Writing Homework Help

Purpose

The third unit introduction in our Food Justice Casebook ends by asking you, the reader, to consider what efforts you might take to pursue food justice in your local community and/or in “contemporary food landscapes.” For Essay Cycle Two, we are going to focus our efforts on examining food justice efforts at a more localized level. For this essay cycle, your task will be to identify a real-world inequity or problem to write about. It could be a problem that you’ve identified in our local food system here in Eugene or in your home community’s local food system, or you can use one (or more) of the assigned readings from this term to examine a specific food justice effort.

Below I have included two different suggestions for approaches you can take for your Essay 2.1. I will have the actual assignment prompt for your Essay 2.1 available on next week’s module, but I wanted to give you an idea of what the options are so that you can start thinking about your essay project now. Both suggestions I’ve included below will require you to write an argumentative essay that utilizes an enthymeme that responds directly to a question at issue and then includes a line of reasoning to support the enthymeme.

Option 1: Developing Practical Efforts for Local Food Justice

One of the questions posed in the “Pursuing Food Justice” introduction goes like this: “If you were to improve food access in the local community of the University of Oregon, what food justice efforts might you implement or plan?” (Food Justice Casebook p. 73).

If you choose this option, I’d like you to identify a specific problem or inequity in a local community that you are a part of, whether it’s here at the University of Oregon, in your home-town/country, or some other place that you are familiar with. After identifying the problem, I want you to develop a plan of action that describes what food justice efforts you would implement or plan to address the problem you have identified. You will write an argumentative essay in which you outline the problem and then develop and defend your plan of action by analyzing the potential effects and efficacy (effectiveness) of your food justice efforts.

The focus of this essay option will be on explaining and defending your plan of action in an argumentative essay; the argumentative aspect of your essay will focus on explaining why you believe your plan of action will be effective in accomplishing your intended goals. Your essay should be written to a specific audience, meaning that your essay should consider what your audience needs and how they might be best persuaded by your argument.

*Note: You do not have to solve the problem you identify, but as a part of your defense, you should explain why your plan of action will help to address the problem in a meaningful way.

Option 2: Analyzing the Problem of a Local Food Injustice Through a Critical Lens

In Week Seven, I asked you to flex your analytical muscles by choosing one of three analytical questions posed by the “Pursuing Food Justice” introduction on page 73 of the Food Justice Casebook.This option will essentially be an essay-length critical analysis of a food justice problem or inequitywithin the food system. You are welcome to use your Week 7 Discussion Board post as the basis of your essay, or you may develop a new topic and/or address a new analytical question of your own design.

If you choose this option, your goal will be to perform a critical analysis of the food justice problem through a particular lens. You will need to spend a section of your essay explaining/identifying/describing/etc. your chosen critical framework. For example, if you choose “ethics” as your critical framework, you will need to explain what makes something ethical (and/or unethical). You will use that definition as the basis upon which you assess and analyze the evidence you choose to include in the essay.

Like Option 1, this essay will also utilize an enthymeme and a line of reasoning that develops the argument. If you choose this essay option, I encourage you to take Julie Guthman’s article or Malik Yakini’s Bioneers talk as an example of the kind of analysis you should perform in your essay.

Examples of possible critical frameworks/lenses include, but are not limited to:

Environment/environmental justice Economics Race/racial justice Class/socioeconomics

Gender/sexuality Ethics Social justice/human rights Etc.

Task, or Assignment Instructions

Introduce your essay with a paragraph that hooks your reader, establishes the context for your argument, and states your Enthymeme (Claim because Reason).

Develop and organize your argument through the Reason of your Enthymeme.

This line of reasoning will include

1. an inquiry into the Reason informed by specific evidence (five or more paragraphs),
2. a major Counter Argument (one or two paragraphs) followed by a Rebuttal, and
3. an Earned Conclusion (at least one paragraph).

Credit the ideas of others by including parenthetical citations, a Works Cited page that lists the sources you cite in your essay, and, if needed, a Works Consulted page that lists any other sources you consulted. Adhere to the conventions of MLA documentation.

Polish your writing. Aim to write formal academic prose while remaining hospitable to your readers. Adhere to the grammatical requirements of Standard Edited American English, MLA documentation style, and formatting guidelines stated in the syllabus.

A Note About Research

While I asked you to not perform outside research for Essay Cycle One, you are allowed to include outside research for this essay cycle, though it is not a requirement. If you decide to include outside research, please see my suggestions for conducting research on the page for week eight’s Writing Lesson: Developing Media Literacy. You will still be required to incorporate at least two of the readings from the Food Justice Casebook or that were assigned in class.

The other thing I want to emphasize is that any research you conduct must be done in service of developing your own argument. Since the Essay 2.1 is an argumentative essay and not an informative or expository essay, please use all sources as voices that you respond to and/or engage with using critical and sympathetic reading.

Essay 2.1 Minimum Requirements Checklists

This draft must meet the minimum requirements of the assignment, including page length and formatting requirements.

Logical Development Requirements

In order to earn an “On Time” grade for this assignment, the essay must:

• Respond to a significant question at issue of your choosing that is related to and/or contextualized within the conversations we’ve had thus far this term
  • Effectively incorporate at least two (2) of the assigned readings into the “conversation” through the use of direct quotes, paraphrase, and summary
    
• Make an original argument about some problem, disagreement, or gap in knowledge that’s based in the conversations we’ve developed on the weekly discussion boards
  • To clarify: When I say I want you to write an original argument, I mean that I want you to focus on developing your ideas and your own line of reasoning instead of simply summarizing one of the source’s arguments back at me.
  • Additionally, you and your peers may use similar questions at issue or make similar claims, but the way you argue the point will be different from theirs. In other words, it is just fine to use the same Q@I as your peers and to make a similar argument. The originality will come through in the way you write the argument.
• Include a properly-formatted enthymeme (includes a claim, a reason, and a shared term) that identifies the argument you’re developing
• Develop the line of reasoning clearly and logically by providing evidence, analysis, and explanation to support the reason and, if need be, the warrant of your essay.
  • For our purposes, evidence includes:
    • Quotes or paraphrases from the assigned readings
    • Personal anecdotes or observations
    • Logical reasoning
    • Analysis of evidence and explanation of your reasoning

• Earn the claim/conclusion of the argument by clearly explaining and supporting the logic of your premises (the reason and the warrant) and their connection to the claim

*Note: A counterargument is not required for the rough draft, though you may include one if you wish. We will discuss and workshop counterarguments in Week 9 instead, and the final version of this essay (the Essay 2.2) will require a strong counterargument and rebuttal.

Mechanical, Formatting, and Submission Requirements

• Meets the 1,200 word minimum (excluding the Works Cited page)
• Uses formal academic prose
• Adheres to the requirements of Standard Edited American English, MLA documentation style, and formatting guidelines stated in the syllabus
• Includes parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page that lists the texts you cite in your essay
• Arrives on time as a digital copy on Canvas

Source Use

You must contextualize both versions of this essay in response to at least two of the readings from the Food Justice Casebook or that were assigned in class. You may also use the Oxford English Dictionary. If you consult but do not cite or otherwise use information from other materials, you must include a Works Consulted page.**

Must use 2 readings from here:

1. Julie Guthman, “‘If Only They Knew’: Color Blindness and Universalism in California Alternative Food Institutions”

2. Blackmore, “You’ll Soon Be Able to Tell If Your Tomatoes Were Picked by Empowered, Well-Paid Workers”

3. Bowens, “Portrait 2: Sustaining Community

4. Winona LaDuke, “Ricekeepers”

5. Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest

6. Dan Koeppel’s “Can This Fruit Be Saved?

7. Eric Holt-Giménez and Yi Wang, “Reform or Transformation? The Pivotal Role of Food Justice in the U.S. Food Movement”