. . . a stroll down the street will bring food culture in to sharp focus, from the rampant spread of Jamba Juices, Starbucks, and McDonald’s into the empty nooks and crannies of our consumer spaces to the rise of specialty markets like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Food provides more than just sustenance; it increasingly has come to shape and mediate our understanding of ourselves and our culture.
--Alfano and O’Brien
Assignment Description:
Select an issue related to “food culture” and present a specific, debatable argument (it should be possible for readers to disagree with your claim).
Potential topics include the fast food industry, childhood obesity, corn and/or high fructose corn syrup, organic food, biotechnology, the cattle industry,treatment of animals, etc. Make sure that your topic falls under “food culture”and not some other issue category (such as women and body image, for example). If you have any doubts about your topic being related to “food culture,” please check with me.
In order to earn a C or above, your essay should include:
•
a minimum of 5 FULL double-spaced pages (not 4 and 1/2 or even 4 and 3/4. Every available line should be used) Do not include a cover page.
•
12-point Times New Roman font and 1” margins.
•
an introduction that sets up your argument about the article
•
a thesis that makes a specific, debatable claim about the “food culture”topic you have selected.
•
effectively organized paragraphs with strong topic sentences and transitions
•
reference to or example from at least one article from the “You Are What You Eat” section of Envision in Depth (can be a summary or paraphrase in your own words, or a brief, correctly integrated direct quotation)
•
references to or examples from at least two WOODBURY LIBRARY DATABASE ARTICLES (can be summaries or paraphrases in your own words and sentence structure, or brief, correctly integrated direct quotations). (You may use additional reliable resources from the Internet or library databases if necessary.)
•
proper MLA page headers
•
proper MLA in-text citations for all paraphrases and direct quotations
•
a conclusion that does not merely restate your thesis but that leaves the reader with further “food for thought.”
•
a works cited page in correct MLA format (which does NOT count towards your page minimum) since you will be quoting from at least oneEnvision in Depth article and your internet research.
Additional criteria:
•
Clear argument or position on the “food culture” issue you have chosen.
•
A thesis that puts forth a clear, debatable argument.
•
Demonstrated understanding of finding and evaluating sources.
•
Effective essay structure based on outlines posted on Moodle
•
Facts, statistics, and/or expert opinions that support your argument. You may include quotes when the language the writer uses either cannot be said any other way, or is so special you want to call attention to it. You should mostly summarize and paraphrase information from the researched articles you have found. Your essay should indicate that you have actually read and learned new information from your sources, not merely found a few
•
You may use some of your own experiences to support your ideas, but most of your support for your thesis should come from outside sources.
•
When you do quote, the quotes should be properly integrated (no drop quotes) and use MLA style.
•
Clear and concise writing, with proper vocabulary.
•
Clear and precise sentence-level rhetoric (grammar and structure)
