The Final Conversation with Dave

Hello all! This is the last exercise in the process of writing my research essay. 

It's another conversation with Dave, to reflect on all of the things that I have learned over the weeks, throughout my research.

Dave: "Hey you, I think you can't really say that one opinion is better than another one. Don't you agree?"

Me: Hey Dave, I think that I would have to agree with you, but to an extent. While I do believe that all opinions should be respected, acknowledged, and valued, I don't believe that all opinions are necessarily accurate. However, I do think that it is important that everyone provides their opinion, at appropriate times, so that others can start to think about what their own opinions are.

Dave: "There's all this stuff in the book about research as a process of discovery. What did you discover?"

Me: Well, Dave, through hours and hours of researching, I have been able to learn a lot more on the issues of health, nutrition, and diets. One of the most interesting things, that I have been able to discover, is how many different kinds of people struggle with these topics. While many believe that the majority of these people would be young women, the truth of the matter is that almost everybody has a hard time figuring out what diet works best for their health, including children and young men.

Dave: "What do you figure was the most challenging problem you had to solve while working on this research project? How did you solve it?"

Me: I think that the most challenging thing I had to deal with was finding all of my sources and making sure they were liable. I was able to make it through with lots of patience and of course more research.

Dave: "After all this work, what do you take away from this experience? What have you learned that you can use?"

Me: Even though some of these exercises were a hassle at times, I feel that it made the whole process of writing the essay far easier. I was able to learn a bunch of different tactics, like mock conversations, researching for liable sources and strategies for brainstorming. These were all very helpful exercises that I plan on using for any future research essays that may come up.

Well, everyone I hope you enjoyed this journey! It was hard at times but I finally made it through. Now I just have to add all the final touches and revisions on my essay and it will be complete. Thanks so much for following me through this process, hopefully all of this pre-work paid off and my paper will give new insight to my topic of choice.

A time for Revision

Its come down to the last week of writing our essay and its all about revising. On Monday, we took a look at the different use of voices within our paper; today it was all about looking at the order of the paper. For today's in class exercise, we took our paper apart, paragraph by paragraph, and played around with the arrangement for a bit to see if there was any way to make the structure better. Normally when I write a paper, I tend to keep the original order because I didn't think it was possible to switch it up and have it still make sense. However, after doing this exercise, I realized that you don't also have to stick to the original flow of your paper. Sometimes you can make a bigger impact, just by switching up a few sentences. This exercise has been very helpful in giving me ideas on how to improve my paper.

Wrestling with the Draft

For today's exercise, I am supposed to choose a page or two of my draft to look over, with some highlighters at hand. The next step was to analyze and highlight the voices within my draft. This is so I can visualize just how much of my paper is my voice versus outside voices. After doing this we were supposed to reflect and answer a few questions.

Which color dominates? At this point, my essay is mainly my own voice.

Am I turning too much to my sources? I have actually realized that I might actually need to include more of their insight.

Am I rattling on, ignoring what the outside sources are saying? I am not sure that I would call it rattling on, but I do think that it would be to my benefit to back up what I have to say to make it more credible.


All in all, I think that my draft could use better balance between the voices and opinions. While my paper may be written there is still a bunch of work that needs to be done. I just hope there will be enough time to do it!

Three Ways In

The introduction to a paper is just about important as the thesis. If done well, it is what draws the reader in, getting them curious about what you have to say. 

For this exercise I was to write out three introductions that I could use for my research paper. The point of this was to see the different ways that I could possibly begin my essay. They were supposed to be at least one or two paragraphs.

Mine are listed below:

1. It’s the week before your wedding and everything seems to be going just as planned, except for one thing. You are unsatisfied with the way your dress fits. You have already lost a lot of weight over the past few months but with all of the planning and stress, you could not quite reach your goal. The dress has already been altered twice before  and time has just about run out, so you decide to take drastic measures and go on a crash diet.

2. Have you ever felt that society expects you to be thinner? Do you compare your body to the images you see in magazines, Hollywood, or even among your peers? Instead of being satisfied with the body that you have, you feel compelled to change yourself in order to be accepted.

This fear of exclusion has led many of us to take foolish and extreme measures when it comes to our health and nutrition. As a result, we believe that the popular fitness programs and diet fads will produce our ideal body in no time. However, a diet is a lifestyle not a quick fix program.

3. While sitting in the library one evening, I overheard two girls discussing their need to lose weight. They were going back and forth, expressing their dissatisfaction with their appearances. The one girl began to suggest that they start working out, but was quickly interrupted by her friend who said that she did not have time for that. She only wanted to drop a few pounds in the quickest amount of time  possible. After contemplating for a few minutes, they decided that it couldn’t hurt to try out different diets and detoxes to achieve their goals.

I found this exercise to be really helpful. As I begin to write and think through everything that I've researched, I am becoming more confident that this paper may actually turn out alright!

I Think I Have a Thesis?

For today's class, I had to think what it is exactly that I want to communicate with my audience. So to help me with my thought process we were given the assignment to write a tentative thesis. After going over the list of possible kinds of thesis' I decided to take the hypothesis route. 

After much research on health and nutrition it appears that there are many who have made the assumption that fad/crash diets are not damaging to their bodies. This assumption is not only inaccurate but potentially health damaging.

 

I'm not quite sure this is exactly what my thesis will be, but its nice to have something written down to tweak around with!

Mock Conversation

Hello everyone! For today's exercise, I was supposed to pretend that I was having an actual conversation about my subject. It wasn't scripted or thought out, I was just supposed to go with it and see how it played out. This was to help me see how much I know about my topic so far. 

Dave: 

What’s the big deal anyways? 

Me: 

While the obsession with having a “perfect body” has also been around, it seems that it's becoming a bigger issue in our society today. People are being pressured into thinking that if they don’t lose those last view pounds or look a certain way, than they’re a somewhat of a failure. As a result of this pressure, people have resorted to experimenting with their bodies. With all of the new and accessible detoxes, excessive amounts of exercise, pills people are trying anything to achieve this goal of so-called “perfection”. 

Dave: 

Where does this pressure come from? 

Me: 

This pressure is coming from magazines, commercials, celebrities, musicians, peers, and even parents. No matter what age, gender or size you are, the idea of losing weight and being healthy are all around you. Just by walking through the check out line in a grocery store you can learn about all the new diet trends.  

Dave: 

Why is this happening? 

Me: 

One of the reasons that this is happening is because people are not being properly educated on how to truly take care of your body. Instead of researching medical facts or even asking a doctor, people turn towards magazines and other things to find them the answer the fastest.  

Dave: 

What do you think we should do about it? 

Me: 

To be completely honest, I'm not sure that I have found the answer to this question yet. Or if there even is one right answer. I do know, however, that this issue needs to be addressed instead of being pushed to the side. I think that if more people were to be honest with one another and really listened instead of judged, than those who are struggling with this would be far more willing to talk it out and seek help. 

This exercise showed me that I don't quite have all of the answers yet. Maybe instead of an argumentative essay this will be an exploratory one. Guess I'll just have to dig a little deeper so I can figure that out!

Annotated Bibliography

The assignment given from my english composition class this week was to create 5 annotated bibliographies for my sources. After lots and lots of time, effort and reading articles on my topic, I was finally able to complete this assignment. I didn't realize it until now but because of all the research that I've been doing on my topic I have gained so much more information that I can include in my essay. 

Annotated Bibliography

Kolata, Gina. "ESSAY; True Secret Of Fad Diets: It's Calories." The New York Times.

The NewYork Times, 18 Jan. 2000. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.

This article is a credible source for my research because it is written by a well-experienced journalist and published by a popular, highly admired News Company. Gina Kolata has worked as a copyeditor for science magazine and is now currently a science journalist for The New York Times. The article was published in one of The New York Times online essays, 13 years ago. The authors main goal in this article is to inform her audience that fad diets are not the solution to weight loss or one’s health. The New York Times usually grabs the attention of middle class and upper class citizens with a potentially liberal worldview. This audience would be interested in this subject especially if they are the medical field or tend to struggle with their weight because it addresses the underlying issues and side effects that fad diets can have on you. The author incorporates personal experience, general examples, quotes from professional doctors, and studies from respected sources. This evidence builds credibility because it has a variety of examples, academic sources, and personal illustrations relating to the authors father that helps direct you to the author’s main point but is also limited because of the lack of details that the author does not go into on the topic. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I agree with this author because we share the same views on how there are not and should not be any shortcuts, when it comes to one’s health. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it provides a new insight on my subject and helps support my own opinions and views, without being biased.

Taylor, Zanthe. "A Diet by Any Other Name." Psychology Today. Zanthe Taylor, 15 

Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com>.

This article is a credible source for my research because it is written by a scholarly writer and published by an online specialized magazine. Zanthe Taylor received her B.A. in English from Princeton College and is currently writing a book on the subject of parenting food. The article was published on Psychology Today, an online magazine, in October 2013. The author’s main goal in this article is to teach her audience cause and effect that restrictive diets have caused in our culture today. Psychology today usually attracts a variety of professional doctors. This audience would be would be interested in this subject especially if they are curious about proper nutrition and would generally agree with the insights and information provided by the author. Taylor incorporates society patterns, a popular magazine, celebrity quotes, and academic information in order to prove to her audience the importance of her point. This evidence builds credibility because it is not just based on personal opinions and she gives a variety of examples but is also quite limiter because she does not seem to bring too many experts or other sources into her article. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I agree with this author because she points out the problem and addresses it in a simple yet educated way. I think this article is important to use in my essay because it discusses some of the exact points that I want to convey in my own essay.

Laskowski, Amy. "When Healthy Eating Becomes an Obsession." BU Today RSS. Bu 

Today, 26 July 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2013. 

This article is a credible source for my research because it is written by specialized writer and published by an academic research university. The author, Amy Laskowski, is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in English working towards her master’s in journalism. Boston University Today published the article in July of 2013. The author’s main goal in this article is to inform her audience about the surprising and often overlooked eating disorder, orthorexia. BU today publishes a variety of articles that are generally directed towards young adults. This audience would be interested in this subject because it is a common dilemma that many people especially of college age face and would generally agree and disagree with some of the author’s perspective on the topic. Lasowski incorporates the disorders history, professional centers, surprising facts, advice and academic sources. This evidence builds credibility because it educates the reader with multiple sources and examples but can also be limited because it does not offer many statistics. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I both agree and disagree with this author. I agree because I do believe that this is an excused issue that needs to be addressed and dealt with but I also disagree because I think there may be more information and details dealing with the cause of this disorder. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it talk about one of the many affects that fad diets can lead to. 

 Zelman, Kathleen. "How To Lose Weight Fast and Safely - WebMD - Exercise, 

Counting Calories, and More." WebMD. WebMD, 2008. Web. 08 Nov. 2013.

This article is a credible source for my research because it is written by an expert nutritionist and published by a trustworthy online health service. As well as an active writer, Kathleen Zelman is the director of nutrition at different Medical Institutions and an assistant professor of nutrition. The article was published in one WebMD’s expert columns back in 2008. The author’s main goal in this article is to persuade her audience that there are better ways to lose weight instead of those crazy diets. WebMD is an online health service, filled with different articles, for anyone interested in learning more about the human body and health. This audience would be interested in this subject because it gives an experts advice on a common problem. The author incorporates professional quotes, helpful advice and scientific facts as support. This evidence builds credibility because it gives well-rounded advice, tips from an expert, and information that backs up the authors point but is also limited because she does not provide very many alternatives to fad dieting. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I agree and disagree with some of what the author is saying. On the one hand, I agree that fad diets are not the answer and you should never fully restrict your diet, but on the other hand, some of the advice she gives may trigger other habits that could lead to unhealthy obsessions. I think that this article is important to include in my essay because it both supports and opposes my on view on the topic.

 Lopez, Joel. "No Perfect Diet." Openexchange.org. Openexchange.com, 2013. 

Web. 08 Nov. 2013. 

This article is a credible source for my research because ot is written by a well known Medical Doctor and is published by popular healthy living and resources website. Joel Lopez is well known M.D. focusing primarily on the anti aging process. The article was published in the archives on Openexchange.org in the past year. The author’s main goal in this article is to persuade his audience to take supplements since it is impossible to have the perfect diet. Open Exchange is an online health and living resource center, generally directed toward middle-aged and older adults. This audience would be interested in this topic because it suggests ways to achieve a better diet and healthier life. Because the author is a professional himself he mostly just provides his own personal experiences, opinions and knowledge. This builds credibility however because he is so well trained in his field, which supports the message that he is trying to convey but is also limited because he does not include any other sources to back up his view. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I would tend to disagree with this author because he does not give a solution to the problem that he is initially stating. I think that this article is important to include in my essay because it gives a totally different view on my topic and I could use some of his statements to prove my own points.

Even though I found this exercise to be stressful and somewhat overwhelming, I know that all that hard work is going to pay off in the end! 

Gaining some knowledge

If you want more information on a subject or an answer to a specific question, you're probably like me and automatically go straight to Google. But what happens when you want to learn even more about a specific topic? You don't just want the most popular answers you want the most accurate answer.

The exercise I have for today is to help me develop more knowledge on the topic of my research essay. I was supposed to search for a topic on a metasearch engine, rather than just using google. I chose to use Mamma.com and Dogpile.com. 

The first search engine I used was Dogpile.com. While I found a few more websites than the ones listed, these were the most interesting and relevant relating to my topic. 

1.  Losing weight without fad diets. 
1. This website points out how fad diets are unnecessary. It also gives some helpful tips on how to you achieve your goals in a healthy manner.
2.  http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/the-truth-about-fad-diets
2.  Side Effects of Unhealthy Fad Diets
1. Explains the issues and negative side effects that fad diets or "yo-yo" diets can result in. Gives examples of what a healthy diet really looks like. 
2. http://www.fitho.in/side-effects-of-unhealthy-fad-diets/

Mamma.com

1. When Eating Healthy Becomes and Unhealthy Obsession
1. A disorder, called Orthorexia, is the main topic of this web page. It talks about how this is a serious issue that is usually unheard of.
2. http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/060109p40.shtml

I found this exercise to be very helpful. Not only did it give me new ideas for my paper, but I also read about things relating to my topic that I had never heard of before. I feel that by digging deeper for information and searching beyond the easy and accessible Google, I have been able to expand my knowledge and understanding on even more than just my specific topic.

Bring on the Questions

Good afternoon all!
Today's post is all about research relating to my topic. But before I get into the details from the class exercise today I should let you know that, after thinking about it over the weekend, I decided to change my main topic. Instead of role models, I decided to research and write about things associated with health habits, fad diets, and  nutrition.
While I do have some knowledge in this field, I would love to learn more than what is just on the surface. There are so many interesting things to learn about this subject and I am so excited to get started!
So todays writing exercise was all about researching your topic and how to do it without using Google. At first I wasn't too sure how this was going to work out, but it ended up being surprisingly easy!
Lets begin.

Exercise 1.5

Research Proposal

1. Inquiry question:
What might explain the increasing obsession with various fad diets and health habits of today?

2. Primary purpose
  Explore; other questions:
    a. Are these diets and habits affecting our culture?
    b. Is there a relation between these fads and eating disorders?
    c. Why is our culture so fascinated by having a "perfect" diet and a "fit" body?

3. Prior Beliefs
 Argue; theory, main claim:
Our cultural today is so enthralled with the idea of being healthy. It seems that every magazine cover or newspaper article is about losing those last few pounds or the secret diet to a longer happier life. My question is where did this obsession come from? And is it truly healthy?

3. Prior beliefs? Personal experiences? What do you think about the topic right now?

It wasn't until last year or so that I realized the importance of good nutrition, health and fitness. A friend of mine, who is studying to be a nutritionist, was talking to me about all of the interesting things she had learned in just a few of her classes. I was immediately interested and started to get really curious about  the idea of nutrition. While I have done some research on the topic I would love to dig deeper and find answers to all those questions that are so often pushed to the side.

Brainstorming

The exercise given to me today, from The curious researcher, was to help me find a topic for my next essay. It was all about brainstorming anything and everything that came to my mind. No wrong answers or dumb questions, just my random thoughts and ideas to help me out.

Step 1: pick a few topics and write down whatever comes to your mind when you think of them.

HABITS:

• biting your nails 
• over eating
• snacking when not hungry 
• chewing gum
• picking your nose
• how do habits form? 
• can you pick habits up from other people? 
• not saying excuse me 
• saying excuse me
• saying thank you
• how do you break a bad habit?
• how do you form a habit? 
• what is the most common habit? 
• does everyone have a bad habit? 
• what exactly is considered a habit? 
• using your phone while having a face to face conversation
• interrupting
• farting
• texting while driving 
• leaving the cap off of the toothpaste
• not flushing the toilet 
• leaving lights on 
• hugging people goodbye
• eating veggies

PEOPLE:

• why do people judge each other?
• what’s the most common way people communicate?
• constantly busy
• Moms
• parents
• celebrities
• do people many have things in common?
• nuns
• brothers
• step siblings
• spiritual leaders
• role models
• the government
• cartoon characters
• the mailman

HOBBIES:

• Playing piano
• dancing
• singing
• baking
• are hobbies only something you’re good at?
• playing games
• swimming
• painting
• listening to music
• reading
• organizing
• yardwork
• doing makeup
• playing around with clothes
• playing with kids
• acting
• working out
• coloring in coloring books
• talking
• hanging out with friends
• evangelizing
• youth group
• shopping

TRENDS:

• Iphone
• drinking coffee
• wearing Uggs
• being ”hipster”
• vans
• teen pregnancy
• divorce
• driving small cars
• Toms
• ugly sweaters
• pop music
• slouch beanies
• Mullets
• getting fit
• Hairstyles
• shoes
• cowboy boots
• Northface

PLACES:

• Italy
• Spain
• South Africa
• Local orphanage
• the zoo
• art museum
• coffee shops
• restaurants
• local church
• the library
• Brazil
• Uganda
• Ireland
• Baltimore
• Lancaster county
• my bedroom
• backyards
• Downtown
• A castle
• A chapel
• A dorm
• School
• pawn shops
• Hawaii

Step 2: Pick one item from the list above

• Role Models

Step 3: For the item chosen above, generate another list

• Who are your role models?
• Where do role models come from?
• What are the characteristics of a role model?
• Does everybody have one?
• Do people have more than one?
• Do you need one?
• Why don't we have more of them?
• Do they make a difference?
• How can you be one?
• Are they common?
• Is it easy to be one?
• Should celebrities be our role models?
• Can you have a bad role model?
• Who decides what makes a good role model?
• Can role models mess up a lot?
• Does your role model have to be close to you?