Anderson 1

Ari Anderson
Professor Baird
English 1010-035
1 Dec. 2014
Reflection
I chose to do my final project on animal legal rights. I was drawn to this issue as I
see it as a current ethical dilemma and something Im passionate about. When I first
proposed my project for my issue, we were instructed to choose a specific question that
we would later have to answer through our research. My question is should human beings
and animals have equal rights, and if not, where do we draw the line? I have always been
an animal rights activists, so it was easy for me to be biased towards the issue. However,
I made an effort to keep an open mind and research various opinions.
Writing my annotative bibliography before my position synthesis paper was really
beneficial. I was able to gather various sources of information, which ultimately helped
me write a more effective research paper. After my final paper was written, I had two of
my fellow SLCC students read and review my paper. Their feedback helped me realize
the strongpoints of my paper, and what wasnt necessary. The position synthesis paper
was more challenging for me to write since I had never written one before. I learned how
to write more persuasively and credibly. By having to write a paper that would be
featured on my e-portfolio, I made sure it was professional and well-done. I wanted to do
my very best work.
As a writer, I believe one of my biggest strengths is the ability to appeal to
emotions, especially since I have a lot of feelings about this topic. In my annotative

Anderson 2
bibliography, I talk about how I used more information from sources that appealed
mainly to emotions, since it made my case stronger. I also tried to do this in my position
synthesis paper, which I hope you will see. I genuinely enjoyed working on this project,
since it furthered my knowledge about animal legal rights and the ethical issues that come
with it. I have learned new writing skills that will help me in other classes and also in the
ethics class I am currently taking. My professor was very helpful and gave me very useful
advice which I felt helped make me a better writer.