After reading the chapter Finding Evidence I think i understand more of what it means to observe things or people. There are
different things that effect us in many ways most of the time are we unaware of
it. In the article Backpacks vs Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis
it talks about every individual has their way of analyzing things. It gives an
example of a new school teacher that walks in to her class for the first time,
and the students reaction of her first appearance. In the same time we try to
be unbaised, will we most of the time come off as biased. The article
mentioned that we have built a “mental database that you can draw on to make
conclusions about what a person’s looks tell you about their personality” (46).
We analyze all sorts of things from how people talk about themselves or others
to how they dress, to their body languages.
One part of Finding Evidence talks about
collecting your own data through various ways. One that is more for academics,
is gathering evidence through experiments. Another way of doing it is to make
your own observation. “What you may wonder, could be easier than observing something?”
the book mentions. Observing requires concentration, but what really matters is
how you interpreted what you have observed. A skilled observer can draw a more
accurate conclusion than a non skilled observer. Finding evidence could be done
in many ways such as experiments, interviews, online or book
research.
Saud, I totally agree about these readings helped me understand identity and how to observe things/collect information in a better way. It is also true that we all have different ways of analyzing and interpreting things that pass our ways. I want to argue that the fact that we do that is what makes reading and writing so interesting. The part about the mental database was the most interesting part if you ask me, since that really came down as a reality check for me. I mean, I haven’t thought about it like that before but we all do it. We all have an idea about what things should be like (using our mental database of things we’ve seen or heard about before) and when something isn’t matching our perception of it, I think that is when we actually think about it. When we just see something and it matches our mental picture of it, it will juts pass by without any reflection but when something is different, that makes us think.
ReplyDeleteHey Saud! I thought the readings were really great this week also, and definitely provided a lot of great information about making observations and how we can do the same in our writing! And I like how you explained the difference between observing, and being able to interpret your observations: it's what you do with your findings/observations that's important, just as important as what you're observing in the first place!
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