The writing style of a tutorial often consists of several steps, showing the result of each step one by one. This is completely different from an academic paper, which aims to discover a conclusion or prove an argument.

I could remember it. There was a time when I read a tutorial on a certain topic. I was confused by all the details it provided. I didn’t grasp the key concept of the tutorial because it wasn’t stated directly. I was really confused at the time. But now, I finally understand why the writing style of a tutorial is like this. It’s because when you follow the steps in the tutorial, you can obtain a similar result for your own task. That’s what a tutorial is for.

This also applies to writing a post in a blog. Because we often use blogs to record the things we’ve just done. That’s what blogs are for. We can write things down for reference. So the writing style of a blog is very similar to that of a tutorial, as both are composed of the steps to achieve a result. Sometimes textbooks, to a large extent, also offer the steps to achieve what we want and need. Therefore, they also share similar writing styles. I think, in my opinion, there’s a big mistake when we view a blog. It’s not like the notes from a textbook which usually contain the key concepts and the general part of the knowledge we acquire when sitting in the classroom. That’s not the way we write a blog or something similar. They are completely different. And the conclusion is that what we’ve just done is essential for writing a blog post.

I think when reading a post, we’d better perceive only what appears directly in the text and not infer too much. When the post states something clearly, that’s what it means. If it doesn’t say something directly, we don’t need to assume it’s implied. It’s ridiculous to think the text encompasses the whole world. Instead, we can view the words as referring to parts of the world. We can observe those parts and listen to others’ descriptions to understand the world. I believe this latter approach is better and more realistic.

Observation is essential in that case as it originates from what we see in the real world. Everyone’s experience makes an unreplaceable contribution to discovering more things that might be hard to find out. The results of findings and observations after certain steps can demonstrate more meaningful points than they initially seem. Although it might look like a mess at first, like before using the data visualization and descriptive statistics. It can help us draw conclusions or make predictions that aren’t obvious from the original thing. By using methods to study the subject or object, we can uncover things hidden beneath the surface. Based on individuals’ understanding and comprehension, this is very helpful and valuable. In most cases, we’ll find more crucial things in the results that we couldn’t know before taking operations or steps. It’s good to see that new, valuable things, new discoveries, and new findings will emerge after this process.

I’m always troubled by facing ignorance as it puts me in an unstable situation where many difficult things emerge quickly and in large numbers, making me very stressed. However, when thinking about it again, we should know how to deal with ignorance. Firstly, we can use tools like search engines or Wikipedia, or ask others for their experience and help. We shouldn’t hesitate to do this because it’s unlike the examinations repeating what teachers or textbooks say but it’s facing new challenges that are unique to ourselves. Secondly, we can see the problems directly with our own eyes and minds without necessarily relying on abstract models. Although there are various models that can be helpful in some aspects, we can learn more about the things in front of us. With others’ observations, we can view things from more aspects, which is helpful. But in this process, don’t forget to use our own eyes, which is simple yet easily forgotten.

There’s some advice for myself regarding this topic. It’s important to focus on the distinct aspects of the challenge. For example, when using a washing machine to wash clothes, you don’t need to know every button, every pipe on the machine or each component used to build it. What matters is that you want your clothes to be clean just by starting it. Similarly, in this process we’re dealing with, we want to know more about the problem, the challenge and how to find solutions. The goal isn’t about the methods we can use but rather the findings that we don’t know yet but are eager to discover. Using our minds to find these is the most essential thing in this process.

As we discussed before, if you follow the tutorial, you’ll likely get similar results because you need to follow the same pattern. Moreover, it’s exciting to look for the subtle differences. Discovering these differences can inspire us, give us knowledge, as well as encouragement, bravery and eventually bring something positive. It’s both exciting and charming for those who try to find them.