[The solution is to approach new situations critically.]
This is a skill that can be honed in reading rather easily—I became explicitly aware of doing exactly as you’ve described when I began to have to offer up explanations and critiques of scholarly papers whose topics I wasn’t innately familiar with on short notice. And it was just as surprising to my peers when I could come up with quick, cogent answers to complex questions about them on the spot.
Edit: Damnit, I fail at quote tags—is there a list somewhere of the tags the site uses?
Don’t worry about it—there have been many requests about changing that, making it more intuitive (like “markup formatting” vs. “help”) -- I think the upcoming redesign will probably handle this and make it easier for folks.
[The solution is to approach new situations critically.]
This is a skill that can be honed in reading rather easily—I became explicitly aware of doing exactly as you’ve described when I began to have to offer up explanations and critiques of scholarly papers whose topics I wasn’t innately familiar with on short notice. And it was just as surprising to my peers when I could come up with quick, cogent answers to complex questions about them on the spot.
Edit: Damnit, I fail at quote tags—is there a list somewhere of the tags the site uses?
Like how I quoted you?
If so, click the “Help” link to the bottom right of the text entry box after you clilck “Reply” and you’ll see that it’s the greater-than symbol.
Wow. Yeah. My brain remembers looking for something like that, but I think it’s only attempting to justify its embarrassment. Thanks!
Don’t worry about it—there have been many requests about changing that, making it more intuitive (like “markup formatting” vs. “help”) -- I think the upcoming redesign will probably handle this and make it easier for folks.