Tanner McDougal
Learning Outcome #2
Link to Showcase Writing Project Page With PDF:
Analysis:
For all three projects in my English class so far, I have had to work with sources and figure out how to use information from them to integrate with my ideas in an essay. There are multiple examples of how I used sources as evidence when I needed to back up an idea of mine, prove a foreign idea wrong, or to use as an example of how something further complicates an idea. At the beginning of this class I was not as skilled at working with sources. I would find something that I thought made sense and then would try to integrate it into my essay somehow. Thankfully I have learned how to properly work with sources. My first step in taking from a source is to make sure I have annotated the text I am working with and understand the major ideas presented. I then will read the rubric and thesis of my essay to make sure that I am searching for the correct type of source. When I select a source, I make sure that it is one that I can use as evidence, and not something that just takes up space to help me reach a length requirement. I search for an example from a source that will help prove my ideas or the ideas presented in my essay. A specific example from my essay is where I quoted Michael Pollan as he explained how grilling is becoming more popular in American culture. Pollan talked about how many people grill a piece of meat to be reminded of a “distant culture”. When searching for this quote, I already knew from the essay guidelines that I needed something that would help me prove how culture toward food is changing. When I found this quote, I knew that it matched with what needed to be discussed in the essay, and I knew that it would be a great example to help back up my thesis. I used this quote with another example of how culture is important to many and I was able to effectively show and explain my own point of view and opinion of the changing culture of food and how some of us value culture of family and that idea is still very important to some.
