2025 RationalWiki 'Oregon Plan' Fundraiser

There is no RationalWiki without you. We are a small non-profit with no staff—we are hundreds of volunteers who document pseudoscience and crankery around the world every day. We will never allow ads because we must remain independent. We cannot rely on big donors with corresponding big agendas. We are not the largest website around, but we believe we play an important role in defending truth and objectivity.

Fighting pseudoscience isn't free.
We are 100% user-supported! Help and donate $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can today with PayPal Logo.png!
Donations so far: $1675.86Goal: $10000
Information icon.svg At the chicken coop, we are currently voting on a change to the blocking policy to clarify when offsite behavior such as harassment and brigading can get someone banned from RW. A reminder that you need at least 75 edits and to have had an account for at least 3 months to vote.

Essay:How Quote Mining Works (For new RW users)

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Essay.svg This essay is an original work by Rationalzombie94.
It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas.
Unless otherwise stated, this is original content, released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or any later version. See RationalWiki:Copyrights.
Feel free to make comments on the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts.

For those who are new to the Rationalwiki family, unfamiliar with creationist debate tactics or a teen who is curious about Skepticism- this is a guide on how creationists quote mine for their arguments. Creationists will take any scientific study (example below) and copy/paste parts that seem to support biblical literalist views. The Institute for Creation Research is known for quote mining.

Example[edit]

(Note- this is hypothetical)

Study- New Humanoid Transitional Fossil Helps Uncover Human Biology Mysterys By Professor John Doe PhD, UCLA Department of Paleontology

In a recent geological dig deep in the deserts of southern Iran, a fossilized skeleton of a transitional humanoid was dug up by a mining company. This fossil was dubbed- Greg. Greg's anatomy is similar to Neanderthals. Carbon dating shows that Greg is much younger than other fossilized humanoids. The anatomical structure of the mouth is very similar to modern humans. More tests show that the rib cage is about 600,000 years ago. The current hypothesis is that Greg adapted to the desert conditions of the region



CreationWorldNews article- New Evidence For Creation by Professor Jane Doe PhD, Christian International University Department of Mathematics

The recent discovery of the "Greg" fossil has once again proven the early creation of the Earth 6000 years ago. Citing the UCLA Department of Paleontology study-

In a recent geological dig deep in southern Iran, a fossilized skeleton of a transitional humanoid was dug up by a mining company. This fossil was dubbed- "Greg". Greg's anatomy is similar to Neanderthals. Carbon dating shows Greg is much younger than other fossilized humaniods

See! The Evolutionists can't figure out how old the fossil is. This is a victory for the bible.


Conclusion[edit]

Quote miners will take any study, either scientific, mathematical, literary or theological and take only pieces of it to make an article supporting their views. For die hard alternative medicine promoters, they take a few sentences from a study such as Biochemistry and distort what is said. Someone making an article or video mocking religious view that are not their own, will only read about the very basics of a religion then act like an expert.

Hope this helps!

See also[edit]