Overview: Learn about the benefits of a plant-based diet for environmental and social justice. Then, share this information with the public by writing a series of articles elaborating on the connection between food choices and the environment. These articles will be eligible to be posted on the Switch4Good blog.
Learning objectives:
- Improve understanding of animal agriculture’s effects on climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
- Gain experience with the research writing process, including drafting research questions, identifying and evaluating sources, and synthesizing findings.
- Improve reading comprehension skills for scientific papers and learn to clearly communicate findings with a non-scientific audience through writing.
- Gain effective communication skills that enable you to critically engage with this topic with varying audiences, including your peers and the public.
- Learn about skills and competencies required in research and writing professions.
Stages:
Investigation
- Research and identify potential topics within the broader topic of food choices and the environment.
- Survey your peer group or whoever your target audience is to understand better what they lack information on or what they wish they knew more about.
Preparation and Planning
- Determine the focus of research and writing based on criteria such as urgency of the issue, level of public awareness, and personal interest.
- Determine the scope of research and writing to cover the subject matter. Each article should be at least 1,000 words long, and the project requires at least 3 articles, but it is up to you if you’d like to write about three topics or write a series about one topic.
- Research the connection between food and environment independently and with the support of Switch4Good materials and team.
- Organize research, draft a thesis statement, and write an outline.
Action/Demonstration
- Write!
- Reach out to personal, professional, and academic connections for edits and revisions. Lucy from Switch4Good is also available for review at any point during these steps.
- Repeat steps up to this point for each article written.
Deliverables:
- Documentation of research and planning (notes, outline, thesis statement, etc.).
- Documentation of editing and revision (track changes, comments, edited and final drafts, etc.).
- Final drafts of at least three articles of at least 1,000 words each.
