ProQuest vs. Cracked

I used ProQuest to search for the articles about my topic of eating locally grown food vs. eating imported food. At first, I searched the words “eating locally” which gave me about 700 articles that I couldn’t use. So then I searched “is eating locally better” which greatly narrowed down my results to 203 and I was able to find a few somewhat helpful articles.

The first article I found was titled “Which is Better: Locally Grown Produce That Might Not Be Organic or Imported Certified Organic Produce?” This article is very short and very limited on its ability to help me as a researcher. It consists entirely of a person asking a question about living and eating healthy and if it is better to eat imported organic food over locally grown non-organic food and a lengthy answer. The first point that the answerer makes is that an ideal world would allow for organic food to be eaten everywhere, year round. However, we all know that is not possible with the numerous amount of extreme climates in certain parts of the world. Organic food has been traditionally found to contain more nutrients. The answerer then talks about how two British researches found that local food is “greener” than organic food. The final main point he gives is that local farms and markets have little to no chemical input into the environment. He concludes by saying the clear and better choice is to buy local. This entirely disagrees with my Cracked.com article and the point I am trying to make with my research.

I also found a few more articles that talk about eating locally. However, with titles like “Eating Locally” and “Thinking Globally: Eating Locally..” it doesn’t sound like I’m going to find much helpful research to support my argument. I have found that the point from the Cracked article is going to be somewhat difficult to support with different sources. So, instead of just coming from that point of view, I have decided it would be better to go at this topic from a neutral point of view. This way, I will be able to find more research over my topic and I will be able to decide for myself whether or not I support the Cracked article.