Methods of Developing Ideas (with a focus on a McDonald's meal)

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Allusion:

(pt) Society may supersize themselves as a result of eating McDonald’s regularly.
(proof) The unfortunate outcome of frequently ingesting the meals from McDonald’s is obesity and high cholesterol levels due to the high trans fats within their food and the reusing of their oil which is extremely unhealthy, as well as fattening.

Analogy:

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(pt) The structure of an essay is like the layers of a hamburger.

(proof) The first layer, and therefore the first section of your essay, is the top bun. This will be your introduction paragraph. Below the top bun there should be meat, lettuce, and pickles. These will represent the body and the controlling ideas of your essay. Between the meat, lettuce, pickles, and buns should be a mound of tasty fillings, which are vital in a burger because it produces more flavor. These will represent the points and evidence of your controlling ideas in your essay. The last part of your essay will be your conclusion, which is known as the bun on the bottom of the burger. You must sandwich all the information you have gathered together between the introduction and conclusion. The two buns hold everything in place, which makes for a delicious finished product.

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Anecdote: 

(pt) The vast majority of people who eat at McDonalds are so caught up on simply settling their grumbling stomachs that they become oblivious of what exactly is going in their mouths.
(proof) Xinli believed this was nonsense until her English teacher told the class that as a former employer at McDonalds, she has learned that the organisation often purchases the mutated chickens for the burgers. They are likely to purchase a one legged chicken rather than a healthy one because the price is much cheaper. Furthermore, the entire chicken (including its bones) is then thrown into a machine and mashed up into a perfect round slice of meat to create the Junior Chicken. After being informed of this dreadful fact, Xinli has realised that the customers at McDonald’s do not even bother to ask what the burger contains because they merely care about filling their empty bellies.

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Cause and Effect: 

(pt) Occasionally eating McDonald’s is harmless but eating it repeatedly will cause dangerous aftereffects.
(proof) Consuming burger and fries on a daily basis can result in unintended consequences to both your waistline and health.
(proof) By eating at McDonald’s too often, you can easily gain weight.

Contrast:
(pt) One can easily differentiate the difference between a burger that contains only ketchup and a burger that contains only mayonnaise.
(proof) Ketchup makes for a much smoother feeling, sweeter tasting burger, almost as if there is a salty liquid tomato between your buns. Whereas mayonnaise makes for a creamy, slightly sour flavor, which tastes as though a lemony lime, a touch of vinegar, and various herbs have been combined together to form a dressing for your burger.

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Comparison:
Logical Comparison
(pt) These fries taste like hash browns. (proof) They are both made from potatoes that are fried.
Imaginative Comparison
(pt) This cheeseburger is as layered as the Earth! (proof) The Earth has multiple layers: Inner Core, Core, Mantle, Upper Mantle, and Crust. The cheeseburger also has layers composed of a top bun, beef, cheese, fillings, pickles, and the bottom bun.

Classification:
(pt) McDonald’s sells a wide range of various hamburgers.

(proof) A Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Fillet-O-Fish, and McChicken are all types of hamburgers available at McDonald’s.

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Definition: 

(pt) The commonly used term “burger” can be used to replace the name of a specific burger.

(proof) Burger is defined as "a particular variation of a hamburger with additional or substitute ingredients".

Division:

(pt) There are several components or parts of a Quarter Pounder.
(proof) A Quarter Pounder consists of two buns, a beef patty, pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard, and cheese.

Specific Example:
(pt) McDonald’s food is unhealthy.
(proof) Cottonseed oil, which is very high in saturated fat, is poured into the deep fryers for the French fries at McDonald’s.

References:
Historical Reference
(pt) Fast food restaurants are generous and charitable.
(proof) McDonald’s were famous for raising over $460,000 for local children’s charities on their first McHappy day in 1977.



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 Cultural Reference

(pt) Commercial advertisements are created in ways that appeal to viewers of all ages.
(proof) The McDonald’s commercial displays scenes of families smiling and having an amazing time while eating their meals so essentially, adults may believe McDonald’s will bring family bonding time. As for attracting the kids, they show the toys that come with a Happy Meal.
Literary Reference

(pt) McDonald’s is often referred negatively in books.
(proof) In Meg Cabot’s Size 12 is Not Fat, the protagonist blames McDonald’s for America’s rising obesity levels, as well as her own.

Process Analysis:

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(pt) Michelle enjoys eating her Big Mac in a very orderly fashion.

(proof) Since her mouth is too small, she first takes the top of the bun in her hand and eats it. Then she eats the beef and middle layer of bread, aligning them together with precision and cautious not to allow the beef to slip off. Next, she carefully stacks every last bit of the burger left together and stuffs it into her mouth, savouring its exquisite flavours. She then picks up the lettuce pieces that had dropped, tilts her head back, pinches each lettuce strip and drops it into her mouth one by one. Lastly, she takes many sips of her sprite to help quench her thirst.

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The Lottery vs. The Hunger Games (Thematic Comparison)

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The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins both demonstrate that blindly following society’s traditions and rituals lead to disastrous consequences.

Both stories show how people begin to ignore their own morals and can no longer distinguish the difference between right and wrong.

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This is evident in The Lottery where society has held the tradition of hosting a town event which results in someone being stoned to death. “A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, ‘Come on, come on, everyone.’” illustrates how the townspeople have gotten so caught up in complying with the tradition that they have put aside their own morals. Murdering an innocent human being is undeniably wrong, yet the people in the story do it anyways without much persuasion.

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Similarly, in The Hunger Games, society’s perspective on what’s right and wrong is abandoned. Everyone who is 12-18 years of age from each district is obligated to attend the annual Hunger Games event which involves randomly selecting two tributes from each district to fight to the death. The whole idea of killing people for the entertainment of others is just plain horrific, but because the authorities have insisted that it is simply an enjoyable game, many people have followed their lead and does not object or rebel about how morally wrong the prospect of murdering people is when the event is held.


Moreover, in both stories, following the crowd forces society to turn against and betray their family.

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This is proven in The Lottery when the son is encouraged to contribute to the murder of his mother, whose name was unfortunately drawn from the box. “The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles.” This displays signs of betrayal towards Davy’s mother, Tessie Hutchinson. Clearly, the people of the community implied that it is perfectly fine to betray and kill your own mother by throwing pebbles at her. Although, Davy had no choice for he was merely a kid and must obey the rules of his town rituals, especially since the vast majority of the townspeople has conformed.

Likewise, in The Hunger Games, society is compelled to turn against their own family by allowing their children or siblings to participate in the games without any protests. For instance, "Effie Trinket asks for volunteers, but no one steps forward. He has two older brothers, I know, I've seen them in the bakery, but one is probably too old now to volunteer and the other won't." It is shown that Peeta's brother is not willing to help and volunteer in his place. Peeta could potentially be killed in a "game" that everyone is supposed to take pleasure in, yet his brother will not come to his aid. He has no option but to turn against him unless he intends to put his life at risk.  

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All in all, these two points show that the outcomes of conforming to society’s traditions are dreadful. Unless people speak out against these awful rituals, they will forever have to endure the torture for years to come.

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                                        A small except from The Hunger Games

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I hear his instructions in my head. "Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of water."



But it's tempting, so tempting, when I see the bounty waiting there before me. And I know that if I don't get it, someone else will. That the Career Tributes who survive the bloodbath will divide up most of these life-sustaining spoils. Something catches my eye. There, resting on a mound of blanket rolls, is a silver sheath of arrows and a bow, already strung, just waiting to be engaged. That's mine, I think. It's meant for me.

 

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