Generally,there are two types of characters.
"Compound character 合体" and "Single component Character 独体".
And there are four Character building method "pictogram 象形","ideogram 指事"、"indicatives 会意","phono-semantic 形声".
"Single component Character 独体" characters are derive from "pictogram 象形" and "ideogram 指事".
pictogram: "人" means people "山" means hill "木" means wood
ideogram: "上" means up "下" means down "本" means origin
This part should be remembered by rote ,and they are often the component of the "Compound character合体".
And 95% characters in morden Chinese Characters are "Compound character 合体" .
about 90% or even more Characters in "Compound character 合体" are derived from "phono-semantic 形声",
which means characters build with semantic(形) and the pronunciation（声）.
"dove 鸠" is build with "九" and "鸟" .
means its kind of bird(鸟).
and its pronunciation is "jiū" which is similar to "九 jiǔ".
and there are "pigeon 鸽" "duck 鸭" "crow 鸦" "chick 鸡" "ostrich 鸵" ...
they are both some kind of birds.
the "steel 钢 " "iron 铁" "bronze 铜" "silver 银" ... is another example
which both have the "钅"(simplified "金" radical ) ,
they are both some kind of metals.
Of course , there are lots of exceptions of it,
as the pronunciation may changes from ancinent times to now,
or as the parts may don't have exactly meanings.
but it's of a good method to retain the characters together.
and the "indicatives 会意" is another way of building "compound character".
but not many.
e.g.: "尘" which means dust . are made with small "小" and soil "土"
So , you'd better remember the "Single component Character独体" by rote ,and remember the "Compound character 合体" by their
radical and components which are often the "Single component Character独体".
Here is a online tool I often use to lookup characters by radicals.
NOTE：I'm using Simplified Chinese characters here , but rules are the same with Traditional Chinese Character
so I will descripe the way for learning "独体字" :
(my way is using google before using this,but may not suitable for you)
See the character :
Write the character and input it to PC(if it's in your PC ,then next part):
This part you need a Chinese IME. QQ Pinyin Or sogou Pinyin if you
know it's pinyin "拼音" and works in windows. They both have
handwriting tool as well if you can only write it.
For Linux Users.
There is not any good handwriting IME. you can only use pinyin with
fcitx or ibus-pinyin.
You can use Cloud IME http://pinyin.sogou.com/cloud/
or QQ’s Cloud IME both in Linux and Windows as well.
they only have pinyin currently
Lookup the Character you input with online chinese dict like zdic:
search the character in it and check the 字源字形 tab . that means the
origin of the character.
If you can not input the character. you can check the character by
it's radical 部首 using 【字典部首检字】（http://www.zdic.net/zd/bs/）
the 矛 ‘s stroke 笔画 is five . so you look up in 笔画五 and you will find it
there. if not , check if is using parts in 笔画一：丨亅丿乛一乙乚丶. in this
case. you can find it in 笔画五.
but if you are looking for "予" you can only find it in 乛 of 笔画一.
that's the page you get about 矛’s 字源字形
You can see the origin and evolution of the character.
and there are also basic info about it, like pronunciation ,expalnation and
it may help you understand the character better.
And the best way to learn it one character（矛 here).
I think is to read, write and learn it in words (矛盾 here) many many times.
which all student of primary and junior school in "语文" (Chinese Language Lessons) must do it over and over.
And in fact, we are using words not characters.
we don't use single 矛 as we don't use spear for a long time.
but 矛盾 which means contradiction are more vigorous.