Source Evaluation

Why are we blaming fast food for obesity? This is the research topic I chose. I will set out to prove that fast food is not to be blamed for obesity. A source that I am considering using is an Article titled “Fast Food Consumption and Increased Caloric Intake: a Systematic Review of a Trajectory Towards Weight Gain and Obesity Risk,” by R. Rosenheck. I will need to read and review this source to see if it is relatable to my research topic as well as if it is credible enough to use as a source.
Author’s Credentials
Robert A. Rosenheck graduated from Yale Medical School. He specializes in Psychiatry & Psychology, Diseases, and Sociology. Rosenheck is also the Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health at Yale University. He has 460 publications with 390 being in the field of medicine covering various diseases including obesity. Although I can’t seem to find any books he has written, the majority or his work is published in journals, articles or papers. Some of his more recent journals are, The Association Between Weight Change and Symptom Reduction in the CATIE Schizophrenia Trial, Challenges in the Design and Conduct of Controlled Clinical Effectiveness Trials in Schizophrenia, The Incremental Value of Self-Reported Mental Health Measures in Predicting Functional Outcomes of Veterans. All of his professional affiliations or people who co-wrote some of his publications are also professors, or have graduated from a top university in similar fields as himself.
Appropriate Focus The sources’ focus is whether or not there is an association between fast food and obesity. The article also discusses caloric intake and increased weight gain from fast food. It also talks about how individuals should limit their fast food intake. There were sixteen studies done for this article, to see if fast food was associated with obesity. My focus is proving that fast food is not the sole problem for obesity. I believe that both of our focus’ match. We are both trying to disprove that fast food is the sole cause for obesity.
Sufficient Coverage There is a lot of information in this article. It is fifteen pages long. He talks about each individual study and its findings. There is definitely enough information in this source. The quality of information is very good; his entire article is based off of those sixteen studies in which professional, experienced people conducted them to help him write this article. Here is a quote from the article. “In order for a causal link between fast food consumption and weight gain or obesity to be demonstrated, a plausible biological mechanism must exist, guided by criteria set forth by Hill (34).” Rosenheck goes into detail about every little thing, he doesn’t leave room for anyone to come in and say things like, “Did you consider this?” or “What about this aspect?” He covers his topic very well and goes into detail and explains things so that the reader can understand.
Reputable Publisher Blackwell Publishing limited was founded in 1807, growing from a small business to the large on that it is today. They are the world’s largest publisher for professional and scholarly societies. They focus on science, technology, medicine and scholarly. They publish journals, books, major reference works, databases, and laboratory manuals. They are not biased, when specializing in these fields you can’t really be biased, you have to have facts to back yourself up. You can’t just back yourself up with your own opinions. However they it appears that they have not received any awards but that they do give out awards to their authors. On January 25, 2013 the twelfth annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences was awarded to Dr. Michael Young, Dr. Jeffrey Hall and Dr. Michael Rosbash.
Publication Date This article was published in 2008. This article is just a little over five years old. I believe that it does have the most recent information because those studies take months and months to complete, there are probably more studies going on about fast food and obesity as we speak. I do believe that it is recent enough. Although since fast food has added healthier choices to their menus I will try to dig up more recent sources for this five year gap.
Useful Supplementary Materials There are about five or six charts within this article explaining how fast food affected people of different ages, gender, and amount consumed in a day or a week, and how it affected their bodies compared to others that didn’t eat fast food as often. He also has a very long works cited page at the end of this article.
Writing Style Although Rosenheck likes to use medical terms, you never have to stop and ask yourself what in the world is he talking about. His article is easy to read and if he thinks an everyday reader wouldn’t understand a term he explains it. “While it has been suggested that fast food consumption may be linked to weight gain and obesity, a causal relationship has been difficult to establish because of inconsistent study results.” R.Rosenheck. He wants the reader to be able to read this and comprehend it.
Conclusion
I believe that this source passes all of performance tests. The author has very high credentials and we are focused on the same topic. He gives me a lot of quality information throughout the article that will help me write my research paper. His publisher is also very well known, they have been around for over 200 years and specialize in the fields of science and medicine. I think this will be a great source to use for my research paper.

Works Cited

"Dr. Robert A. Rosenheck." Zoominfo.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
"Robert A. Rosenheck." Microsoft Acedemic Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
Rosenheck, Robert A. "Fast Food Consumption and Increased Caloric Intake: A Systematic Review of a Trajectory Towards Weight Gain and Obesity Risk." Wileyonlinelibrary.com. N.p., 14 Mar. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
"Wiley: Home." Wiley: Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Cited: "Dr. Robert A. Rosenheck." Zoominfo.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. "Robert A. Rosenheck." Microsoft Acedemic Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. Rosenheck, Robert A. "Fast Food Consumption and Increased Caloric Intake: A Systematic Review of a Trajectory Towards Weight Gain and Obesity Risk." Wileyonlinelibrary.com. N.p., 14 Mar. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. "Wiley: Home." Wiley: Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.