Evaluating Sources for Credibility

For Essay #2, I recommend first choosing 2 Portraits that most interest you from our Book, as well as 1 supplemental source from class (a poem or video) that are all connected to the theme of resilience; you can then base your research on the topics, keywords, issues and references presented in these Portraits and the supplemental sources. Consider keywords: “food access activism in the Bay Area,” or “farm activism in the Bay Area,” or “food justice activism in the Bay Area.” You can use Google and Google Scholar to search these keywords and phrases, and see what kind of articles and information you can find. Please read this entire post for more support with Keywords and the research process.

(Please Review Handouts and Posts: Evaluating Sources for Credibility (Week 6), and Scholarly V. Popular Sources (Week 9). 

*Critically, you need to identify sources for credibility. Websites ending in .edu, .org,  and .gov are often more reliable than .com and .net sites. However, many .com sites are very reliable. Look for well-known publications like:

Mainstream News Sources:

Washington Post

www.washingtonpost.com  (Links to an external site.)

San Francisco Chronicle

www.sfgate.com (Links to an external site.)

New York Times

www.nytimes.com (Links to an external site.)

Los Angeles Times

www.latimes.com (Links to an external site.)

Oakland Tribune

www.insidebayarea.com (Links to an external site.)

“Alternative” News Sources (some private media, small business media, content specific media, equity and justice-focused media):

AlterNet

www.alternet.org (Links to an external site.)

Color Lines

www.colorlines.com (Links to an external site.)

RT

www.rt.com (Links to an external site.)

The Nation

www.thenation.com (Links to an external site.)

Jezebel

www.jezebel.com (Links to an external site.)

American Civil Liberties Union

www.aclu.org (Links to an external site.)

National Public Radio

www.npr.org (Links to an external site.)

The Guardian

www.theguardian.com (Links to an external site.)

Huffington Post

www.huffingtonpost.com (Links to an external site.)

Mother Jones

www.motherjones.com (Links to an external site.)

British Broadcasting Corporation

www.bbc.com (Links to an external site.)

Bay View National Black Newspaper

http://sfbayview.com/ (Links to an external site.)

*These are all excellent sources that you can use and save, and search on these websites with your Keywords:

A huge component of Research is understanding and using Keywords. Keywords are “popular” words related to a subject or topic that you can enter into Google or Google Scholar, or Scholarly Search Engines to find articles and information. For example, Women’s Rights is a subject and also a keyword. If I am trying to find more specific information on Women’s Rights, I would need to add additional keywords to my search and also try multiple searches. My additional keywords, depending on my assignment or interest, could be: Women’s Rights and Equal Pay in California. Now I’ve added a specific aspect of Women’s Rights (Equal Pay) as well as a location (California). I can also add a time period: Women’s Rights and Equal Pay in California 1990s. As you get more familiar with the “popular” keywords associated with a subject or topic, you can write down these words for future reference. Also, you can remove the “ands” and “ins” from your keywords phrases to reduce the amount of words with little meaning. For example: Women’s Rights Equal Pay California 1990s. 

Often for academic research, your writing or research Prompt will include keywords, though you may need to infer or deduce these keywords. Additionally and importantly, class lectures often include lots of Keywords. These are the words that are repeated often throughout the course: the words that describe the main idea, subject and topics of the class. Please be sure to review weekly lectures for our class; I have included extensive research and ideas related to our book and course. The information I provide is meant to spark your own ideas and opinions, as well as research. You are welcome to refer to websites, keywords, quotes and references that I have provided in class lecture content. Lecture content, ideas, information and resources are directly connected to your Essay Prompts. Lecture content is where you can be developing your own opinions and ideas, as well as pursuing additional research. The critical thinking focus of this course implores you to take your own initiative in reading and processing lecture content. This is where you can practice your critical thinking skills, and have examples of critical thinking questions and analysis provided for you. Understanding, accessing, and researching resources is a key element of critical thinking, and will also support your essay development and further research development. Please review Lecture Content posts and Writing Strategy posts for this class as you generate ideas, opinions, and keywords for your research for Essay #2.

Let’s look at our prompt for Essay #2 below; I have highlighted keywords included in the Prompt:

“In Parts I & II of Natasha Bowens’ The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming, we are presented with significant historical and social context that conveys the injustices that face and have faced African American communities and farmers, immigrant communities and farmers, and Native American communities and farmers. These injustices are often perpetuated by systems of government and capitalism, as well as racism and xenophobia in society.

Still, in Parts I & II, there are moments of substantial resistance, resilience, triumphs, and understanding of the on-going support needed for farmers of color to sustain and expand their work.

Part 3 emphasizes these stories of resilience further:

“Despite a long history of injustice and discrimination, there is a growing community of Black farmers in the South who are resiliently coming up with ways to survive and thrive. They are transforming agriculture in the slow-moving South and innovating creative agricultural marketing strategies that are impacting the way we think about small farm and food entrepreneurship” (45-46).

“Despite the plight of many immigrants left with little choice but to join the unjust farm labor industry, workers are transitioning to owners, bringing back cooperatives and sending a lesson to all beginning farmers on how it can be done”  (46).

Your task for Essay #2 is to identify these experiences of resistance and resilience and to develop a claim (opinion, inference) that argues how and why these experiences are acts of resistance and resilience, and what is the significance of these triumphs. You will need to write about and quote at least 2 Portraits from Part 1 through Part 3. You will need to make a connection to at least 1 of our supplemental readings, videos, poems, or songs. Additionally, you will begin to focus this lens (of resilience) on local activism in the Bay Area. This focus will require your research of at least 2 present efforts towards food access, land ownership, and small farm sustainability in the Bay.This research aspect will continue to be developed for your Final assignment in this class.”

Keywords from Prompt:

Resistance

Resilience

Activism in the Bay Area

Food access

Land ownership

Small farm sustainability in the Bay

African American communities and farmers, immigrant communities and farmers, and Native American communities and farmers.

Capitalism

Racism

Xenophobia

*I can pair these Keywords with additional, contextual words (location and time period) to focus my research. For example: Native American Farm Bay Area 2019

When I search this Keyword Phrase on Google (Native American Farm Bay Area 2019), I find this very appealing article about Urban Farming in the Bay Area: https://escondidograpevine.com/2019/02/17/urban-farming-comes-to-the-bay-area/ (Links to an external site.)

Sometimes your Keyword phrase will yield few results, and you will need to try new Keywords and phrases to pursue the topic or information you want. Again, please review Lecture Content posts from the semester for more Keywords, references, ideas and context. The Lecture Content will support your Keyword and Keyphrase research development. Keywords are “popular” words related to a subject or topic that you can enter into Google or Google Scholar, or Scholarly Search Engines to find articles, information, and evidence to support your opinions and claim.If you need more support with your research and developing Keywords, please email me.