I specifically had this issue when I was looking for sources for the first essay that was assigned to us which was based on the food industry. My topic was on a reading from a biased author that didn’t agree with how meat inspections were being done. The author didn’t have many sources to really support their claims. So when I chose my topic on large meat companies versus smaller ones, it was very difficult to find any actual evidence. I noticed that the sources I did find were making my claims less refutable. I now saw that my argument came from a biased standpoint and to do better on this, in my second essay I did extensive research and found sources that actually went with my argument which was based on education and the flaws of standardized testing. To not make the same mistakes, I made sure that my sources presented the facts of the situation and not just their own opinions on the issue.

I feel this quote has been very useful for me during this semester when trying to construct papers. Starting on a paper has always been hard for me because I didn’t know where to find answers or where to start. Having an open mind going into a paper, makes the paper flow a lot better in my opinion, and less subjective. I’ve had one example with this in my paper about global warming and food production. I went into the paper with the state of mind that we needed to cut meat production, and switch to only growing crops. I then found out that my assumption was wrong, and non-meat production can be just as harmful to the environment (if not worse) as meat production. The problem had not one simple answer, but many different factors, which created more questions and more possible solutions.

-Laurits

When writing Essay 1 I had a question regarding why foodborne illnesses were on the rise in the U.S. and used this as my starting point for my research and the topic of my paper. Upon researching I found that it was because of the population’s switch to a healthier lifestyle, which included an increase in the amount of fresh produce that people eat, that ultimately led to this increase. However, this led me to another question of why fresh produce has a higher chance of contamination that leads to these foodborne illnesses that people contract. Starting with a question instead of a thesis statement led me to new ideas that I would not have found had I stuck to a thesis statement I came up with. My research was used to investigate further upon the issue of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. instead of supporting a thesis which allowed me to conduct a genuine inquiry.

I found this quote to relate to both essays that I had written this semester, but had a synonymous relation to the first essay that I chose to write on the FDA and the USDA. When I cross-referenced my outline and my thesis for this essay, I see that I started with my question “To what extent does the USDA and the FDA take to achieve a common standard of inspections in the food industry to ensure the sanitation of food in America?” As I skimmed through the essay I saw my development of the main idea and more unity to what I was discussing. I also looked at the second essay that I wrote on media consolidation's effects on democracy and saw the antonymous relation it had to the quote. I once again looked at the outline I prepared and saw that there was no open-ended question to my research and my discussion. I started my research with a statement and that statement had very few alterations after the research process was finished. Now looking back, the first essay I wrote was graded higher and had a more coherent structure with analyzed research. I can see the value in using an open-ended question to start and guide the construction of the essay and prompt I am writing to maintain a flow and a more open-minded POV on the topic I choose.

The following quote relates to my first paper of the semester, which highlighted the correlation between mental illnesses and obesity. Throughout my paper, I questioned why many written works that emphasized the negative effects of mental illnesses would never mention obesity. Including my thesis statement, throughout my essay, I would incorporate questions; Not only for my reader to ponder about but they were questions that I genuinely thought of while writing the essay and conducting research. For example, in one of my paragraphs, I wrote how much research suggests obesity and mental illnesses are increasing at a fast rate in the United States. While reading this information, I thought about if mental illnesses are also on the rise in the United States, then is it possible that there could be a huge correlation between people with mental illnesses and obesity? By ending off this paragraph with a question, I was able to incorporate research that supported both sides of the argument, while emphasizing my perspective and thoughts on the topic. I was able to find different studies and distinct perspectives on the topic, which overall was able to help my essay.