Why is research in this day and age so important?

BY KAHA G – 14 YEARS OLD

Since elementary school, we’ve been taught how to better our research skills to provide compendious and credible presentations. From the C.R.A.P test to staying far away from Wikipedia, we are taught how to do the most effective research when we reach the real world.

If you are anything like me, I search for something and only pick websites that appear on the first page. Either third or fourth website, mostly because I presume that it’s the “ideal” answer. However, I realized that it’s a smart idea to venture to the second page or maybe even further because reading authors’ different perspectives are essential.

Regarding the research, I would recommend using search engines like: Opera.com, DuckDuckGo, and Google Scholar. These search engines are highly recommended not only for their reliable information, but safety as well. For example, take Google Scholar; let’s say you search up why mental health is so important, you would find pages and pages of information all with a crazy amount of citations. Keep in mind that it lies on the scientific side. So, my advice to you concerning all search engines would be to compare and contrast different websites used to see if they’re saying the same thing or not.

An example of why research is so important is when you are presenting, you don’t want to share false information about a serious issue around the world. Imagine you’re presenting to your peers about an issue, and suddenly someone raises their hand disagreeing with your research. This is why getting a point of view from someone who lives in the area of this said issue is beneficial to you. What do they think possible solutions could be, how do they feel? Critical thinking is also a major factor to incorporate.

Research is something we have to do for the rest of our lives, so taking that time to learn how to find trustworthy information effectively is worth it. As Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi said, “Research is to see what everybody else has seen and think what nobody has thought.”