Paper #3--Research for the Knowledge Garden

hey there,

For this paper you will be focusing in on some topic that is related to our Knowledge Garden. You will write a 7 page minimum research paper. Your paper will be "published" along with your classmates' papers into a book that people will be able to read. (So, you will want to make sure that your grammar, etc. is clean, and that your ideas are well articulated.)

You will also be writing up a 2-3 paragraph summary of your paper that we will take and paste into a plaque that will be featured out in the garden.

You will need to focus your topic: You will want to be sure that your topic is manageable and accessable. For example, if you decide to do your paper on "Dirt" that is surely an accessable topic because there are a million articles about it. BUT, it is not a manageble topic because there is TOO much content out there. You will need to focus in your topic. You could do something about the soil composition in Hayward, and how this dirt effects gardens. You could do something on lead in soil, and its impact on gardens. The trick is to find a topic that is small enough, but that you can still find articles and information about.

A note about topic choices: You are encouraged to be creative with your topic choice. You can filter your topic through your major, or through a passion you have. You can find some odd angle that you want to share (To give you an idea, here are some possible topics that students are thinking about doing: the history of garden gnomes,  chain link fences, how to do a pond, how to make sunflower seeds, the story of an Iowa grandmother who was a corn farmer, gardens and PTSD, Milpa, wind chimes, etc.... there are a lot more....)

Details of paper:

1. 7 page minimum research paper
2. Works cited page
3. 5 sources minimum (dont make this a wikipedia heavy paper!)
4. 2-3 paragraph summary for your plaque (this is a different piece of writing than your paper)
5. Be very careful about avoiding plagiarism. You will want to name all the sources you use and you will want to put them in your own voice. The trick for doing that is actually simple: read the source material a few times to really understand it; then HIDE the source; then in your own voice, write up what you think the source was saying. (Your version may not sound as elegant as the original, but that doesnt matter. We want YOUR voice.)
6. paper is due on July 29th. Draft day is 24th. (you will be bringing in part of the paper next tues, the 22nd.)

MEET IN GARDEN TOMORROW--wednesday July 16

Hey there, bring your essay #2 tomorrow and pls meet out at the garden...
you can park near there, to not have to walk a lot....

see you there!!!

Directions for PAPER #2--this is a long post.. so be sure to read all

(Along with getting started on this paper #2, you also have some reading to do. Pls read up to page 164 in Where am I Eating. Be looking for quotes and ideas you can integrate into your paper.)

Hey there, so for paper #2, you will be choosing one set of questions from the list below. There are about a dozen paper topics to choose from. (You will see that some are kind of similar; pick the one that works best for you. 

When writing your draft, if your argument is slightly more broad or narrow, it is ok to tweak the prompt questions.

If you feel you need to come up with an additional question or two, you can do so.

Once you have picked your set of questions, pls answer 3 of your questions--do Rule of 3 for each. That makes 9 or so paragraphs that you should bring to class next Tuesday, July 8th. 

Just as with Paper #1, you will be following the paragraph template. You will want to have 2 quotes per paragraph. The page minimum for this paper is 7. You will be doing a 3 para intro. 

Here are the essay choices that you all came up with:

CULTURE AND FOOD

1.     How does culture impact our relationship/attitude to food?
2.     Why is it hard to change our culture?
3.     How does our knowledge/lack of knowledge of food affect what we eat?
4.     How can we better educate ourselves?
5.     How does the media affect our view of food?

GLOBALIZATION, THIRD-WORLD IMPACT

1.     How could America aid farmers/underdeveloped countries to develop their economies and achieve autonomy?

2.     How do companies affect countries that supply food?

3.     How do companies affect countries that consume foods imported from other countries?

4.     How does globalization affect food production?

Corporate Food System

1.     What is the impact of the corporate food system on other cultures ?

2.     What is the impact of corporate food system on US consumers and our world?

3.     What lessons can US culture take from these other cultures?

4.     What kind of relation do we have with food?

5.     How do these native culture preserve to their tradition?

6.     How do you stay connected to your roots?

CULTURE AND FOOD

1.     What conditions/ factors cause Americans to become less appreciative of their food?

2.     What are the consequences of being disconnected with our food and their roots? What do Americans value differently compared to that of farmers/producers in other countries? 

3.     How do consumer's choices impact that of the producers in a farm? 

4.     What can we do to improve people's choice of food consumption to better the lives of the consumers and producers? 

CORPORATE FOOD SYSTEM

1.     What are corporate food companies’ impact on third world cultures? 

2.     Why do corporate food companies outsource so often?

3.     How are corporate food companies taking over and why?

4.     How could third world cultures overcome the corporations and keep their values?

GMO’S

1.     How long have we been using GMO technology?

2.     How are GMOs affecting are food, health & economy?

3.     Is there a connection between GMOs and bad impacts on the environment?

4.     What is the benefit of using GMO technology in the food industry?

CULTURE AND FOOD

1.     How does culture impact our relationship/attitude to food?

2.     Why is it hard to change our culture?

3.     How does our knowledge/lack of knowledge of food affect what we eat?

4.     How can we better educate ourselves?

5.     How does the media affect our view of food?

FOOD and CONTROL

1.     Who is in control of our food system?

2.     How are they controlling it?

3.     What are some of the consequences to us of not having control of our food system?

4.     Why is hard to regain control?

5.     How do we regain control of our relationship to food?

FOOD QUALITY

1.     How are big corporate factories harming our food?

2.     Why does America need more than what it can consume?

3.     What can we do to eliminate all the wasted food that we don't use?

4.     Should there be limits to how much a household can purchase depending on family size to ensure they won't be eating more than what they could (normally) eat? Why or why not?

5.     What happens to the unstandardized food? (food items that do not meet an official standard)

FOOD QUALITY

1.     What happens to our food when it does not pass certifications?

2.     What are the certifications?

3.     Who are the inspectors working for? (USDA) etc..

4.     Who benefits the most and how do they benefit?

5.     How do we increase the quality of our food?

FOOD INSECURITY

1.     What is food insecurity? 

2.     What are some of the factors that cause food insecurity?

3.     Who gets affected the most? 

4.     Are food stamps really the solution to food insecurity? 

5.     What choices do the food stamp recipients make when buying food? 

6.     Why are we killing our children with fast food when other children are dying of hunger? 

If you pick either one of these below , you will need to also generate 3-4 more smaller sub-questions, so that you are not just doing one question.

1. Our lifestyle(capitalism/consumerism) causes direct and indirect problems such as slavery in the chocolate industry, how do we prevent that?

2. In Ted Talk, Jon Jandai said "Food, housing, clothes and medicine must be cheap and easy for everybody! Because that is a civilization. But if you make these things hard for people to get, that is uncivilized!". What changes can we make in our lifestyle to make those necessities affordable to everybody?

Homework for Wed nite, due thurs July 3

Hey there, so to get ourselves ready to do the next paper, here is some stuff to do.

1. pls read ch 4 and 5 in Where are we eating.....
2. Pls watch this Ted Talk

 

3. Pls write up 2 paragraphs around this question: if you were going to

write an essay, based on what you have read so far in the book, what would

you like to explore? (You can also use the Ted Talk to stir your imagination

about what you would like to do an essay on.)

Pls bring these paragraphs tomorrow, we will need them in order to figure out what

the essay will be about.....