Before Page One...

Every single topic that I research starts  from a single idea.Whenever I want to know something, like most others in this digital age, I will do a quick search on the internet. Before I get into the whole 'nitty gritty' of research I want to have some idea of what is going on to better determine what sort of information would be helpful. This same concept goes with choosing out literature. I want to know before I dive in and commit to taking a book out of the library, with the added responsibility of lugging it around with care, I always want to see what I am getting myself into. I don't want to go through the hassle of checking out a book that I will never read. I want to know what I have in store and not end up reading something that does not pique my interest. But this post isn't going to be about what I love in a book--maybe I'll save that for another time.

Background knowledge is so important to me when learning about pretty much everything. I feel that most things that we learn in school are just one small part in a much larger scale of things. To better appreciate and understand the importance and relevance of what we are learning, I need to know more. I want to know what was going on in the world during that time period, what the life of the author was like, and what other events influenced and were influenced by this. Maybe it's just the child in me, but I am always curious and on the lookout for more information to satiate my hunger for more.

I can never tell if I am going to like a book or not, just by the cover. That would be biased against all the potentially wonderful books that are hidden behind poor cover art. I try to learn more about the book: the plot line, other works by that author, and if it had positive reviews. There is just so much information that goes into learning more information! The point being, if you want to learn about something, you have to research more than just the topic--there are so many lines of other topics connecting to that one topic you are researching. Like a spider diagram, there are so many parts and angles to a topic, that background research is the only way to fully grasp the meaning and significance of that one topic. After all, knowledge is power.

Shiver-me-timbers!
Emilie