Healthy Food Should Be a Human Right

Assignment #7: HLTH Essay

Overview: The HLTH essay should focus on persuading an audience in an argumentative essay. Select one of the prompts below to respond to as a basis for your argument.

HLTH Essential Questions

Are American food industries deliberately deceiving consumers on where the foods they eat come from?

How will our diets change in the next 30 years?

3. How can we curb our unhealthy eating habits?

Prompts: Consider the assigned readings for the unit, and select at least two that connect with and support your ideas.

The learning resources in this module discuss many aspects of food: food processing, emerging technologies for making food, hormones, organics, and sugar. Discuss the current state of American and global health and the ways in which our eating habits impact our health. Develop a thesis in response to one or more of the following questions:

What practices will help us live more healthy lives individually?

How may we develop a healthier planet?

What are some long-term benefits to a healthy diet?

What are some of the challenges of developing a sustainable food industry?

What role does fast food play in national and global nutrition?

Audience: Write for an audience that is not in this class. That means you’ll need to spend some time summarizing key ideas, defining any terms that might be unfamiliar, choosing short quotes from the reading selections to help your reader get a sense of the authors’ arguments.

Length: 3-4 pages (750-1000) words

Requirements:

Use the Essay Structure resource, along with the strategies from the LUMEN Resource modules to guide your essay structure and organization.

Include an original title (not “Unit Two Essay” or “Health Essay”)

Use MLA 8th edition documentation style to format your essay

Compose a thesis statement that expresses your response to one of the prompt questions

Organize the essay so that each body paragraph is providing support for your thesis (use “Essay Structure” resource and LUMEN modules for guidance)

Research and integrate evidence from a variety of sources:

Include evidence from at least TWO of the assigned readings to support your opinions

Include evidence from at least TWO additional sources from the CCBC Database (“Opposing Viewpoints” is a good starting place

Include evidence from at least one article from a reputable website, magazine or newspaper.

Cite all sources using MLA style in-text citations

Include an MLA style Works Cited page at the end of the essay (not included in 3-4 pages of text)

Note about Persuasive Writing:

Also known as the argument essay, a persuasive essay uses logic, reason, and sufficient support to show that one idea is more valid than another. Essentially, this type of writing defends a particular position on a debatable subject. In your thesis, you should clearly state your position on the issue, and in your body paragraphs, support your thesis with facts, relevant examples, and details. To reiterate, it is important to make sure that your topic is debatable. That is, someone could agree or disagree with it. For example, the topic “smoking is bad for one’s health” is not a good topic because everyone, including smokers, agree that smoking is harmful to their health. A better persuasive topic to defend would be, “Smoking should be banned in all public places, including all bars and restaurants. With this topic, there would definitely be supporters and opponents of this topic.

While providing extensive support for one’s argument, it is equally important to acknowledge the opposing point and show how this point is weak. This act of proving the opposing point false or weak is called a refutation. It is a good idea to add a refutation paragraph just before the conclusion to acknowledge and disprove an opponent’s point.

Due: 10/18