Blog 10

As a group we found two articles that would be useful for our group research project. The first article that we search for was basic farming strategies to understand how farmers today use different strategies to farm compared to days of the past. The article that we found was “Precision Agriculture concept: Distribution Patterns of Selected Soil and Crop Characteristics Influenced by Fertigation”. Not this entire article was useful for what we were looking for but the sections of materials and methods were found to be the most useful. The article showed the deep thinking that farmers have to do in order to pick the perfect site for planting certain crops. In this case sugar beets. "Average annual temperature of 16.7° C, annual freezing days of 76 days and the annual rainfall of 116.9 mm are climate data of experimental site." Just from looking at the statement there are more number then you would think coming from choosing a location to plant a specific plant.

The second article that we found was title “bulk Soil Electrical Conductivity as an Estimator of Nutrients in the Maize Cultivated Land” which is about the use of electricity in the soil to determine the number of nutrients there were in the soil. "Laboratory soil test is usually time consuming and laborious. Since farmers cultivate annual crops more than once a year, this leads to delay in remedial action for the coming season. Hence, rapid measurement and monitoring of soil nutrient variability is needed to satisfy the precision farming requirements." This quote caught my eye because this show that choosing the best area of land to be used is a process that shows effort of being speed up which is important because this will increase the production of certain food products .

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&hid=111&sid=86eeb406-37d0-4e47-b2de-d4d574d692a4%40sessionmgr104

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&hid=111&sid=86eeb406-37d0-4e47-b2de-d4d574d692a4%40sessionmgr104

Blog 9

So far in our English class we have been assigned certain assignments in which we have had to research and use outside sources in order to validate and strengthen our argument. However, not just "any" source would suffice. We have had to use sources that are appropriate in our argument and ones that have been scholarly certified.

When I first receive an assignment in which I must use sources, I go through multiple steps in which I seek and determine whether sources are reliable and sufficient. I first decide which stance and side I will argue in the assignment and then try and decide which quotes or statistics would best help my argument. I then start my search by using the EBSCO search engine which I have just recently found to be a useful source in order for research thanks to this class. When using this search engine I first start very narrow in my search and if I have no success in finding the perfect quote I broaden my search until I find the appropriate article. I then run this article through Ulrich in order to determine whether it is peer reviewed and scholarly. Once I have decided the sources and quotes that I will use in my paper I then go about deciding on how to incorporate them accordingly into my paper in an effective way in which they will support my argument. I first decide which three main arguments I will make throughout my paper. Once I have done this I decide which quotes will best support these arguments and I place them accordingly. I can improve this process however by not looking for such specific quotes because I find myself sometimes not able to find "exactly" what I was looking for which leaves me empty handed sometimes. I also could use more search engines other than EBSCO in order to widen my options.

Blog 8

The way I choose my source for my English 101 papers is I read the topic of the assignment to get an idea of what kind of research I need to do to get good source for my papers. Usually for English 101 we go over many things like videos and articles that are usually are related to the prompt of the assignment. For example the week of paper 3 which was the ethical dilemmas assignment we watched Food Inc. which related to the assignment which made it easy to use in my paper. We also have been reading Omnivores Dilemma which also was related to the topic of the assignment. These are usually ways I choose my source that I use for my papers for English 101. If that doesn’t work for me then I would write a rough draft of my paper first because I would have ideas of what kind of source I would need. Then when I have an idea of what kind of source I need I usually start on Google and just search my topic and depending on the assignment I would just use the source I found on Google and use it in my paper but if the paper need scholarly sources then I would usually research on WSU libraries website since it approves scholarly articles. Some ways I would improve the way I research sources is spend more time on the research part to find better sources. Learning how to research on WSU libraries would also help my resource since they would be more reliable because it is through WSU which makes it more reliable than a source from Google. Placing these sources in my essay can be tricky but I usually place it after I put in an example so it can support my idea.

Blog 7

The article, “Ending world Hunger” by Norman E. Borlaug fits along the lines with Food Inc. and Omnivores Dilemma about genetically modified foods. The article itself supports genetically modified foods where Food Inc. and Omnivores Dilemma take you what happens in the background of how these foods are created and how they are a negative thing in society. As I read the article I would agree to what it say to say about genetically modified foods. I mean it is hard to keep up feeding a growing number of people with limited resources, so genetically modified foods to me are a positive thing. Besides that it keeps food cost down and also has environmental advantages.

Watching the video Food Inc. where the hippies were promoting freshly grown food and discouraging genetically modified foods was true what they were saying but then in the video Norman Borlaug stated “It’s easy to discourage genetically modified foods when you’re not hungry”. This is a very true statement that I look at to encourage genetically modified foods but there is a side of me that also wants to discourage genetically modified foods because of my religion background. If genetically modified foods keep people from dying then I am all for it.

Blog 6

I find chapter 20 very interesting and personally very enjoyable to read. Chapter 20 was titled “The Perfect Meal” where Pollan answered his own question in the beginning of the book where he asked “what should we have for dinner?” and he answered that question with chapter 20. I liked how he answered his own question, just like in an essay where you grab your readers attention with a hook for example like a question just like Pollen did and at the end of an essay you concluded it with answering your own question just like Pollan.

The rules that he mention in chapter 20 to make it “the perfect meal” like “everything on the menu must have been hunted gathered or grown by me” reminds me of the people back on my island. People back on the island are not dependent on supermarket due to the high cost of foods along with the low wages so therefore many people have to gather, hunt, and grow their own food. A lot of the food is gathered from the surroundings like the ocean or the rainforests.

Gathering, hunting and growing your own food, for some people, may seem like it will take days to prepare, cook and to eat the meal but in reality it is worth the time. Seeing people back on the island happy for what they have gathered to eat made them happy because its hard work and to many people it is what Michael Pollan would say “the perfect meal”.

Blog 5

In this week readings, I found very interesting to read. I found chapter 17 to be more interesting to me than chapter 16. In chapter seventeen, Pollen takes about how eating animals is more thought of than any other subjects. Animals are in the food chain and if people are not to eat it then who is? Other animals? I just think that it is part of life even though I do agree that the way we treat and slaughter animals is inhuman. If every famer would take time to treat the animals better than the cost of would most likely rise and the way the economy is many people would not be very happy. Whatever anyone does is going to make the other mad. No one in the world is going to get what they want to make them happy. I could never see myself as a vegetarian but watching movies like Food Inc. makes me think that the way we treat animals is wrong but I can’t help but eat meat. I grew up on eating meat, just like what pollen says that we are connected to history through food. For example he says were turkey for Thanksgiving or hotdogs at a baseball game are all traditions that connect everyone with history. All in all chapter 17 sparks the ideas of eating meat is wrong in some senses.

Blog 4 Writers Resource

In this week’s readings we had the choice of blogging about either Omnivore’s Dilemma, They say, I say, and Writers Resource. I choose to blog about the Writers Resource. In the Writers Resource there are 3 types of citation style that we can use throughout the course of this semester. We only had to read about one that we would be using. I read about MLA style citation because that is the one I am more familiar with than APA and Chicago. In tab 6 of the Writers Resource it explains how to cite your sources from books, periodicals, electronic and or web site. It also explains how to do an in text citation. This basically is summarizing or quoting what another has to say in your sentence and putting the author name in parentheses after your sentence.

I have looked at the other tabs; APA and Chicago in the Writers Resource. The APA style citation I am also familiar with because I have used this style in writings I have done in the past but I prefer the MLA style better than the APA style. For the Chicago Style goes I have never heard of this style of citation before so I wouldn’t be comfortable using this in my writings.

Blog 3

The word that comes to mind when reading chapter 13 in Omnivore’s Dilemma is “wow”. The way Pollan describes the way animals are slaughtered is amazing. I am usually not the one who reads and get a picture in my mind of what the author is taking about or explaining but the way Pollan details the process just permanently places a picture in my mind. This chapter was really interesting to me because it fascinates me, not because of the killing of animals but the process that people go through to kill the animals and also the rules and regulations that slaughterhouses have to follow in order to keep in operation and not get shut down by USDA. I was surprise about all the rules and regulation that the USDA has for slaughterhouses for example, “federal rules stipulate that every processing facility have a bathroom for the exclusive use of the USDA inspector” (Pollan pg. 229). To me that is a ridicules rule which make processing facility have to spend more money on building a bathroom which takes away from spending on other things which mean a rise in prices of meats.

I like the part where Pollan is at the kill cone for the chickens because it reminds me of high school biology when I had to dissect a frog. Of course, the frogs were already died but it was the same concept of cutting up an animal. To be honest I was scared of cutting up the frog even though it was already died. Joel made a good point saying that no should want to kill animal every day. I know I wouldn’t want to.

Post 2 Chapter 9

In chapter 9 of Omnivore’s Dilemma, the main topic of this chapter was about having foods labeled “organic”, “free ranging” or “not injected with growth hormones”. I thought this chapter was very interesting and got me to think. What makes a meat from a box that says “free ranging” more expensive than just a box of meat from a store like Safeway or Wal-Mart. In my opinion you can’t really tell the difference between one thing that has a label of “free ranging” and one that does not have that label. I think that companies are manipulating society with words such as organic to make us believe that it is better for us and to make more profit for the company. If you look at it everything is labeled something different to make it more expensive. For example designer clothes are more expensive because of the name that is on the clothing and I think that it goes for the food industry also. Instead of having the name of a person it is the name of something that is supposedly good for you.

I am not saying that buying organic foods or things in that nature is bad and it is a waste of money, it is just that I can’t really believe in what companies have to say. I have had prior information in high school in my nutrition class where we talked about products having the label “organic” and how the producer has to follow certain guidelines to put the name on the product along with paying a fee. But who is regulating this process? How does one know if it is truly organic? In a society full of lies no one can be trusted especially the food companies that are out to take your money.

Welford, Win, SUPERMARKET SEMANTICS: The Rhetoric of Food Labeling and Advertising, ETC: A Review of General Semantics; Spring92, Vol. 49 Issue 1, p3-17, 15p

Blog 1

In the readings of They Say I Say and The Omnivore’s Dilemma there were a lot of great facts that I discovered reading the two. In They Say I Say it was informing the reader of how to become better at introducing what a person has to say and to making it to what you have to say. Later it explains better ways of summarizing. It states that making a list will bore your audience so to make a successful summary you would have to make a balance of what the original author is saying with your focus on what is important to you. Then it introduces the proper way of inserting a quote in a piece of writing. For example you don’t just take a quote and put it in the paper without properly introducing it, in the book they called it “don’t be a hit-and run quoter” (Graff and Birkenstein, pg. 42).

In the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan goes to a farm in Iowa to discover the ways of farming and to experience it in person. I actually was surprised on how much work there is to maintain a farm. There are things like plowing the fields with tractors and it not small fields, acres of fields. There is a lot more science to farming also. There is getting the right nitrogen, bacteria and lightning for plants. There is also having the right time to harvest and stuff like that. I mean I thought it was just taking a seed and putting it in the ground and watering it but there is so much more to it. All in all I discovered a lot more things than I expected in the readings.