Page 2 - IRISH HISTOEY - CHAPT 1_Neat

A Bare Bones History of Ireland Chap 1

Foreword

The lure of history

One of the regrets of my life is that in my earlier schooling along a
scientific path, I cannot remember attending a single class devoted to
the study of history. For some reason there remained a dormant
hankering to correct this abject flaw in my schooling.

But other lessons have been drawn from a 50 year career in
Engineering. To write a technical paper or report, I always needed a) to
assemble my own ideas on the subject in question, but b) I needed to
read and understand the ideas of others on the said topic. Then, the
trick was to show my comprehension by re-synthesizing a description of
the topic in my own words.

The advent of the World Wide Web or Internet opened up a whole new
world in broadening my scope for inspecting other people's ideas. With
the magic of the search engine as my dedicated slave, invariably, I

could find a source that I could read on almost any topic.

This brings me neatly to the old quotation attributed to Wilson Mizner,
American Dramatist (1876-1933)
"Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's
research."

The most important difference between plagiarism and research is

understanding. When you read one source, it is easy to nod your head
but not truly understand. When you read multiple sources, you must
actually think, weigh each opinion and then reach your own logical
conclusion. Then all that is left is to use your own words to 'plagiarise'
the conclusions you have so reached.

This document, therefore, is my attempt to apply these principles to my
much neglected understanding of Irish History. There is nothing unique
in its methodology - anybody with the interest and the internet could
undertake such a project.

I have made no attempt to acknowledge references to the diverse
sources - mostly copied and pasted.

Dick Troy

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