Sean Capers's Midterm Essay

Dear Alejandra,


I'm writing to you to tell you about English 1102 and all of it's glory. First off, ENGL 1102 takes a turn from the English courses taught in high school. It's more passionate and self-involving. I learned how to write in a different genre than my usual way of writing. I've also learned about annotated bibliographies. It's more detailed than just regular summarizes, you also get to evaluate on the material on how well it can benefit your inquiry questions. I learned personally how to research more effectively and to enjoy the process that comes with it. I've never liked researching or reading for that matter but ENGL 1102 changed my outlook on that. For me, learning how to effectively research any topic will helped me as I continued my path on becoming a software developer and part time teacher. I will have to know my material so I can properly design it and/or teach it others. One example of how I witnessed my efforts in researching is when I came across a blog entry of an individual who was researching the same topic as me. She was raising her daughter on a vegan diet and she stressed about her main concern about how her daughter has a low intake of vitamin B12. I just so happened to research a guide on this matter and informed her of alternate ways of provide vitamin B12 without the need of shots and eating animal products. She was very grateful and thank me for my advice. I felt so accomplished because never would I have known a solution to her personal problem if it had not for been researching effectively about veganism in ENGL 1102. I feel you will improve upon your weaknesses in writing and see the improvements first hand as I did.

Your friend,

Sean Capers

I want to reflect on my process for the Annotated Bib/Blogger assignment. The main reason I wrote this piece was because I was curious as to why my roommate began a vegan diet around the same time this was assigned to me. I couldn't think of any other topic so I stuck with veganism because personally I couldn't see myself giving up animal products for any period of time. I got my ideas from my roommate and mainly my mom. For years my mom has been on this health craze so when I visit, i'm mostly eating out because I'm not into the healthy organic alternatives like her just yet. At first my inquiry question for my Annotated Bibs is "How much healthier is a person on a plant-based diet than a person who eats animal products?" The more I looked into this topic, the more global wide-scale the controversial it became. Once I came across an article about this woman who claimed how vegan diets made her daughters ill I decided to narrow my inquiry question to "Is raising children as veganism really healthy?" From there my audience became smaller to medical doctors and parents who have their children on plant-based diets. My writing became more of a medical advise to parents who are unaware of the risks they are taking with veganism. I really worked on my efficiency on researching when writing my Annotated Bibs. It was really difficult to write because mostly I hated researching or reading for that matter. Having to read and make summarizes for several books/articles wasn't really my cup of tea. I learned how to enjoy researching and make the effort more efficient. I learned about the risks of partaking a plant-based diet and alternative ways of substituting animal products. One person benefited from my researching because she was looking into veganism as her research topic because she's a parent who raising her daughter veganism. She had a personal problem that concern her daughter's health with the lacking of Vitamin B12, a serious problem in plant-based dieting. One of the books I was reading suggested an alternate way of solving her problem and I informed her that she might want to look into it. She showed her appreciation and thank me for my advice. I felt accomplished with myself because never would I had known if I wasn't assigned this assignment. When I revise my Annotated Bibs, I will most likely add more articles or personal feedback from parents who are raising children as veganism. My inquiry question is focused on their viewpoint so I might to include the input from parents so possibly future parents who are interested in undergoing veganism can have informed knowledge.

I really liked Peace Butter & Jelly. I'm not one for reading except for comic books or Japanese manga but PB&J was a book I really got into. The way David Seidel broke his book into three parts, Peace, Butter, and Jelly, then within each part he wrote and explored how his life fit into the meaning of those three words was truly memorable. Reading his input on how this life expanded on such simple words made me reflect on my life and how it fit around Peace, Butter and Jelly. I also gave my mom my copy of the book because I figured she would love the recipes he listed in his writing.

English class is fun

I never expected this

so who would of guessed!

Vegan Life: Blog 4

This blogging experience is nothing new to me. Having previous experience in keeping a blogger and I used to write a journal all through high school really helped in this activity. It's nostalgist to come back to blogging or keeping a personal journal in my life. 


I usually don't blog except for strictly class purposes because I'm usually not the type to share my feelings outside family and close friends. It was really interesting to come across other blogs that had the similar ideas for topics as I did coming into this assignment. I also loved how something as researching a topic for class lead me into helping a fellow student with their personal life. That was a feeling of accomplishment for me.


I was able to put forth the effort I learned from researching and blogging into action, which at first I never thought it could be of much helped. It helped me learned to research effectively and see the progress it came with it since this assignment was first issued to me.

Vegan Life: Blog 3

(1) Some of us struggled a bit with the infamous "list" on pg. 2 of our textbooks, so I'd like to revisit some of those concepts here...

Who will YOU be writing to? Can you decipher yet who will make up your audience, even in broad terms? 

• Initially, my audience was intended for people who practice veganism. The more I researched, I narrowed down my intended audience for parents who are raising their children on vegan diets.

Timeliness: Making sure a reader understands why your topic is timely is crucial to them caring about your writing. Do you have a better understanding now of why your topic is timely, or how you can make it timely? Explain.

• My topic about children raised on vegan diets is timely in this generation because children's health has always been a major concern. Knowing the advantages and safety risk that can impact your child, if you have any, is very important. Every parent is worried about their child's well-being and what their child eats. Parents are gonna take measurements that they believe is correct for their children and knowing the facts is benefiting to that purpose.

Investment: Your investment in your topic goes right along with timeliness; if you don't care about your topic, why should anyone else? Why are you invested in this topic? (In other words, why do you care about it?) Why do you think (many of our) high school teachers instructed you to write objectively without any sort of personal investment in your writing? Why do college teachers suddenly care that you care about what you're doing?

• I care about this topic because my roommate is on a vegan diet and he's the reason why I choose to dive in veganism. I feel that I can provide the information he may not know because we've known each other for years and he's like a brother. I will hate for him to fall ill because he's not getting enough nutrients in his system. 

(2) Are you starting to see multiple viewpoints emerge in your research? Can you list them here?

• The viewpoints I've come across are the views from medical doctors and individuals who placed their children on vegan diets. 

(3) Tell us about one new and interesting thing you've learned about your topic this week. What have you learned about the process of researching?

• I learned that a poorly planned vegan diet leaves a person with too little protein, calcium, zince, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. Also be wary about iron intake and Omega-3 fatty acids tend to be low in the vegan diet. The process of which I'm going about researching is fun. I'm learning more nutritional value with eating properly.

(4) Read and respond to at least one other student's blog. Find a blog that interests you and provide an interesting perspective, some helpful advice, or ask some questions. In your post, please mention the blog you commented on so I can see it, too.

• I looked at Jordan Buchanan blog like you recommended and provided some information about the finding an alternate way of receiving vitamin B12 without the need of shots and eating meat.

Living a Vegan Lifestyle: Blog 2

Tell us about the most interesting source you've found so far. What type of source is it? What's the title, and who is the author? Why is it interesting? Give us a brief summary of the source, in 5-6 sentences.

• The most interesting source I've found so far is how a woman claimed that veganism is destroying her two youngest daughters health. It's a electronic article titled "How our vegan diet made us ill" by Natasha Mann. The article is interesting because I've only know about the positive myth about eating a plant-based diet is only healthy for your body. This article is about a woman who claims that the vegan diet was making her daughters unhealthy.  She noticed some signs that her younger children were developing slowly compared to her older children. The topic of dieting for children was heavily discussed when a reported 12 year old girl had a spine of that of an 80 year old. The article discusses it’s possible to raise a healthy child under a vegan diet with proper supervision. The point is that the vegan diet works for some people and it’s not for some.

As you've been researching, has your topic changed? Have you revised your inquiry question?  For instance, say your initial question was "Why do some people choose to be vegetarian?" As you've been researching, you've realized how you can narrow your scope to something like "Is it healthy for vegetarian parents to raise their children as vegetarians?" OR "In what ways is being vegetarian better for the environment?" How will narrowing your scope affect your research -and the eventual writing you'll do about this topic?

• My topic has only changed slightly. At first I was looking into the reasoning why people choose to became vegan but after researching a little into my sources my question now became "is a vegan eating diet really healthy?". I came across several facts in my sources stating the high risks involving a plant-based diet in adults and children under 12.

What challenges are you facing in your research? How might you address these challenges? What research "tips" do you have for your peers?

• The most challenging part I'm facing in my research is finding where and how these health studies took place. I found one reported health incident that involved a 12 year old girl who under a vegan diet was diagnosed with rickets, her spine was that of an 80 year old woman, but I couldn't find anything about that report itself. I gonna go into more library databases and medical databases and email Ms. Gunter about her opinion about finding some sources on the medical degree of my topic.

Research: Living a Vegan Lifestyle

-What is your research question/inquiry question?
My research question/inquiry questions is the vegan eating style more healthy than my regular eating life style? How is being a vegan different from being a vegetarian? I wonder if you get the same nutrient without eating anything with animal products? What can you eat in the vegan life style? What can't you eat? I wonder how many type of veganisms are there? 
  
-Why did you settle on this question? What interests you about the topic? Explain.
I settled on this question because the night before this assignment was issued, my roommate Torrence told me he was going on a vegan diet. I'm interested in the vegan eating habits because 1) In one of my favorite comic series, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, there's a character named Todd Ingram who lives a vegan lifestyle and is granted massive telekinetic powers 2) I'm interested in how much healthier would one person be without indulging animal products into their system. 3) I love eating animal products and can't imagine not eating them, so I curious as to the reasons to why some people choose not to.

-How is your question/topic timely? Why is it important to address this topic? Why should people care about it?
Health issues and looking 'fit' is stressed highly in today's media. It's important to address it because health issues regarding food and diet is high in the U.S. People should care because it's our health we deal with everyday. We can't take a break on our health. What we ingest has positive and negative effects on our health and knowing a better eating life style that can save your life one day is helpful.  

-What do you expect to find in your research? What preliminary research have you done that makes you expect this?
I exepect to find alternate products for certain foods like veggie burgers, veggie meatballs, tofu, soy, etc. I'm hoping to find some research documents that examined one group of participants that took a vegan diet and compared their health to a group who's diet consist of anything. I want to find supporting arguments that at least shows a health improvement in individuals or a decline in fitness. According to one of my preliminary research, the American Dietetic Association stated that a vegan diet can reduce an individual's chances of developing heart diseases and cancer. This document will surely help me support my argument in improving one's fitness and health.

-Are you coming across scholars w/ different answers to your question, or different views of your topic? (If you're NOT and people seem to all agree, then your research question and topic probably aren't worth pursuing, right?) Explain what these answers/views are that you are finding. (Remember that our textbook warns us of the dangers of binary thinking on pg. 6.)What do you think about the different viewpoints? Where do you stand on the issue, and do you think your mind could change the further you get into this semester-long inquiry?
I haven't came across scholars with a different view than mine but I have came across an article where a woman claims that the vegan lifestyle made her and her daughters extremely ill. Her daughters had 

 stick-thin legs and rotten teeth before she realized that the vegan lifestyle was instead making her family worse. I can't imagine myself going into the vegan eating habit but I'm for pro vegan lifestyle and this article about vegan diets will definitely help me address both sides of my topic. I'm hoping that looking at this topic from both issues will help me choose  if I will partake in a vegan diet for my health down the road someday.

-Any questions or concerns you'd like to address?
I personally want to know one of the diet plans of reducing obesity in more detail and does it really lead a healthier lifestyle than my current eating habits?