The Relevance of Food in Culture Identification of the United States Immigrants

Assignment #2:

Writing a Research Paper

Topic and Task:

Kate L. Turabian notes “reports of research tell us most of what we can reliably believe about our world” and that students often think that their “report will add little to the world’s knowledge. While acknowledging that this “may be so,” she counters by stating that “done well, [research reports] will add a lot to your [knowledge] and to your ability to do the next report. You may also think that your future lies not in scholarly research but in business or a profession. But research is as important outside the academy as it is in, and in most ways it is the same.”[1]

In Assignment #2, you will be writing an argumentative based, thesis driven essay that supports your interpretation of how a specific group of people, an organization, a place, or an event is emblematic of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s quote, “tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” In other words, how is food used as a way to form or express the identity of a person, place, or thing? How does food or food production impact who we are or who we want to be? You may use any of our course readings to support and develop your claim or you may pick an entirely new food related topic to write about. Regardless of the topic you choose, you will need to narrow your focus so that the subject can be effectively discussed in approximately 2,500 words.

William Kelleher-Storey points out that the goal of a research essay is to “reach new conclusions on a topic;” nothing is gained from writing a paper that simply restates another historian’s conclusions.[2] In an effort to reach these new conclusions, you may want to begin by reading secondary sources to not only discover what has been written about the topic, but also to discern any gaps or contradictions that may exist surrounding it. From this, you may find a new way to look at some particular aspect of the past. Because you have the freedom to write about any food related topic you choose, you may want to consider crafting a piece that you can submit to UC Davis’s Prized Writing or that you can use as a writing sample for future applications.

Proposal: (10% of overall grade)

For the proposal, you will propose and describe the topic you intend to focus on for your research paper. Your proposal should be approximately 500 words in length and include a well-crafted series of paragraphs that answer the following questions:

• What is the topic you wish to write about?


• What do you already know about the topic and/or why do you want to learn more about the topic?


• How have you narrowed the topic to make it manageable for a research paper of 2,500 words in length?


• What is your current working thesis statement? (This may change as you continue to write the research paper.)


• What is the argument you intend to pursue?


• What are the limits of your argument? (Explain what your research will not cover and why.)


• What are the potential counter arguments?

Your proposal will be evaluated on how well you present your topic/argument (this includes being free of style, mechanical, and typographical errors) and whether it is a feasible project that is appropriate and manageable for this assignment.

Research Paper Draft Workshop:

You will be submitting a draft of your research paper for peer review. Your draft should be at least 1,500 words long and must include an introduction featuring your thesis statement and a conclusion. For further information about the structure and content of the research paper, see instructions under “final draft” heading.

You must submit your draft to Canvas by 11:59 PM on Monday, July 20^th and complete your assigned peer reviews by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, July 22^nd. Failure to do so or failure to participate in the draft workshop will result in a 5% deduction to your research paper grade.

Final Draft: (35% of overall grade)

The final draft of your research paper should be a 2,500-word text that aims to present a new way of looking at a specific social justice topic. Your research paper should include at least eight sources, three of which must be primary sources, which work to support your interpretation of the subject being discussed. Your research paper should adhere to a specific citation style (either MLA, APA, Chicago, or another instructor approved style) and should have:

• A clear and effective thesis statement


• An interesting and compelling introduction and conclusion


• An indication as to how your argument fits within the context of other scholars


• Factually accurate representations of people, events, etc. that pertain to your topic


• Effective development of your topic, including:
  
  
  
  • Presentation of appropriate evidence
  
  
  • Interpretation of evidence based on reasonable extrapolations
  
  
  • Connections between your argument and the evidence used
  
  
  • An attempt to consider evidence in relationship to one another
  
  
  • References to at least eight sources:
    
    
    
    • At least three primary sources
    
    
    • Other sources may be secondary
    
    
    • No tertiary sources without prior permission
    
    
    • An overall narrative to keep and maintain the readers interest in the subject.
    
    
    • A clear writing style with varied sentence structure, cohesion between sentences, and transitions between paragraphs
    
    
    • Correct use of grammar and mechanics
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

For further information about how the final draft of Assignment #2 will be graded, see the rubric.

[1] Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 8^th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013), 5.