Arguing about Food

For class, you’ll watch either the documentary Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! or the documentary Food Evolution, both of which raise a number of questions about the food we eat, why we eat this food, our health, and the marketing and production of this food. For your final essay in this class, you will be jumping into these conversations and writing an argumentative paper in which you work to convince your audience of your claims about a food-related topic.

To successfully complete this assignment, your essay must:
• include a clear, argumentative thesis statement that lays out your claim + reason(s) for making this claim.
• include specific evidence in support of your thesis in order to persuade your readers.
• introduce and refute at least one counterargument.
• appeal to your audience though logos, pathos, and ethos.
• smoothly integrate information from your outside sources by signaling, contextualizing, quoting only what’s necessary, and explaining the significance of this information.
• incorporate at least 3 outside sources— at least 2 of these sources must be articles or books found using the library’s databases, and at least 1 of these must be peer-reviewed.
• use proper MLA in-text citation and include a Works Cited page formatted according to MLA guidelines.
• include helpful topic sentences and transitional statements to direct the reader and be carefully proofread.
• be 3-4 pages in length. (This means at least 3 full pages.)
• be followed by a 1-page analysis of why you made the choices that you did within your essay (more details will follow).

The possible sources for this essay include the documentary you choose to watch and articles or books that you’ve found using the library’s databases or catalogs. You may also use 1 or 2 more general internet sources, provided these sources are reputable.