You can start with the page that on the file

First, make an executive decision as to the direction of the paper. You need to decide what debate and relevant essays/readings you’d like to focus on for the sake of this assignment and the longer paper. Consider the following options:

Continue to wade into the Zinczenko/Balko debate. You can use your in-class assignment to help you develop the paper. However, you will have to summarize BOTH Balko and Zinczenko as writers who have different perspectives on the debate about food and health. You will also have to develop an original response (you can’t use the hypothetical one you assumed in producing the summaries), and to begin to thinking about how you will support that response in the paper.

Each of these debates revolves around a topic of social importance, and the essays that I’ve provided represent different perspectives on that topic. Use the essays (2-3) within those debates as the basis of your paper. You will need to read carefully and become familiar with the essays that you choose so that you can produce an effective summary and response.

Wade into a debate beyond the material that I’ve provided. This will require a bit of independent work. You should identify a debate that revolves around an issue of social importance (the gun control debate, the transgender bathroom debate…., or an issue that is personally or professionally important (related to a class or academic field) to you. You must find at least 2 pieces of writing (articles in a reputable magazine or journal, articles within an anthology (see the library collection) that help you to establish the “debate” and the different perspectives that some have. You must produce an effective summary of these perspectives and respond to them by staking out your own original perspective. 

Second, in 2 pages, begin to develop your response paper. How do you do this? See the guidelines below:

Summary: Accurately summarize the debate into which you’re entering. Summarize the positions of the 2-3 writers you’ve read and use quotes (with proper leads and explanation) to support that summary. As you summarize the 2-3 writers, make sure you’re connecting their different positions: e.g. “Whereas Zinczenko argues that… Balko claims that…”; “In contrast to… this writer says…”

Response: Produce an original response. The response is your personal contribution to the debate. It should reflect one of the “modes” that we went over in class. Generally speaking the response should come after the summary paragraphs and should not only state whether you agree/disagree with others, but also, to begin, briefly explain why.

Support: Consider how you will support your response. Later we will talk about how to use outside sources to help support/establish your position. But for now, especially if you’re writing about a topic of social importance (college, technology, gender, food, etc.) I encourage you to begin to support your response with personal experience. Consider what, within your realm experience, you can use to make your case and begin to organize your essay around that.

Works Cited: Your last page should be a “works cited” that conforms to the model we looked over in class. It should list the pieces of writing you referenced in your essay using one of the reference styles (MLA, APA, etc) that we looked at in class.