2. Explore Your Topic

After thoroughly examining your assignment, now it's time to look for some initial background research on your topic. View the topic pages below in the Credo Database to learn more about Topics.

Genetically Modified Food Topic Page (Credo)
Explore this topic page to learn more information on this topic.
Food Waste Search Results (Credo)
This has information related to the topic of food waste.
Local Food Movement OR (Local Food) Search Results (Credo)
This has information related to the topic of local food and the local food movement.
Junk Food Search Results (Credo)
This has information related to the topic of junk food.
Food Topic Page (Credo)
This is a topic page for the Food if you want to explore other topics related like food industry, food safety, food security, food processing, etc.

Analyze Your Topic

Who

Think about who might be involved.Does your issue disproportionately effect a certain part of the population? Are there further factors based on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (wealth)? Are there corporations or government factors involved? What aspects are important to your paper?

What

Consider what factors are involve in your topic. Read some background information or a summary to learn more about your topic and then make a list of relevant factors. The background reading can also provide you with keywords, specialized vocabulary, and definitions, which will be useful for future searches.

When

What time period is involved? Are you considering the present day, or are you going back in history to look at a time period some time ago, say what Americans were eating in 60's. Be sure you know what dates and times are involved in your topic because that will affect how you write about them. Your topic may have specific dates associated with it or it may be more general. For example, if there was government regulation or laws passed that affects your topic then information before that date may not be relevant any more.

Where

Sometimes places or geography are important to your topic. Are you considering food in the United States versus another country? The situation can be quite different in some countries than it is here.

Why

This is a really important one. Why should people care about this topic? Why is your chosen topic important or controversial? What's at stake, or why did it happen / is it happening?