Agriculture, Food & Justice

Final essay instructions

From your syllabus

Final essay (30%). This is primarily a reflective essay, covering your interest in the course and your reactions to course content. Students will receive further instructions for this assignment.

Due dates and submission instructions

The essay is due to Brightspace by 7pm on Tuesday, December 15.

Submit it as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF.

See the syllabus section on “late work” if you cannot submit your essay on time.

Essay formatting

Your essay should be 8 full pages in length (not including the bibliography), and should include page numbers. Papers under 8 full pages and over 9 full pages will not be eligible for full credit.

The essay should be double-spaced, 1-inch margins, and in 12-point Times New Roman font.

Essay content and structure

Your essay should follow this structure and include these section headings:

1. Introduction. Explain your initial interest in this course and/or in agriculture and food. Provide a short transition to the next section by suggesting the ideas that you’ll be exploring.
2. Key terms and ideas – recap and reflection. Identify at least five ideas or terms that we covered in the course (via lectures, readings, films, etc.) that stood out to you most strongly. First, describe/define each idea/term to demonstrate to your reader that you understand it.  Then, explain why or how each left an impact on you. Perhaps the idea made you feel angry or hopeful; perhaps it pushed you to reconsider some of your assumptions; perhaps it compelled you to some sort of action…
3. Concluding reflection. Generally, are you comfortable living in a world dominated by a capitalist, industrial agrifood system? What is the single most effective change that would alleviate your greatest concerns or improve upon the system?
4. Bibliography. See below.

There are no specifications for the length of each section, but successful essays will devote the most space to section 2. A helpful guideline for the first three sections may be 1.5 pages – 5 pages – 1.5 pages.

Citation practices

All sources that you use to present course content and any non-course ideas/examples that you incorporate must be cited in-text, and full citation information must be provided in a bibliography section at the end of the essay. For instance, these sources could include lectures, assigned readings, films, newspaper articles, and more.

You can use any conventional citation format that implements a bibliography (rather than footnotes).

Writing style

Implement a formal writing style (e.g., avoid slang). You may use the first person (“I” statements).  

Grading

Evaluation will take into account the following: accuracy in definitions/descriptions of course content, thoughtfulness and clarity of reflections, and technical writing aspects (e.g., grammar, punctuation).