Assignment:

In Situating Research, the authors talk about ways in which writers analyze, synthesize, and interpret different types of texts.

In this short writing assignment, discuss one or two types of non-academic, non-scholarly texts you might examine in your food-topic research. Describe the texts and explain how they will contribute to the research on your topic.

For example, if your topic is eating disorders, you might examine so-called Pro-Ana (pro-anorexia) message boards (trigger warning!), where young people suffering from disordered/restrictive eating patterns give each other tips and tricks for staying thin. While this is not a scholarly text, it can provide an incredibly rich source of material to analyze and discuss.

Objectives:

• Probe more deeply into non-academic sources of information
• Consider creative approaches to text-based research

Requirements:

• 300–500 words
• Compose a thoughtful arrangement of sentences and paragraphs to discuss your topic