6: A short but sweet glimpse

     Research papers are a very involved process. The research gathering may sometimes even be the hardest part. For myself, it has been. While I have learned a lot about mining/gold mining in my search for information about how gold mining is impacting Suriname, I have also been thwarted at many a turn in my attempts at expanding my knowledge. 

      Gold mining itself is a particularly heated topic, as some of the negative side effects on the environment and the people can be rather substantial. Conversely, there are a number of people who also benefit from gold mining. This can lead to a convoluted stew of information ranging from valid sources to biased buyers and investors preaching the value of gold and mining for it. Sifting through the muck can be quite challenging as sometimes even the biased sources do make valid points, and on top of that, not everyone feels the need to claim their work when they work for world wide corporations reporting the research findings, for example, many of the articles on the World Gold Council's website. As I try to construct an MLA style bibliography, I find that many articles and websites even try and keep it vague so as to keep it neutral- no author, no publication date, nada, zilch. I compiled a list of multiple sources on singular points to try and circumvent the bias, but when so many sources align is it truth or unfortunate circumstance?

     Another unfortunate side effect of the plethora of people trying to weigh in on the gold mining dilemma is that there is a lot to get distracted by when sifting through the threads. Many of the articles I found were on the pros and cons of gold mining, however, searches yielded articles regarding the foreign involvement which made me want to pursue those instead. I was particularly suspicious of the Russian side of things.  Wanting to search the political involvement surrounding gold mining in  my country of choice made me want to search for their involvement in other countries in the area. The worm hole is deep. However, luckily and yet unluckily, my knowledge on gold mining is still limited. Due to my mental limitations on the subject, I did not at first know the right keywords to use to search for the best results. I am still figuring that out. 

      Which brings me to another problem of information vs time. I am finding more information as the final dealing approaches, but it is completely changing how my argument is going in my head. As I learn more, and the lines become more blurred, it becomes harder to comfortably make a stand.  They say that often those who think they have all the answers, in actuality know the least. I feel as though to make a stand on the pros, cons, and the possibility of balance between the two requires me to seek more information about what other areas in which the country could invest its time, money, and other resources in with a greater return than the grey area of gold mining. To criticize, shouldn't you need to be able to provide an alternative? It is easy to let your research topic consume you-let it spark a difficult but not impossible-to-stop fire. The trick is to find the balance and to be clear and concise. 

Alas, I trudge on.