I am interested in college dining facilities to see how their choices differ from the University of South Carolina's, and whether their foods promote or discourage a healthy diet for students. This topic is also interesting to me because I know USC's dining options so this research could give me more insight on how our campus compares to others and how schools promote their healthy options. Food also interests me because I feel that it is not addressed or taught a lot about in schools, so many people, adults and children, are not fully aware if the choices they make are healthy. This research will strengthen my values because I believe that everyone should have a healthy diet and should be educated in what a healthy balanced diet consists of. Researching healthy options for students will also further educate me on what I could be eating on campus to make healthier choices. I am qualified to write about this because as a college student living on campus I am aware of the choices the school has for dining and also aware of the choices students eat. I have background knowledge on what a well balanced diet is and what young adults need to keep their bodies healthy and energized. 

Elisabeth Townsend's 2009 work "The Cooking Ape" addresses how the invention of cooking food changed how humans eat today. Townsend evaluated how the invention of fire and cooking food made food more digestible, created more immediate energy, and easily edible food that does not require fermentation or other preservation measures. The major values that Townsend expresses is that evolution caused the diet habits on humans presently, food today produces more energy, the way food is obtained also relates to gender roles, and cooking food evolved how humans care for their children. The main interest the author presents is how evolution changed humans today. The author appears credible because she obtained information through an interview with Richard Wrangham, an anthropology professor at Harvard University. He is also a Primatologist that has been researching for twenty-five years and has worked in Kafue National Park studying African habitats and species. Townsend uses Wrangham's research and credibility in the field to build credibility for her work.

Jennifer E Pelletier and Melissa N. Laska's 2013 article "Campus Food and Beverage Purchases Are Associated with Indicators of Diet Quality in College Students Living Off Campus" discusses the diets of college students, specifically those commuting to campus. The study evaluated how students obtained their food while on campus and whether it was fast food, brought from home, or bought on campus. The study concluded that most students ate some form on campus food and was shown to have higher fat and sugar consumption compared to students that brought meals from home. The author's in this study are focused on two college campuses commuting students and what dinning choices they use while on campus. The two groups of commuting students they are interested with are those that eat on campus and those that bring their meals from home. Pelletier and Laska are credible because they both took part in a scientific observational study that was published in a credible source, American Journal of Health. The authors also attain high degrees of education in the field having a degree of education in the subject. Performing this study on two separate campuses also creates a sense of credibility because it demonstrates that it is not subjective to one campus. The authors also attain high degrees of education in the field having a degree of education in the subject.

In the 2009 journal entry, "College Weight Gain and Behavior Transitions: Male and Female Differences", Mary Cluskey and Deana Grobe evaluated the weight gain in first year college students. This study indicated that college students failed to meet requirements of fruits, vegetables, dietary fats, as well as exercise. Cluskey and Grobe also indicated that "all you can eat" style dining contributed to freshman weight gain. In addition to eating, academic workload was directed to female weight gain, where alcohol was contributed to male weight gain. The major points of interest in this study are whether or not dietary choices is the only contributor to freshman year weight gain.  This study was also interested in how the college students saw this weight gain as a problem. Cluskey and Grobe attain credibility through having this study published in a credible medium, Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The authors also attain credibility because they both have high levels of education, PhD, and performed a study on the subject of interest. However, the authors lose credibility in their study because only students that responded to the survey were considered, creating bias. 

This research question is arguable because the opposing argument is that dining choices do not affect the weight gain found in freshmen, it has to do with hormone changes that young adults experience during this age range. Throughout the three sources all arguments acknowledge that diet does has an impact on freshmen in colleges. "The Cooking Ape" focuses on how food is consumed and calorie intake, not specific to freshman weight gain. However, "Campus Food and Beverage Purchases Are Associated with Indicators of Diet Quality in College Students Living Off Campus" and "College Weight Gain and Behavior Transitions: Male and Female Differences" both focus on college campus eating habits, but differ because "College Weight Gain and Behavior Transitions: Male and Female Differences" states that the cause of weight gain can also be directed to hormones. These sources affect my opinion because I believe that weight gain has to do more with eating, exercise, and alcohol consumption more so than hormone changes. I could direct my research question to how dining services impact freshmen year students, as apposed to all students to make my topic more specific. 

