Hailey Fletcher

Dr. Blackburn

RC 1000

1 March 2019

Research Proposal with Annotated Bibliography

In the method of a classic essay, I plan to integrate a thesis, an argument, research-based
questions, and information about the topic of my research. The question is, why do we eat the
foods we eat? What are the factors that influence us to eat the way we do? I believe that there
are several factors of food that influence us to eat how we do, and they produce a big effect on
our lives later on. The purpose of my research is to be informative, and educate the audience of
the way we make choices, and to change them for our benefit. I feel as if this topic is important
to academic study because it deals with rhetoric. My topic deals with food marketing, and how it
affects society, but children specifically. I believe that this is important for an academic
audience to understand, as well as just general society. It is an issue that most people are not
aware of, but is pretty easy to take control of. Of course, there may be some counterarguments to
the topic. Some may include cost, and the difficulty of affording to eat healthier. Others may
argue time. By being aware of the influences that food choice may have on us, such as cost,
culture, health, convenience and other societal pressures, we are able to take control of our
situation and try to better ourselves. I found this topic to be interesting because it is very
relevant, but also deals with my career path in life. When researching about the factors of food, I
discovered one that has a lot to do with the names of food and how we pronounce them. As a
future speech and language pathologist, lexemes and utterances are things that that I will be
dealing with a lot; however, I never considered how it would relate to food and emotions in this
sense. Some important questions that I plan to discover in my research include: How do food
names influence our choices, as well as the science behind it? What are other factors that may
influence our decisions on the way we eat? Do marketers specifically target children or other
members of society with their advertisements? Does being aware of these influences make it
easier to control what you eat and/or be healthier? Are there ways to market healthier, or less
appealing foods in the same way as junk food in order to make it more appealing to consumers?
What can be an outcome(s) in the future of the way society eats now? By conducting a thorough
research, I plan to have these questions answered. I have already found some scientific studies,
as well as some texts that help to explain this effect on people. One study that I have found that I
find promising is a study conducted by ​Wolfgang Köhler explaining how synesthesia affects us
when experiencing food. There are factors that influence us to eat the way that we do, but we
must change it in order to benefit ourselves in later life.

Annotated Bibliography

Alkharfy, Khalid M. “Food Advertisements: to Ban or Not to Ban?” ​Annals of Saudi Medicine,​
Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, Dec. 2011,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3221124/​.

This article was from the US National Library of Medicine website about
Saudi Medicine. This was an interesting point of view to add to the research
because it doesn't talk about US food choices like all of the other texts. The focus
of this article is on food choices and eating habits that are caused globally. The
format of this article was different from the others but provided a lot of statistics
that created a sense of credibility for the reader. Several resources and references
were also included at the end of the article which really helped to strengthen it.
The statistics included were about fast food advertisements and correlation to
obesity in different countries. Many countries have banned food advertising to
children as it can lead to unhealthy habits. This article is important because it
makes arguments that allow the reader to raise questions such as taking the
marketing tactics used to advertise unhealthy foods, and replace it with healthy
food advertisements. The article provides a different point of view and raises very
interesting questions while reading.

Jurafsky, Dan. ​The Language of Food: a Linguist Reads the Menu.​ W.W. Norton & Company,
2015.

The excerpt that I read titled, ​“Does This Name Make Me Sound Fat?”​ , talked
about the connection between food names and the effect it has on a person. Dan Jurafsky
studies linguistics and teaches people about the language of food. In his book he does the
same. He talked a lot about how the vowels that are produced in names of foods influence
our decision to buy them. He focuses on a concept called sound symbolism that is used
by many food advertisers and designers of brand names. Many food branding companies
actually get their ideas and marketing tools from linguists. Jurafsky starts off strong in his
text with his title. The title of the section really grabs the attention of the audience in a
comical way. Throughout his writing, Jurafsky uses a really approachable style of
writing. He included many concepts and theories of how food is influenced onto society,
 whether it be culture, history, or language. He uses many quotes, images, and examples
in order to keep the reader interesting into his text. There are many helpful examples
included in the text that are able to be used in the research. Jurafsky explains many
concepts and theories that strengthen his argument that food is related to language. This
is useful in the research because the topic of the research is how food is influenced, and
that is a clear reference of something to include in the research. When jurafsky introduces
the study by Wolfgang Kohler, it makes the research even more promising because of
how well it relates to the topic.

Peaslee, Kindy R. “Marketing Food to Children Clever Advertising in a Health-Conscious Era.”

Today's Dietitian,​ Today's Dietitian, Apr. 2007,
www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/tdapril2007pg46.shtml​.

This article is from a magazine titled, ​“Today’s Dietitian”.​ This text

explains how food companies and marketers target children when they are young
and begin to affect their food decisions. The article explains how food is targeted
to children in many different ways through television, toys, games, and images
from their favorite cartoon characters on the packaging. The author organizes the
article in a very appealing way through the use of the headers. The headers make
it clear and easy to understand for the reader. Although the article is 12 years old,
it is still very relevant to today’s marketing. The article establishes good
credibility because at the end there are several references and resources included,
showing where the author got their information from. This article is important to
the context of the research because it includes several points that will need to be
featured within it to produce a strong argument. One special part about the article
is that it asks a lot of really important research questions that are also relevant to
the topic of the research paper. Questions such as “how do children choose food?”
and “how do marketers target kids?”. This is one of the stronger sources of the
ones found after researching and has a lot of important features that should be
included while writing the research paper in order to provide credibility and to
strengthen the argument.

Roberto, Christina, et al. “Hungry? Food Choices Are Often Influenced by Forces out of Your
Control.” ​The Conversation​, The Conservation, 13 Jan. 2019,
www.theconversation.com/hungry-food-choices-are-often-influenced-by-forces-o
ut-of-your-control-46303​.
 In this academic journal entry, a counterargument to my topic is easy to be
seen. The title itself tells the audience that there isn’t much free will when it
comes to food choices. The author, Christina Roberto, informs the audience of
other possible reasons of why people choose to eat they way they do because of
factors they cannot control. The format of the article was very easy to read
because of the use of a images and headers. The header that was used in the
article served a great purpose of grabbing the attention of reader’s in order to
inform them of her argument. This article has a lot of information that would be
important to use in the research article. Although the thesis of the paper doesn’t
align to the thesis of the article, it is very significant in the sense of a
counterargument. Every good argumentative research paper needs to have some
counterargument included in order to strengthen the argument of the paper. The
purpose of the research was to prove that food choices are actually in the control
of the consumer, and that consumers should have free will in deciding what to eat
in order to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. However,
the article proposes that most often times, the factors that influence consumers are
usually out of their own control. Factors such as the environment and human
biology have a lot more to do with choices than people assume.

Zelman, Kathleen M. “Why We Eat the Foods We Do.” ​WebMD​, WebMD,

www.webmd.com/diet/features/why-we-eat-the-foods-we-do#2​.

The website by WebMD titled, “​Why We Eat the Foods We Do”, h​ ad a lot of
great information about why people choose the things they do to eat. There are several
factors that were explained in the article. Some factors that the author included were,
taste preferences, cost, convenience, and social settings or other societal influences.
Zelman wrote about how understanding the impact of food decisions can make you
healthier in the long run. Zelman wrote her article with a really great format that was easy
for the audience to understand. Her introduction and clear thesis was really important for
her article. In the beginning she clearly stated how it is important to understand your
decisions on food because it will be easier to know what to change, and then she
proceeded to name off the several factors that could be of influence. Zelman’s use of
headers for each new factor was really easy and helpful to the reader to understand. She
wrote with a sort of “girl-next door” type feel, that was careful not to criticise the readers
for food choices, but almost as if she was struggling with herself to make choices as well.
Many of the factors that were included in this web article would be a great addition to the
research paper on food choices and their influences. Some of the examples that Zelman
included would be a great feature as well. At some points, she uses statistics and other
concepts that could be used in the research paper to add ethos and credibility and to make
the topic of research seem promising.
 Works Cited

Alkharfy, Khalid M. “Food Advertisements: to Ban or Not to Ban?” ​Annals of Saudi Medicine,​
Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, Dec. 2011,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3221124/​.

Haas, Susan B. “5 Reasons Why You Can't Control Your Eating.” ​Psychology Today​, Sussex
Publishers, 21 Aug. 2010,
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/prescriptions-life/201008/5-reasons-why-you
-cant-control-your-eating​.

Jurafsky, Dan. ​The Language of Food: a Linguist Reads the Menu​. W.W. Norton & Company,
2015.

Peaslee, Kindy R. “Marketing Food to Children Clever Advertising in a Health-Conscious Era.”

Today's Dietitian,​ Today's Dietitian, Apr. 2007,
www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/tdapril2007pg46.shtml​.

Roberto, Christina, et al. “Hungry? Food Choices Are Often Influenced by Forces out of Your
Control.” ​The Conversation​, The Conservation, 13 Jan. 2019,
www.theconversation.com/hungry-food-choices-are-often-influenced-by-forces-o
ut-of-your-control-46303​.

Rupp, Rebecca. “Kiki or Bouba: What Is the Shape of Your Taste?” ​National Geographic,​ 26
June 2015,
www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2015/06/26/kiki-
or-bouba-whats-the-shape-of-your-taste/​.

Zelman, Kathleen M. “Why We Eat the Foods We Do.” ​WebMD,​ WebMD,

www.webmd.com/diet/features/why-we-eat-the-foods-we-do#2​.