Curiouser and Curiouser - Blog #1

Have you ever found yourself completely stuck when writing on a topic that you don't even find remotely interesting? If you answered no, you're lying. I recently began reading a book for my English Composition class called "The Curious Researcher" by Bruce Ballenger and I dreaded even opening the book! However, the first page offers a fun exercise where Bruce gives the reader a number of different statements that you must either agree or disagree with and you must spend three minutes just typing what comes to mind about the statements you chose. I must admit, I did find it kind of hard to explain myself after my initial response, but I forced myself to think deeper into the subject and figure out why I felt that way. Here are the two statements I chose. Enjoy!

The belief I think is false from "The Curious Researcher" is that when you're writing, you are mainly writing to your instructor. I do not agree with that at all. Has there ever been a specific group of people that you may know or have heard of that pop into your head as you're writing that may care about what you have to say? If that has never happened to you, I suggest you pick other topics to write about. Yes, the reports and research essays that you're writing may only be for a grade, but the subject you're writing about must be important to someone out in the world, correct? There must always be a targeted audience when writing because otherwise, it is a research essay written in vain. Someone out there cares is interested in the subject you're writing about so you might as well direct it towards them.

Another statement that I find interesting is "When two experts disagree, one of them has to be wrong." I agree with this statement to a certain degree. When two "experts" disagree, how much can you really trust that either of them are truly experts in that topic? If they were experts, wouldn't they be agreeing on their intelligence? There is also a great possibility that both of them are wrong and it is a wasted argument fueled by ignorance. I love researching different topics and finding contradicting information because then curiosity has been sparked inside of me. Now I must go find the real answer! So maybe the next time I find two "experts" disagree, it's chance for me to become the real expert.