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Abigail Ice

Mrs. Wallick

English Composition II

April 26,2023

Reflection Paper

Before writing my capstone paper, I was planning on writing about healthcare, but after

writing the proposal, it came time to begin the essay and write the thesis. I realized that I was

really only arguing one thing, and I would have a difficult time writing eight pages on the topic.

Thus, my paper on gender-neutral parenting was born. I decided on this topic because I felt that I

could argue it in a myriad of ways. The topic was not entirely boring, which meant I would have

an easier time writing eight pages of material, and it would not seem repetitive. Additionally, my

writing became a better quality when I picked a topic that I was interested in.

The first challenge I came across was finding sources that were more information than

opinionated. I wished to inform my readers of my side, but I did not want to give the audience

inaccurate and biased information. I chose to use mostly information that agreed with me, but I

made sure the authors’ opinions were not projected too strongly. After reading many sources, I

arrived at the conclusion that gender-neutral parenting was doing more harm than good. My

thesis was born: “Gender-neutral parenting is an unsatisfactory parenting technique, and needs to

be discontinued because it will cause an immense amount of problems for the children raised in

this way” (Ice). Now all I had to do was convince my audience of my thesis.

Right away, I wanted to fully define what gender-neutral parenting is. No one can create

an opinion on a topic that they know nothing about. I then addressed the misconception that

anti-gender-neutral parenting meant anti-LGBTQ+. If people get the idea in their mind that not
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supporting gender-neutral parenting is equivalent to not supporting the LGBTQ+ community,

then my thesis would be discredited right away. After defining the parenting term, I set the tone

for the rest of the essay. Formal and authoritative. However, when reading this essay I made sure

that there was a slight emotional tone. Information is one thing, but it is quite hard to dispute

emotion. If readers were going to agree with me, then I needed to show them that without a

doubt in my mind, gender-neutral parenting is wrong. Kids are such an important part of life, that

there should be no chance I could be wrong.

This capstone essay helped my writing skills in the way that I can now write longer

essays without repeating myself, and without losing all passion for the subject half-way through.

My conclusion could have been better, but that is something I have always struggled with

writing. It is the last thing in my essay, so it needs to be good, and bring new information, but

also reinforce what I have already stated in the essay, and for some reason I have always stressed

so much about this that I end up writing something mediocre.