Lets face it, they are used in bread, tea, nut-butters, biodiesel, salads... and thats just to name a few. Should I come up with an idea about sunflower petals? That topic seems the least over-done, I am just not sure that I can think of something original. So, as for sunflower petals.. all I know right now is that they are edible, bitter and peppery, but edible! They are used in teas, you can sugar coat them and add them to ice cubes.
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| Sunflower Petals |
Brainstorm:
- Possible use in prenatal tablets (What could it promote? Could it help the development of a fetus?)
- What properties does a sunflower petal have? How could this be used medicinally? (Anti-inflammatory, coagulant, pain reliever?) "Sunflower-aid"
- Use the petals as a sort of wrap or tortilla? (Do they hold-up when cooked, or do they fall apart?)
- Benefit of using sunflower petals in shakes? (Protein shakes.. nutritional value?)
Here comes the hard part. It is time to look up each of these ideas and run with the idea that leads to the most amount of research and literature to back up a entire paper. I still believe the hardest part in all of this will be finding something that has not been said before. I am sure these are "odd ball" ideas for flower petals, but sunflowers have been grown for many years and thus my challenge begins.
Let me know what you think about my brainstorming.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteWhile your ideas are very good, I would suggest that you also downplay the need for a completely original contribution. This seems to be a common theme in writing classes that have lots of majors involved: students sometimes think that if they don't say something that has NEVER been said before, their paper is irrelevant.
This misses the point I think. Doctoral work is largely based around contributing one significant piece of original work to the field; we aren't graduate students, or even in a 400 level class. While you shouldn't just regurgitate the exact same idea that someone else said, you don't have to freak out if your argument is similar. Teachers at this level shouldn't expect you to do original work, but to interpret the work of scholars, digest the information and form your own opinions on that work, and construct a paper that demonstrates your understanding.
All of this to say, relax. Don't suffer anxiety because you happened to find a few articles that seem similar to yours. Choose a narrow topic that you are interested in, that you feel you can grasp well, and that would appeal to an audience. Your interpretation is what should matter, not if that interpretation has never been reached before.
Kyle Knox
I think you're on the right track! Maybe you can look into homeopathic medicine and see if sunflowers are a contributor in some way to this type of healing. According to my mom (he he), all flowers can heal. She used to tell us stories on my great grandmothers flower garden and how every time her and her siblings showed up to her house sniffling or showing some sign of sickness, her great grandmother used to go out to her garden and pick flowers to cure their sore throat or get rid of a rash. Sometimes my mothers stories are far fetched but she stands by her stories and is a firm believer that if you believe it will cure; it will work! I love hearing her stories!
ReplyDelete~Claudia Davila
I think that for sunflowers you're doing a great job of coming up with original ideas. I would never have thought to take it to this level. I think it's fantastic. One of my closest friends is having a baby. And her baby shower is happening here soon. But just last christmas her mom passed away and her favorite flower was a sunflower. With your post here, you've given me ideas on how I can incorporate sunflowers more in to the party. The ideas with the sunflowers in icecubes is great and now that I know the petals are edible, I might use them as a cupcake decorations. Thank you for this post. it's been more than helpful.
ReplyDeleteI know this has nothing to do with your writing or how to help you, but i just thought I would share that your post is being put to good use.
Lacy
From a distance your topic appears rather simple, but up close it sure does appear more challenging than one can imagine. I like your approach to how sunflowers contribute to us and their usefulness in our consumption. Another approach you can do is the molecular biology of the sunflower. For example, their ability to photosynthesize and grow larger than a lot of plants/flowers. You can probably look up their cellular respiration too? I hope I'm not adding to your anxiety. Only merely throwing out some other perspectives. On another note, I would definitely have to agree with Kyle on his perspective of 'original thought'. Graduate students who are pursuing a graduate degree take years to come up with an original thought, I doubt Caroline wants us to do the same in a matter of weeks. That would be insane in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Kyle said. If we were all to find something that hasn't been said before, or to make a new discovery, shouldn't these essays be shared with the public and published in some newsworthy paper or magazine? Pertaining to sunflowers, it would takes years of research by graduate students and scientists to discover something new about sunflowers, or to find a use with their chemical properties.
In a previous post, you mentioned the use of sunflower oil as biodiesel. You could argue how sunflowers could be a sustainable energy source as opposed to other energy sources. Maybe claim that sunflowers are critical to decreasing the effects of climate change?
Julia
I totally think you should invent some good type of food, that is super healthy with sunflowers. I like the wrap idea, maybe cut them up, add some stuff and make them tortilla like, I like it! You should try a few things at home, just cause and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteAlso I really like the medical approaches. The prenatal type things and stuff. I am thinking, Portland people are really bad at getting good amounts of vitamin D, so maybe they absorb enough for us to get from eating them and we just don't know it yet. Maybe there are like those mushrooms that have vitamin D in them. You could cure depression symptoms in people with them!
:) You got this, something will come to you!
What if you found Portland specific companies or individuals working with sunflowers (I mean, it's Portland--I bet there's 43 sunflower-based startups). You could write a walking tour of how someone could walk from one example of sunflowers to another (anyone who is making a sunflower product is probably also growing ones for viewing). As an example, there's a book called "Portland City Walks" with a map and 3 to 7 mile loop with 5 or 6 points of interest on the way.
ReplyDeleteWhenever someone is worried about making a piece "original," going local is a guaranteed way to write something that hasn't been written before.
Wow you weren't kidding about the limitless ideas that have been used for sunflowers! I think you may be thinking of the whole new idea concept in a different manner than what the teacher expects. You don't have to necessarily think of a new way that sunflowers are used but instead possibly a new demographic that could benifit from one of the sunflower uses that hasn't really been introduced to it, or a specific combination of the sunflower uses to creat a point that hasn't really been researched. Hopefully my input helped a litte, goodluck!
ReplyDeleteWell,
ReplyDeleteUse of you got already from your research. I am actually have
issues finding new material for my own project. Somethings
I find already know by heart and some are just to unreachable though. So, I think that we can only so much when comes to projects you know. The thing is try a stab at it, do what you do only.
-Isabel