Alfonso 1 Michelle Coleen S. Alfonso Dr.

Lynda Haas Writing 37 13 March 2014 Conan Doyle Essay Final Revision for the Paragraph The first technique Holmes applies to the investigation is his keen observation to minute details. An example of this is shown when he examines the letter sent to Sir Henry right after he arrives at the Northumberland Hotel. The letter says: As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor (loc 235). All the words are cut out from a newspaper, except the word "moor" which is printed in ink. The postmark of the letter is from the Charing Cross, and the written address consists of sloppy and rough characters. With Holmess great mind, he notices that the word moor is the only one that is hand-written. The other words are cut with the use of nail scissors and put together by gum. The fact that it is written like that serves as the driving question for Holmes to further his study about it. While everyone is just blinded with all the available hints and indications around them, Holmes takes everything in, analyzes them and applies scientific knowledge into it. The next step in Holmes process of deductive reasoning is to apply his prior knowledge about the facts that he has gathered. Even so, one should keep in mind that it is not the amount of information that matters, but the relevance of it regarding the case. Simultaneously, Holmes says that The person who had cut and pasted the words had used that Times article (Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles loc 235). In here, with the help of his background knowledge about social statuses of people during that time, he knows right away that the writer of the letter is from the higher class because only the upper class people reads and uses that specific kind of

Alfonso 2 newspaper. Furthermore, Holmes points out the inconsistency of the pen marking used which only leads to one possible reason and deduces that the pen used is of the low quality kind and is usually used at hotels and the like. As Holmes stated, When you have eliminated all the impossible, whatever remains, HOWEVER IMPROBABLE, must be the truth (Doyle, The Sign on the Four loc 531). This shows that his deductive reasoning skill enables him to eliminate the choices that does not connect to the facts that he already knows from his knowledge about writing, penmanship types and social statuses of people during that time.