related: There is no such thing as a predetermined hierarchy of useful and important works.
This may be because we're so clever that we succeed in having someone less skilled than us teach us something, or because even someone who does not seem very clever may have some hidden skills, or because someone who inspires us may not inspire anyone else. We must listen with respect to anyone, without this exempting us from pronouncing our value judgments; or from the knowledge that an author's opinion man drastically differ from our own, or his ideological background. Stern opponents can provide some ideas. Many discoveries will come down to chance circumstances of placement (in mind, what we've been thinking about recently, a conversation overheard at the cafe). Academic humility: do not exclude any source. It requires some amount of pride, but whatever it requires, practice it.
(143) { How to Write a Thesis Eco, Umberto. How to Write a Thesis. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1977.