Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
Decide to do additional research, using sources other than the Internet
You decide to tell the botanist that you have done some preliminary Internet
research. Your early findings suggest that the plant is a member of the heliconia
family. You know the botanist is eager to hear your research results. He is
excited to think he may have discovered a new type of plant.
The researcher tells you that you are correct to want to check your findings
at the university and at the botanical garden. The websites you visited are
unedited. Scientific journals are edited. This means that the publisher checks
the facts and makes sure that everything they publish is accurate. The person
who wrote the material could have made a mistake.
The botanist tells you that tomorrow you can finish your research on the
other specimens. Then, when that is finished, you can go to the university
and check your findings on all of them at the same time.
"You can't believe everything you read," he reminds you.
"The Internet is a classic shortcut. I use it all the time
myself, "says Douglas Justice, a botanist at a botanical garden. "But you
have to understand the limitations of unedited writing."