1. I have chosen to conduct research on a topic that falls within option number two. This option is the best for me because I have found a topic that I am genuinely interested in and have personal experience with.
2. Because I was exposed to fast food at the very young age of nine I have decided to research the advertising and promoting strategies of fast food companies. Children growing up today are exposed at a much younger age than I was. If a child is old enough to watch TV, they are old enough to start being exposed to fast food commercials and advertisements. Every fast food restaurant has in the past or presently had a promotion designed specifically for children. I am interested in why fast food companies target children and what they stand to gain from these promotions.
3. I think anyone who has children or young family members should be interested in my research topic. In some sense it is the parents influence on a young child’s life to determine their routine, likes, and dislikes. If a parent takes their child to fast food all the time instead of cooking at home they are contributing to the fast food company’s motive. Children growing up on fast food has proved that it has very dangerous health risks for children. Currently it is estimated that approximately nine million children over the age of six are considered obese. This statistic has scary implications for the future of these children. Not only will these children develop very costly health problems, their social life will suffer and many will develop social anxiety disorders and depression.
4. I have found that fact sheets from the Institute of Medicine, articles from scholarly journals, and interviews with McDonald’s personnel have been very helpful in my research. The facts and statistics have made me more aware of this problem than I have ever been.
5. Companies have come up with very creative ways to advertise to children and they have also devoted an enormous amount of money on advertising to children. The internet age has proven to be an effective tool to advertise to children with. Fast food companies have created web site content specifically designed for children on their web pages. Burger King has a Big Kids Club link where 4-12 year olds are encouraged to become club members. McDonald’s has games, puzzles, quizzes, and coloring pages all with Ronald McDonald on them as well as other McDonald’s characters. I plan on conducting more research on the actual numbers of children who watch TV and what kind of advertising are on these kids shows.

1. Fact or detail: American children now obtain over 50% of their calories from fat or added sugarSource information: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=416565

2. Fact or detail: Over 4.5 billion a year is spent on youth-targeted promotions such as premiums, sampling, coupons, contests, and sweepstakes. Roughly 3 billion is spent on packaging especially designed for children.Source information: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=416565

3. Fact or detail: On average children view over 40,000 commercials a year, most of which are for candies, cereals, toys, and fast food restaurants. Source information: http://ezinearticles.com/?Fast-Food-Advertising-to-Children&id=1664465

4. Fact or detail: Many websites offer free ring tones and music downloads. In order to get these freebies you have to provide an email address. Cross promotion caqmpaings begin creating fast food advertising to children via e-mail marketing.Source information: http://ezinearticles.com/?Fast-Food-Advertising-to-Children&id=1664465

5. Fact or detail: A recent study found that 36% of advertisements during children’s programming were for fast food.Source information: http://www.aacorn.org/uploads/files/GrierJPublPolicyMarket07.pdf

6. Fact or detail: Parents are considered the primary socialization agent, the gatekeepers of the family food supply, and important role models for children’s eating behaviors, especially for young children. Source information: http://www.aacorn.org/uploads/files/GrierJPublPolicyMarket07.pdf

7. Fact or detail: Mcdonalds Annual Advertising Budget in the United States is 635 million compared to Taco Bell’s budget of 179.4 million.Source information: Advertising Age. June 24, 2002.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2004; 1: 3.
Published online 2004 February 10. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-1-3.

8. Fact or detail: There are websites such as BurgerKing.com that have games, toys, music,
and other downloads promoted alongside their food items. There is a big kids club link where 4
12 year olds are encouraged to become a member. Source information: Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2004; 1: 3.
Published online 2004 February 10. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-1-3.

9. Fact or detail: 94% of parents in U.K. want Mcdonalds’ to keep offering the toys. Source information: Hall, Emma. "MCD'S OPENED DIALOGUE TO TURN ITSELF AROUND." Advertising Age 80.1 (23 Feb. 2009): 12.

10. Fact or detail: In recent studies, researchers concluded that a ban on televisied fast food advertisements could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent. Source information: "Win the Obesity War…By Banning TV Ads?." Running & FitNews 26.6 (Nov. 2008): 2-5. Health Source - Consumer Edition

11. Fact or detail: Sweden, Norway, and Finland are the only countries to ban commercial sponsorship of children’s programs. Source information: "Win the Obesity War…By Banning TV Ads?." Running & FitNews 26.6 (Nov. 2008): 2-5. Health Source - Consumer Edition

12. Fact or detail: Product placement is great at implanting brands in the minds of children. When the movie E.T. featured E.T. eating Reese’s Pieces, sales of the candy shot up 65 percent.Source information: http://www.commercialalert.org/issues/health/childhood-obesity/the-fast-food-trap-how-commercialism-creates-overweight-children

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-07/your-brain-your-brain-midi

http://www.priory.com/psychiatry/Stigma_Mental_Disorder.htm

http://www.priory.com/amphetamine_schizophrenia.htm

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009908040371

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907300468

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-indiana6-2009aug06,0,3696634.story

1. As soon as I opened the door to the apartment, I knew that my roommate had played party host all weekend long. Before even seeing the apartment after opening the door I could smell the foul odor of beer plus puke. There were beer bottles and cups in every crevice of our apartment. People who I had never seen before were passed out on the couch, and even some on the floor. There were unidentifiable puddles and stains on the carpet and kitchen floor. The refrigerator was emptied of its contents and left open. I knew that this was going to be a very long day of cleaning up the apartment. Time to go wake my roommate up so she can help.
Description
2. There are many ways that the university bookstore takes advantage of students. The items in the bookstore are, for the most part, priced outrageously high. A package of index cards that can be purchased at Wal-Mart for 15 cents cost a student over one dollar in the bookstore. The soft drinks and food that can be purchased in the bookstore are not worth the price they are selling them for. Textbooks that are purchased for over one hundred dollars may be sold back at the end of the semester for a fraction of the original cost of it, if you are lucky 15 percent. Convenience sets the stage for taking advantage of students. Many people will be okay with paying for convenience, especially if they do not have access to any other means of acquiring these items.
Illustration
3. I woke up later than I planned on this morning, at 8:35. I was supposed to meet my parents for breakfast by nine. I was left with no time to get ready. I went looking presentable but not as fixed up as I planned on being. I found out when I got there that I had to pay a fine by noon or suffer greater consequences. I in turn had to borrow the money from my parents, being as I did not have it. After paying my fine I was called into work on my day off. My plans for this evening just went out the window. When it was all said and done, I was just glad to call it a day.
Narration4. When I first met Fern, I knew immediately that she was a smoker. When we would walk to class she would lose her breath easily and cough quite often. When she smiled I noticed her teeth had a distinct yellow stain on them. Her clothes smelled like an ashtray that hadn’t been emptied in a week. Her furniture in her apartment had stains of spilled ashtrays and cigarette burns in them. How could anyone want this to be a way to describe themselves?
Description
5. My roommate has a very peculiar morning ritual. The first thing she has to do after waking up is making a pot of coffee. Next thing she does is check her email while her coffee is brewing. She then makes her bed and puts her clothes out that she is going to wear for the day. It is then time to hop in the shower, where she spends one hour. What is there to do for one hour in the shower? Finally it is time for her 45 minutes to get ready for the day. This is such a time consuming ritual for a college student.
Process
6. Attending USI has changed my life in many ways. First of all I have transitioned from a top dog senior to a low man on the totem pole freshman. I have realized what it feels like to be forced to study instead of just breezing by in a class without really trying. I have also gained great respect from my parents, being as they did not attend college. Being in college has made me focus more on my career and what I want to be doing with my life in five years. Finally it has given me the confidence that I can achieve anything I set my mind to.
Narration

My Comfort Zone
When I was nine years old I had my first experience with fast food; I was amazed.
The concept of fast food was totally new to me. I walked into Hardees and proceeded to the counter to order my food. I decided to get biscuits and gravy with hash browns. I couldn’t believe that at nine years old I could go to Hardees (which was two houses down from mine) and order something, give them some of my allowance and within almost seconds receive my food. I thought to myself why did my mother never do this for me before, it’s so easy! From that moment on, I was addicted to the concept of fast food. Cooking food at home was times of the past. Why would you spend time cooking over a stove when you could go to fast food, not even get out of your car, and within minutes have food for the whole family?
I even turned eating fast food at that age into a social event. I would invite all my friends there so we could hang out and eat at the same time. My favorite time to go was during the summer when it was really hot and my friends and I would go to get ice cream and sodas. We would order suicide cokes, which are different kinds of sodas mixed together. The employees that took our order knew exactly how we liked our cokes mixed up.
My mother had just started her own business in our home. Her time was totally consumed by starting this business. I would frequently visit Hardees in order to be around people and have people to talk to. Hardees became sort of a home away from home for me. There was an instance when I was eleven years old where I got shot in the face with a BB gun while riding my bike home from school. When I realized I was bleeding heavily I knew I had to get some help. Without any hesitation or thought I rode my bike to Hardees to get help even though my house was only two houses down. I did not hesitate about where to go for help because I knew my mother would have been too busy and I did not want to bother her. The manager at Hardees went to get my mother after she had called the police.
Fast food was more than just a place to eat for me. Hardees had offered me a place where I felt comfortable. I also did not feel like I was in the way of anyone. My comfort with fast food continued throughout my life. After I received my drivers’ license I discovered other fast food restaurants. When I would visit other fast food places I enjoyed the food, however they did not give me the comfort that I knew at Hardees.
For the last three years my boyfriend and I have eaten at fast food together at least three times a day. This habits’ expense continued to grow. We found ourselves getting tired of the dollar menu items such as McChickens and Double Cheeseburgers. We then started to order more expensive items such as combo meals, premium chicken sandwiches, and Big Macs. When we sat down and analyzed where our money was going we were shocked. On an average day we would spend forty dollars a day on fast food.
Seeing how much money we were essentially wasting on fast food is what made me want to make a huge change. I decided I was no longer going to eat fast food. This change has thrown me though a loop physically and mentally in the last six weeks. I was going to the grocery and cooking meals myself now. I did not know that something that seemed as simple as not wasting money on fast food and going to the grocery instead would be so difficult in so many ways. I had never been a frequent visitor of the grocery store or my kitchen, so being these two places felt very odd to me at first. The first time I went to the grocery store to get groceries I felt confused. I did not have a grocery list to go off of. I thought to myself, what am I supposed to get. I walked up and down every aisle in the store looking at the food. Interesting enough, I did not walk in the produce section. I was not comfortable getting fresh fruit and vegetables. I had never had those things from fast food restaurants so I was ignorant as to what they were and how you used them to cook. After walking up and down every aisle in the store I had a cart full: chicken patties, pulled pork bbq, lunchables, yogurt, lasagna, frozen pretzels, chicken nuggets, chips & dip, ice cream, burritos, TV dinners, and fish sticks. I preceded to the check out lane……$258. I thought to myself, what am I doing? It would be much cheaper to stick with fast food.
When I got home to unload all of these groceries my mother was laughing at me. As we were unpacked what seemed like thousands of groceries my mother stopped me and asked me to sit down so we could talk. My mother told me that all of these groceries were the same concepts as fast food. Pretty much all of the food I had just gotten was microwavable or ready in less than five minutes. I did not even think of that while I was in the store, I was just looking for food that looked good. My mom’s words made perfect sense; I was sticking to what I was comfortable with. I then challenged myself. I dug through boxes in storage and found several cookbooks. I looked through them and wrote down some recipes I was interested in trying. . After hours of writing down recipes, I went back to the grocery store. I did not feel confused anymore. I knew what I was there for. That trip to the grocery store was much cheaper.
Although being in the kitchen is still uncomfortable for me it is getting better. My mother put a TV in there to make it a little easier to be in there without being bored. I have definitely stepped outside of my comfort zone with food and tried new things. I am now to the point that I do not even crave fast food or smell it when I am driving by. I am starting to enjoy cooking and trying new dishes. I have noticed that since I have not been eating fast food I have stayed at home a lot more. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a meal and my family enjoys it. Since my parents do not have time to cook I feel that I am doing my whole household a favor by cooking meals at home. I have gained a little bit of weight since I started cooking. I think this is due to being home more. When I had to drive somewhere to eat I only ate three times a day. I now eat more than three times a day. This change has also made me realize I have to start working out. As hard as this transition has been for me so far I am looking forward to the new lifestyle it is sure to present.

When I was nine years old I had my first experience with fast food, I was amazed.
The concept of fast food was totally new to me. I thought it was exciting that at nine years old I could go to Hardees (which was two houses down from mine) and order something, give them some of my allowance and within almost seconds receive my food. I thought to myself why did my mother never do this for me before, it was so easy! From that moment on, I was addicted to the concept of fast food. Cooking food at home was times of the past. Why would you do something that took so long when you could go to fast food, not even get out of your car, and within no time at all have food for the whole family. I even turned eating fast food at that age into a social event. I would invite all my friends there so we could hang out and eat at the same time. My favorite time to go was during the summer when it was really hot and my friends and I would get ice cream. We would order suicide cokes, which are different kinds of sodas mixed together. The employees that took our order knew exactly how we liked our cokes mixed up. This became sort of a home away from home for me. When I was eleven years old I was shot in the face by a BB gun while riding my bike home from school. My first instinct was ride my bike to Hardees, even though my house was only two more houses down. The manager at Hardees called the police and sat me down while she went to my house to get my mother. When I was twelve my mother remarried and we moved to the west side of Evansville where you cannot walk to any fast food businesses. In this marriage I acquired step siblings who were close to my age. We decided to bug our parents to buy us bikes so we were not stuck in the house all day in the summer. Our parents in turn bought us all brand new bikes. We now had a way to get to fast food. My newly acquired step siblings weren’t sure why I liked fast food as much as I did. They did not know the close relationships I had with the employees at Hardees. Fast food was more than just a place to eat for me at that age. This fast food “addiction” continued to get worse, especially after I got my drivers license. For the last three years my boyfriend and I have eaten at fast food together at least three times a day. This habits expense continued to grow. We found ourselves getting tired of the cheap stuff and we would “upgrade” our meals to a different choice on the menu. We saw how much we were spending on fast food, money which could be going somewhere productive like savings, and we were shocked. On an average day we would spend forty dollars a day just eating together.
This is when I decided to make a huge change in my life. This change has thrown me though a loop physically and mentally in the last six weeks. I decided I was no longer going to eat fast food. I was going to the grocery and cooking meals myself now. I did not know that something that seemed as simple as not wasting money on fast food and going to the grocery instead would be so difficult in so many ways. I had never been a frequent visitor of the grocery store or my kitchen, so being these two places felt very odd to me at first. The first time I went to the grocery store to get groceries I felt confused. I did not have a grocery list to go off of. I thought to myself what am I supposed to get. I walked up and down every aisle in the store looking at the food. Interesting enough, I did not walk in the produce section. I was not comfortable getting fresh fruit and vegetables. I had never had those things from fast food restaurants so I was ignorant as to what they were and how you used them to cook. After walking up and down every aisle in the store I had a cart full of food. I preceded to the check out lane……$258. I thought to myself, what am I doing this would be so much cheaper to stick with fast food. When I got home to unload all of these groceries my mother was laughing at me. As we were unpacking what seemed like thousands of groceries my mother stopped me and asked me to sit down so we could talk. My mother then told me that all of these groceries were the same concepts as fast food. Pretty much all of the food I had just gotten was microwavable or ready in less than five minutes. I did not even think of that while I was in the store, I was just looking for food that looked good. My mom’s words made perfect sense; I was sticking to what I was comfortable with. I then challenged myself. I do not know where my mother got all of her cookbooks but she has several. I dug though boxes in storage and found them. I sat down and made a grocery list from recipes that I thought might be good. After hours of this I went back to the grocery store. I did not feel confused anymore. I knew what I was there for. That trip to the grocery store was much cheaper. Being in the kitchen is still an uncomfortable feeling for me. My mother put a TV in there to make it a little easier to be in there without being bored. I have definitely stepped outside of my comfort zone with food and tried new things. I am now to the point that I do not even crave fast food or smell it when I am driving by. I am starting to enjoy cooking and trying new dishes. As hard as this transition has been for me so far I am looking forward to the new lifestyle it is sure to present.

1. Which prompt do you think you will select? Why does this one appeal to you over the others?

-I am thinking about choosing option number 2 because I have specific memories of when my family gets together and cooks

2. Which mode(s) of writing will be most helpful to you in terms of creating content? Will you primarily tell a story, compare and/or contrast or describe, for example? What other modes of writing/thinking will you utilize?

-I will for most of the paper use the narration mode. I will also utilize description in telling the story of what happens when my family gets together.

3. What specific details will you include for your reader? Why are these details important? What will they accomplish?

-I will provide specific details on the place to set in the readers mind the setting, details on the types of food prepared at every get together, and how my family reacts to these get-togethers.

4. What “place(s)” or “scene(s)” will you try to recreate for your reader? Why are they crucial?

- our lake house is crucial in the story because that is where most of the cooking and family time takes place, there is also one occasion at our house in Evansville that has importance.

5. Thinking in terms of a working thesis, what do you think will be your main reason for writing? What are you hoping to accomplish in your essay?

-my main reason for writing this essay is to provide the reader with an experience of mine that most everyone can relate to, family get-togethers with specific dishes of food.

6. What problems or struggles do you experience when it comes to writing? How can you overcome these difficulties?

-I have a really bad problem with getting my papers to flow properly. The only thing I have found to work is getting someone else to read it and get their suggestions for a better flow.