Choosing Sources for Writing March 29

Choosing appropriate, credible sources whose purpose is to support and justify the claims you make within your paper can be a difficult task. It is a crucial portion of writing an academic essay, whether or not sources are required for the paper being written. When I approach this daunting task I turn to Google Scholars to find articles from academic journals, magazine articles and newspaper publications. Google is such a diverse search engine you can easily switch between 'scholar' or 'news' or even 'images' to find the information you're inquiring about. I have had bad luck using the resources providing on the WSU Library website. Most journal articles must be requesting through the world library program and, though it is something that could use improvement, I am unwilling to request the document, wait for it and then finally use it in a paper whose due date could have long expired. When browsing the results of my google search, using the scholars filter, I look on the right side of the findings for the pdf option. This link to the 'portable document format' is a hint as to the credible of the document, at least that's what I believe. It seems to me, from personal experience and using other search engines, that those documents that have the pdf version available are more credible, to some extent, because you are able to view the entire work and the information needed for citing your results is included on the page. Once I've chosen a source I am able to use any part of the document because I have the whole thing available. I like to choose parts of the text that are emphasized, well worded and compact bits of information that display the point of view I intend to highlight but won't take up a page of writing to explain.

To improve my method of finding and using sources within my writing I think it would be beneficial for me to use the library computers for finding articles and journal publications. However with so much literature converted to online data bases it seems the education system will soon be changing to fit the technological advances that are taking place.

Norman Borlaug

Wow. Norman Borlaug is a very intelligent and motivated man. His ideas and proposals are revolutionary. The way Borlaug presents his thoughts are very different from how most people view genetically modified foods, often referred to as 'franken foods' like Frankenstein. However, there is a lot we can learn from his methods and a lot of good can come from the way he believes things should be done. Though, I can see how some people might be nervous about his concepts. The big words describing the process through which corn can be transformed into a product with higher protein, immunity to disease, and better resistance to pesticides does have a horror movie ring to it. It can be scary to think about someone messing with the GENES of the food you eat. Norman Borlaug has good intentions, he's trying to feed more people with the land, water, and other resources that we have available right now. His cutting edge methods are fixing the food system to include enough yield for all the people on earth, not just Americans. I would hope the government and those who disapprove of genetically modified foods would consider Norman Borlaugs ideas and give him a chance to feed the poor people in the world. "It's easy to 'NO GM FOODS' when you have enough to eat" That's so true, it's sounds like a good cause to get behind, organic all the way, but I think this is a plausible option for helping with world hunger.

The article I chose is about a food community related to the Bible. The Edenic diet comes from the Adam and Eve's Garden of Eden, and the foods they were assumed to have eaten. The article outlines what foods were included in the guidelines. Animals that both chewed the cud and had split hoofs, fish with both fins and scales were acceptable because they ate only plant matter. This assured the consumer they weren't eating any spoiled meat by way of the animal's diet. Flying insects with jointed legs for hopping are also an acceptable animal for eating when on the Edenic diet. There were several other articles that called this type of eating the 'Holy way to lose weight.' Which seems very contradictory. The Bible outlined this style of eating as being the original meal plan. The intention wasn't for humans to eat this way and lose weight, it was sustain their bodies. I think this would be an interesting food community to investigate for paper 3 because it's closely related to the Christian religion. However, not all Christians practice this way of eating. I am interesting in researching whether those on the Edenic diet really eat bugs with jointed legs, or bugs in general. It should be something exciting to study.

The Omnivore's Dilemma Ch. 15, 18, 19, 20

The reading for this week was a good portion of the book and had a lot of information that was hard to take in. The most interesting part of the reading was in Chapter 19 "Gathering: The Fungi." Pollan talks about the different ways that humans connect with nature and use their basic survival skills. Some examples he uses are gardening, hunting and gathering and building things. I've always been interested in gardening, from a nurturing standpoint. It's fascinating to me that with only a few ingredients something can be grown. It's a powerful feeling, seeing that little sprout pop up after a few days of careful watering and attention to sunlight. In my dorm I have two plants, one I got for Christmas, a miniature grass growing kit. A snowman shaped vessel 'grows' grass hair when you plant the seeds in his head. My other plant is a forget-me-not starter kit I got for Valentine's day. Pollan is right when he talks about how empowering it is to take care of something and once it's matured, reap the benefits of your labor. When my snowman's hair got long I gave him a buzz cut. Once my forget-me-nots blossom I'll be able to soak up their beauty. It's a what you put in is what you get out relationship and that is something all humans strive to find. Whether you enjoy going fishing or hunting Pollan is right that most humans interest themselves in a 'nature' hands-on project. And I am no exception.