Student:BrianMiller

Date:09/18/14
Title:JournalEntry#2
Question:
Theheartofacademiaisthesearchformeaning,beitinthehardsciences,socialsciencesor
humanities.Inessencewhenyoudevelopascientificexperimentorreadaclassicbitofliterature,the
reasonwhyyoutakeontheseendeavorsistorevealtheirmeaning.Anditisthroughthewriting
processwherethismeaningisrevealedtoanaudience.
Buttofindthemeaningofanitem,topic,processisnotofteneasy.Thereareobstaclesinfindingthe
meaning.Inyourjournalthinkandwriteaboutwhattheseobstaclesmightbeandparticularlyhowyou
mightsystematicallyovercomethem.

Therearemanydifferentobstaclesapersonmayfacewhentryingtofindthemeaningbehind
something.Someofthemostcommonpitfallsarerushingtojudgment,overpersonalizingor
naturalizingourassumptions(assumingweareright),andgeneralizingtheissue.Allofthesepitfallscan
bebroadlycharacterizedastakingmentalshortcuts.Althoughmentalshortcutsarenecessaryand
helpfulattimes,whenyouaretryingtosearchformeaningtheycanbedetrimental.
Dependingonthetopicbeingdiscussed,arushtojudgmentmaybehardtofight.Topicswhich
arepoliticallychargedsuchasabortion,gunrightsandgaymarriagearelikelytoelicitastrong
emotionalreactionthatwillbedifficulttoovercome.Althoughsimilartorushingtojudgment,
naturalizingourassumptionscanbeviewedasalessemotionalversionoftheformer.Inbothinstances
wehaveanimmediateideaofwhatweassumetobecorrectbasedonhowwefeelaboutsomething.
Lastly,whenfacedwithanoverlytechnicalorcomplicatedsubjectapersonmaybecomeconfusedor
intimidatedandreverttogeneralizationsinordertobetterunderstand.
Althoughtheauthorofapieceshouldconsidertheabovepitfallsandattempttoavoidthemin
theirwriting,Ibelievetheburdenofobjectiveanalysisultimatelyrestswiththereader.When
approachingapieceofwriting,thereaderwouldbewellservedtodothefollowing:
1.Identifyanypreconceptionstheyhaveaboutthesubjectmatterandaskthemselvesiftheyarelikely
tohaveanemotionalresponsetothepiece.Ifyourealizethatyoualreadyhavestrongfeelingsoneway
ortheotherregardingtheissue,forceyourselftosetthoseasideandlookatthepieceobjectively.Read
thepiecewiththeintenttomakeargumentsbothforandagainstthepositionbeingpresented.
2.Committoreadingthepieceslowlyandthoroughly.Ifthesubjectmatterisonethatyouare
unfamiliarwithmakesureyouhavereferencematerialavailablethatyoucanrefertowhenneeded.
Resisttheurgetoskipoverwordsortermsthatareunfamiliaranddonotmoveonfromaconceptuntil
youhaveanunderstandingofit.
3.Trytoidentifythemainpointorargumentpresentedbytheauthor.Whenreadingthepiece,focus
onthemainpointanddogetsidetracked.
Inclosing,readingapiecetodiscovermeaningisnotsomethingthatshouldbedonepassively.
Itshouldbeamentalexercisethatchallengesyoutothinkhardaboutthesubjectmatteravoidtaking
thatmentalshortcut