Assignment:
Your task for this essay is to analyze the information you obtained reading the book, watching the film, and discussing with your peers while considering the questions, what attitudes characterize contemporary American attitudes towards food? According to whom (try to identify the speakers)? In what ways does your information from all of your resources to date confirm this or possibly call it into question? That is, the most likely way to organize this paper will be to first develop a general discussion in your introduction of contemporary American attitudes towards food as you understood them from the film Supersize Me (and possibly your own experience, or the ideas found in Fast Food Nation), using these resources to support your understanding.
Your context essay should explain why you think Americans' have the attitude towards food that they do (your response to this would be your thesis statement).
In your detailed discussion (the body of your essay), use the resources you've been introduced to so far this term to support your ideas.
You will need some sort of overall conclusion that suggests the significance of Americans' attitudes. You might consider where you see our relationships with food in another 50 years if they continue to evolve on the same path that Schlosser argues we're heading down.
Tip: When you want to cite the film, you will want to review the MLA source citation formulas for a filmand web site--you will want to follow the radio program formula and add the information about how to find it online (using the web site formula). This is good practice. Sometimes you will need to combine formulas to meet your resource needs. If you have questions about how to cite these speakers, make sure to visit the "Questions about..." bulletin board as you work.
Guidelines
Your Context Essay should explain why you think Americans' have the attitude towards food that they do (as you now see it) and should be 3 pages long, be presented in MLA paper format, include an additional "Works Cited" page (make sure to include any resource that you quote or summarize in your essay), and be free of mechanical errors that distract your readers. You should explain what you have learned from your resources that have help shaped your opinion on Americans' attitudes towards food and why they have them with a clear thesis, and use claim, relevant evidence, and warrants to support your thesis.
Remember, there are no "wrong" responses to this prompt. Instead, you are selecting evidence from our resources in order to support why you personally think Americans' have the attitude towards food that they do now that you have investigated the subject. Each writer/researcher in the class will have a unique thesis statement, because there are many, many different points of view in response to this prompt.