To Read or Not to Read... Questions?

Ok, so the question is not if we should read or not. The question is how we read what we read. I was most impressed by the first of our two chapters tonight, ch. 6. It was very informative about how we read rhetorically or not. I had never thought about if I was reading “purposefully or rhetorically” (WGTR, 114) or how exactly I was reading. I personally enjoy reading, though usually purposefully. More often than not I read for pleasure, or to relax. I often find myself reading some sci-fi or fantasy realm crap just to relax and unwind. Of course we have to read or at least skim through our texts for class. I have found however, that the Wadsworth Guide to Research isn’t so much of a “drag” to read as many of my other college texts. Yes it is boring “English” stuff. However, it is relevant and it is very well written for the average collegiate audience. It has pretty colors and designs. More importantly however, it does have information we need for class and that we can use. It doesn’t seem to be filled with “extras” that aren’t important to the subject matter of our classes.
Even chapter seven which was only ten or so pages was packed with important information about how to evaluate the data we will be using for ALL of our research. I believe that those ten pages could have serious ramifications for the future of our ENG104 grade. I mean, how are we possibly to be able to research responsibly if we don’t know how to evaluate the data we are looking up? I was especially interesting in the way the chapter broke the evaluation process down into four even steps. Each of the steps, Verify, Copy, Respond, and Fill Gaps, was useful in its own way. Some of us are better than others at each of these steps, but we could all use some help in some aspect of this. I am better at the filling of the gaps than I am at the responding aspect of this process. Verifying resources is something I am continually doing, however the copying of sources, their information, and overall keeping tabs on all that I have researched to date is not one of my strong suits.
All in all I appreciate the knowledge imparted by these chapters. I know writing a sentence like that is kind of lame. That being said these chapters are essential to getting a good grade in our current class. Not to mention rhetorically analyzing, and writing based on what you’ve researched well.