Final Project=Ready

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4/23/10 Final Website Review

I looked over the final portfolio for Meredith McKee, a student from Ball State University. Her website was extremely organized and had a logical flow once I understood how to navigate. Her use of colors, contrasts, and images really enhances her overall impact on the reader and her personable intro really allow for a connection. I do, however, feel that the reader could be better directed around the website; it is well thought-out, but the small font makes it hard to distinguish navigational buttons from those inherent on a webpage. Her different interests are reflected in her writing; coupled with her well-formulated webpage, her writing leaves a lasting impact.

Nickel and Dimed

The author of the ethnographic study 'Nickel and Dimed' does an excellent job in the briefing of describing her paper. Most of the excerpt is based around her own evaluation of the process, and her ability to defend every single course of her study. She fully diagnoses her own standing pre-study against what she wants to learn from the study, leveraging her credibility against her own inner feelings of the ethnographic process. This is to the benefit of her entire audience as well as herself, as she is able to objectively view her own purpose.

However, her scientific analysis come into play at the expense of the personality of her paper. Granted, low-income status is nothing to laugh about, but 'Nickel and Dimed' (from the excerpt) seems to be written with a lack of personality. Her study largely is about the dynamic between poverty-stricken people as well as herself, and I feel this could be somewhat more incorporated into her brief. Her scientific background clearly shows as the briefing of the paper reads more like an abstract of an experiment rather than the largely influential, personable paper it could be.

What's Missing

I feel that overall I have a pretty good grip on my study thus far and feel fairly well-directed as to where I go from here. I need to focus on the big picture moreso than on specific attributes of CF and Paleo; however, the passion I want to relay about Paleo+CF must first be justified with studies proving it. I am having difficulty recording too many observations about the gym- it's pretty business-like except for the five minutes before a workout and ten minutes afterwards. Any observations I gain are squeezed in between my own workout.

I want to start focusing on the overall meaning of the diet and the gym to those who are in this nutrition subsection. It won't be hard to incorporate this because I can feel their passion every time they talk about CFPaleo; it's just a matter of working it into my paper.

Secondary Sources

Any secondary sources associated with my ethnographic study in a pure sense will be interviews. There is hardly any research on the topic that is non-scientific and written for the casual reader. And, to add to that, any reading not in lay terms is likely unhelpful to my topic of Paleo and Crossfit for a group of people.
However, most of my secondary sources will be used in my description of the lifestyle and the potential health benefits it manifests. This section of my final paper will likely be more science based and less perception, and it makes sense to add any secondary sources to this section. To start off the chain of secondary sources describing the health benefits of Paleo and Crossfit, I submit a great article from the New England Journal of Medicine. This gives conclusion based on a study showing the effects of a low-carbohydrate diet. In a two year study, weight loss was followed in patients eating a low carb, Meditteranean, and high fat diet. The results are particularly interesting and support the premonitions of the Crossfit+Paleo group that I am studying.

Post 3.18.2010 Essay resource thoughts

For my third essay, with the relative abstraction of my topic, I will have to look at different areas of thought for background. All of the information that I have so far in my paper is anecdotal and empirical and has no real source of scientific background other than basic draws from scientific studies. I will need to look into journals of kinesiology, biochemistry, and even public health for background on The Paleo Diet and Crossfit. These are really the only sources I can think from which to draw scientific fundamentals for my paper. The psychology of health might also be helpful to research, as Paleo and Crossfit is as much physical as psychological.

MIDTERM PORTFOLIO

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-Thanks!