ENG101: Final Essay Topics

Due: before midnight on Tuesday, 11/23, by email

Please write a 3-4 page persuasive essay on one of the following topics; be sure to refer to the Style Sheet attached to the syllabus for instructions on how to format your work. The essay should take a position on your topic in a thesis statement, develop that thesis through detailed explanations of several major claims, and provide support for each major claim. You are encouraged to use personal experience to support your argument, but you must use textual support from Fast Food Nation and one source from independent research or the annotated bibliography packets. You must provide MLA in-text citations and a “Works Cited” entry for all references, including Schlosser.

1. In “Cogs in the Great Machine,” Eric Schlosser reports on the shift in the meatpacking industry toward a reliance on “the new industrial migrants,” noting that as meatpacking corporations reorganized they transformed what had been a “middle-class” profession into one that pays “poverty wages” or less (160). Discuss the impact of this system on the migrants themselves by focusing on one specific aspect of the problem, then present your own solution.

2. In “What’s in the Meat,” Eric Schlosser discusses the role of the industrial food system in the spread of food-borne illnesses such as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 in the United States. Using specific examples, explain the problem and its cause(s), then present your own solution.

3. In “Global Realization,” Eric Schlosser describes fast food corporations’ use of libel laws to silence protestors and other detractors. Is this a legitimate use of national legal systems? An ethical use? Explain your position in detail using specific examples and focusing especially on the role of money, then present your own solution.