English writing

4 pages

at least 4 citation

English 3060 Essay One
Your assignment is to write an essay analyzing a food-related issue or experience, using
one or two *reliable source(s) as inspiration, context, and/or support. At least one of these
sources needs to be from One Search (library databases). Overall, your essay should make
clear how your points about your chosen issue and your source’s connect, and your essay should
consistently present a dialogue between yourself and your sources’ ideas.

The standard assumption in academic writing is that your audience has either not read the
reading you’re discussing, or if they have read it, they do not remember it well. Thus, you
need to initially introduce any source with at least two pieces of information that help
establish the content and credibility of the source (see “Four Rules” handout, or Google “MLA
in- text citation”). This initial introduction should also include a brief overall summary of the
source, before you segue into the particular idea you’re focusing on. After that, refer to the
source only by last name (or “Title,” if no author is listed).

Though we won’t have had time to thoroughly read the “They Say/I Say” book by the time this
assignment is due, I strongly encourage you to at least read the first chapter or two as soon as
you can, and to apply those ideas to your work throughout this class. You need to use MLA-style
citations and a Work Cited page.

This essay should be a minimum of four pages long, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and
it should be formatted according to MLA style.

Good luck, and I look forward to reading your essays.

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A Few Thoughts About *Reliability of Sources

A reliable source, in an academic sense is one:
1) whose author(s) are considered knowledgeable in their fields (often with accompanying

degree),
2) whose points are consistently well-supported with sources (cited in some way, like links or a

bibliography) who are accepted as experts (or at knowledgeable in their given fields, and
3) with a fairly logical/open-minded analysis/tone, basically that “plays fair.” This also depends

on how the source is used, and what it is used for. For example, if I interviewed my grandma
about a family food tradition, though she does not have a degree in food history, no one
would be more qualified to speak on our family food traditions. However, if I took that
interview and tried to make it argue something about all food traditions (or all Louisiana/
Arkansas food traditions), it probably would not fly. One other general example is that a
YouTube video might not seem like a good academic source (or a Twitter feed, etc.). This is
not necessarily true. It would depend on who put out the video, and maybe if I was making
an argument about a common societal food trend or attitude a YouTube video made by some
random person might show an example of that trend perfectly.