English 10 Essay due Feb 26 - 27

The Assignment

According to writer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation and Chew on This) and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) Americans are suffering from the increasing presence of fast food. Customers who eat the food and employees who sell it are being victimized, according to the book and the film.

Many would argue that it is up to the individual where he/she chooses to eat or to work. Yet, billions of people still eat this food, and millions work for these companies, and it probably isn’t because they like being overweight or underpaid.

Do you think these problems are entirely the fault of the individual, or should the companies take more responsibility for solving them?

Write a multi-paragraph essay (minimum four paragraphs) expressing your thoughts on this subject. You may focus on the food itself, and its nutritional value, or the way the employees are treated, or both. (Employees can mean restaurant workers or the workers in the slaughterhouse.)

Structure

Your first paragraph must be an introduction containing a topic and a thesis statement. Remember, the thesis statement is the most important statement in your essay; this is where you tell the reader what it is you are going to prove.

Your last paragraph must be a conclusion with a restatement of the thesis, but not an identical sentence to the one in the introduction.

In between the first and last paragraphs are your body paragraphs. You may write these any way you want, but you also have the option of using the shaper (attached) to make sure you have the right balance of concrete details and commentaries. If you use the shaper correctly, it will guarantee you a passing grade.

If you do not use the shaper, just make sure each paragraph contains both facts and opinions based on these backs. You don’t have to follow the exact ratio (1 CD with 2 CMs) and it doesn’t matter if the opinion comes before or after the fact – a fact and an opinion can even be in the same sentence.

But all facts and opinions should also connect in some way to the thesis statement from your first paragraph.

Due dates

The rough draft is due on Monday, February 26 (for block 3) and Tuesday, February 27 (for block 5)

The final draft – which must be typed and properly formatted – is due Friday, March 2 for both blocks (block 5 does not meet that day, so be sure to email it by 5:00 p.m.).