Learning Outcome #2
For Project #2, my final paper included several different sources of evidence. From my classmates “Favorite Meal Essay” to Micheal Pollan’s essay, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” all sources provided quotes that strengthened my paper. When selecting quotes I typically start by reading my annotations to refresh my memory with both the author’s piece along with my own thought process. Sometimes when I am reading and annotating a piece, I will highlight quotes I find really important and will draw a star or something to remind myself that I can potentially use this in my own paper. So when it actually comes time to pick out what quotes I will actually use, I always start by looking at what I drew a star next to. For example one quote that I use in my final paper is, “The Food Network has helped to transform cooking from something you do into something you watch… the Food Network leaves you hungry, a condition its advertisers must love. But in neither case is there much risk that you will get off the couch and actually cook a meal” (Pollan 12). When reading this quote for the first time this is one that I highlighted and took note of because I knew that it was something that I could possibly use in my paper. Before officially deciding that this quote would work for my paper, I spent time trying to truly understand the quote and what it was saying. I often times will also question its purpose of being in the article. Once I truly understand the quote chosen I will then focus on what exactly this quote will provide to my paper and how it is connected. From there I will then officially decide if I want to use the quote or not. This quote happened to really fit into my paper as my paragraph was explaining how cooking shows today are typically not designed to inspire people to cook themselves. After asking myself questions about the quote I quickly knew this was a good quote as it really supported my paragraph, providing an example of how exactly Food Network has changed cooking shows today from something inspirational to something entertaining. After introducing this quote and briefly explaining it I tried to tie it all back into Julia Childs saying, “Rather than cooking along with cooking shows, like Julia Child’s show, people simply just sit on the couch and watch these pre made and often scripted shows without ever actually making the meal”. This allowed me to end what I was trying to say about my quote while leading into my next point. Overall, these are all things that I have learned in this class that personally work for me. It requires time and effort, but it always ends up being extremely beneficial.
