Alex Hasenkopf

UWRT 1103
11/16/2016

Literacy
To truly understand if I have become literate in my topic after researching, I must first
know what literacy in a subject is. Literacy is the competence or knowledge in a specified area,
meaning I can talk about my topic with others and be able to understand what they are talking
about as well as hold a discussion about the matter. If I were to evaluate my knowledge in race
before and after researching one could say I am much more literate in race now than I was
before. Race is one of those words everyone has heard over and over throughout their life, and
believe they understand the meaning of race. Most are wrong though mainly because the word
has no true meaning. That is where my research came in to teach me about race.
Through my research, I have developed that race is not based on scientific proof, but on
political and social structures developed by others. To come up with that idea, I had to research
both sides of the story. People who believe race is a scientific idea and those who believe race is
a made up theory. When I began my research, I started with many questions about what race is
and what defines a race. With those ideas and questions in mind, I went to Google to find
resources about my subject. Before I could even blink, I had millions of results on races from
articles, to books, to videos of ordinary people and famous people all talking about race.
Resources that would take me the rest of my life to explore them all.
In the end, it is these kinds of resources and tools that allowed me to understand and
develop my opinion about race. I recommend beginning research with a chart and a literature
review to bring all the ideas and questions together into one. Research and compiling ideas are a
significant resource in becoming literate in a topic.