeshifter or polymorph! I’ll keep everyone posted once I do some more research and meditation :]
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Just saw someone say ‘white people shoudlnt make POC characters because they don’t understand them’ ??? Girl you became so progressive you circled back into racism
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Pediatrician Dr Renata Moon:👇
“I have a government telling me that I have to say "safe and effective" and if I don’t, my license is at threat... how am I to give informed consent to patients? We’re seeing an uptick in myocarditis, we're seeing an uptick in adverse reactions... something is extremely wrong".🤔
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aspd-culture · 5 months
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Hey, sorry but we just wanted to let you know your claims on systems has been proved untrue by multitudes of research over the years. there are many DID systems that experience differences in neurological & physical disability depending on whom is in front, which includes physical disability such as blindness, mobility issues, and more. We don't know if you're a singlet or not, but please do your research and consider how different alters may have "access" to different areas of your hypothetical "hardware". This is a documented phenomenon.
So let's go over the blindness thing, actually.
The system you're referring to from the German study who had blind/non-blind alters was *not* actually blind in any regard. Instead, as a trauma response (likely to being forced to view something they couldn't handle as a child), the part of the brain that took in visual information turned off when that alter was out. The alter could see, but the brain was not storing any visual input which was processed as the alter being "blind".
That is not a blind body or neurological blindness that could then see with another alter out, it was a abled body and brain that appeared disabled when another alter was out. As I said in the post you're reponding to, a user on a computer can choose not to use certain software, but they cannot run any program the hardware doesn't support. If that system had a neurological disorder that causes blindness, no alter would be able to see. But they CAN take functioning equipment and choose not to use it.
Neurological disorders cannot turn off because another alter is out. That is factually impossible, and you need to do proper research before you try and tell someone who has both done research and communicated with various professionals before you try and come on here and correct us.
We all use the same brain, so if part of that brain doesn't function normally, it won't change just because someone else is out. I get that it's tough for other systems (hoping you're a system - I am dxed with DID myself - but if you're a singlet, learn to be quiet on things you know nothing about thanks) to see their alters, knowing we're all very different people, as using the same brain but that IS what is happening. Being able to use it differently doesn't change the way it's wired nor does it change it's limitations.
The same occurs with physical limitations. The body is abled, but the alter has limitations that have been added. At the end of the day, no alter can gain mobility, but just as you could willingly limp if you wanted to even if you weren't injured, so too can an alter. It's just that in the case of the alter, they aren't aware they aren't actually physically disabled. They aren't intending to fake the mobility issuea but those mobility issues aren't genuine. They are something that, for whatever trauma related reason, the brain felt would have helped or saved the child, or they are an intake of something that happened to the system (for example if an alter was created to deal with a broken leg, they may continue to use it as though it is broken even though in all reality, it isn't).
Tldr, alters can add limitations to an abled body or mind but they cannot remove limitations from a disabled body or mind and that is well researched and also obvious.
Plain text below the cut:
So let's go over the blindness thing, actually.
The system you're referring to from the German study who had blind/non-blind alters was *not* actually blind in any regard. Instead, as a trauma response (likely to being forced to view something they couldn't handle as a child), the part of the brain that took in visual information turned off when that alter was out. The alter could see, but the brain was not storing any visual input which was processed as the alter being "blind".
That is not a blind body or neurological blindness that could then see with another alter out, it was a abled body and brain that appeared disabled when another alter was out. As I said in the post you're reponding to, a user on a computer can choose not to use certain software, but they cannot run any program the hardware doesn't support. If that system had a neurological disorder that causes blindness, no alter would be able to see. But they CAN take functioning equipment and choose not to use it.
Neurological disorders cannot turn off because another alter is out. That is factually impossible, and you need to do proper research before you try and tell someone who has both done research and communicated with various professionals before you try and come on here and correct us.
We all use the same brain, so if part of that brain doesn't function normally, it won't change just because someone else is out. I get that it's tough for other systems (hoping you're a system - I am dxed with DID myself - but if you're a singlet, learn to be quiet on things you know nothing about thanks) to see their alters, knowing we're all very different people, as using the same brain but that IS what is happening. Being able to use it differently doesn't change the way it's wired nor does it change it's limitations.
The same occurs with physical limitations. The body is abled, but the alter has limitations that have been added. At the end of the day, no alter can gain mobility, but just as you could willingly limp if you wanted to even if you weren't injured, so too can an alter. It's just that in the case of the alter, they aren't aware they aren't actually physically disabled. They aren't intending to fake the mobility issuea but those mobility issues aren't genuine. They are something that, for whatever trauma related reason, the brain felt would have helped or saved the child, or they are an intake of something that happened to the system (for example if an alter was created to deal with a broken leg, they may continue to use it as though it is broken even though in all reality, it isn't).
Tldr, alters can add limitations to an abled body or mind but they cannot remove limitations from a disabled body or mind and that is well researched and also obvious.
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britcision · 1 year
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I always find it funny when a certain type of person insists that something is “all natural” or “plant based” like that automatically makes it a good idea to have in/on your body
Just… no, actually? A lot of natural things and a lot of plants do their very best to make themselves extremely unpleasant and dangerous to put in or on your body, because you kill them to do it
(Ironically a fair few of them like capsaicin and caffeine happen to be delicious, but they are the exception not the rule)
For example, can I interest you in some plant based, all natural eye drops? They’ll make you look lovely, all dark eyed and mysterious, the plant is even called belladonna for “beautiful woman”
It’s also called deadly nightshade
Lead is all natural. It comes out of the ground like that, and if it’s too close to your well, you die (and if your city makes pipes out of it because it’s cheap)
Words mean things, and there are no magic buzzwords that automatically make things safe or magically win you an argument if you say them first
In the words of the great Caduceus Clay, “violence is extremely natural”
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