Your first step is to pick a topic. The history of food is a broad field so you will need to hone in on a specific topic.

CONTACT ME FOR TUTORING :MELODYSOFTY46@GMAIL.COM

Step 1—Finding a Topic    (Research prospectus due 1/30)

Your first step is to pick a topic.  The history of food is a broad field so you will need to hone in on a specific topic.  (Once you find a topic you will also most likely continue to narrow your focus.)  If you decide to change your topic later on in the term, you must get the change approved by me in advance.  You have until 3 weeks before the paper is due to change your topic.  For this project, it is especially important that you pick something that interests you.  Topics include but are not limited to the following:

Specific foods, dishes, meals—chocolate, corn, wine, fugu fish, durian, Spam, Coca Cola, the Graham Cracker or Kellogg’s Corn Flakes etc.  You might choose to look at the globalization of a certain product or, conversely, the prohibition of a product such as absinthe.  You can also examine a food taboo like cannibalism.

Issues and places related to production and consumption— the construction of “tastes” by the modern food industry, modern advertising; the development of table manners and etiquette, restaurants, coffee houses, pubs, speakeasies, farmers markets, Chicago’s roof top gardens, celebrity chefs; the recent rise in “yuppie coffee” and “wine bars,” or Molecular Gastronomy.  You could also focus on the development of a particular meal: lunch and its place in the modern capitalist world, Thanksgiving, etc.

The environment and sustainability— specific farming practices, the Irish potato famine, the dust bowl in 1930s America, climate change, seafood farms and “dead zones” in the ocean, genetically modified foods, pesticides.

Biology and illness—food and the development of the human species; the effects of starvation; obesity, diabetes, and food related illnesses such a e coli.  You can also look at disordered eating—anorexia, pica, etc.

Food politics— the school lunch program, US government’s subsidization of corn production, NAFTA.

Food activism and food justice— inner-city food deserts, Fair Trade, immigration and agriculture, soup kitchens , child labor.  The list is of possible topics is endless.  Make sure to follow your interests. 

Once you have found your topic and carried out your research you will produce a research paper for the class according to the following guidelines: 

Format

•   8-10 pages long

•   typed, double-spaced

•   11- or 12-point font   

•   Footnotes/endnotes needed.  Please refer to the Purdue Owl site for formatting.

Grading Criteria

Essays will be graded on form as well as content.  Grades will be based on the following criteria (see “writing guidelines” below for more detail):  

• Title informs reader about paper topic

•   Paper has a clear thesis or main idea

•   Clear organization and paragraph structure

•   Effective topic sentences and transitions

•   Persuasive use of evidence/specific examples (from the readings) 

•   Polished grammar and syntax

•   Professional presentation (spelling, page numbers, length)