Wolf Removal (Critical Thinking Essay)

Wolf Removal (Critical Thinking Essay)

Assignment/Activity Title— Critical Thinking Paper                                  Year— Freshman

Skill— Research, writing                                       Portfolio Category— Critical reasoning

A crucial assignment throughout the high school years as a CAP student is the critical thinking paper. The critical thinking paper is a four to six page essay, with three different essays written over three years.  In freshman year, the student must choose a topic that is debatable on both sides, interesting to the student, and in depth enough to write about. The first essay, written in freshman year, argues one side of the topic. The next year, the student must argue for the other side of the topic.  Lastly, in junior year, the student will write about the side they actually believe is right.  For my topic, I wanted to write about something that truly fascinated me, something I could easily comprehend, and something that was significant to me. I decided to research debatable problems in the environment- such as global warming, capping and trading
emissions, or a local topic, like fishing laws. As I researched, I found no real interest or in depth understanding of any of these topics. Finally, after listening to the ideas of my parents, I decided to research

the issue of wolf removal and restoration. Up until then, I had never heard of wolf removal or of wolf restoration, but I was immediately interested.

When starting my essay, I was extremely nervous. I didn’t think that my essay would be very good; however, as I learned more about the issue of wolf removal and restoration, I found that the essay became easier to write, because I enjoyed the topic so much.  I learned that when a topic sparks an interest, the essay almost writes itself. I really benefited from the freedom given in choosing a topic, and I believe this helped my essay overall.

The process I went through in writing this essay was extremely helpful in staying organized and on task. Taking a lot of time on the thesis was very necessary and helped shape the foundation for the rest of my essay. I think my final thesis was evidence that my paper started out on the right track. The outline worksheet was another beneficial part of the essay process. With the original outline, and the more detailed outline, I was able to have a strong basis for when I started writing my essay. For a final check-through when I completed my essay, the checklist was good to utilize. I was able to make sure my essay was complete, and that I wasn’t missing any critical parts. As for writing my essay, all of these resources were tremendously useful, and I had no trouble when writing.

One weakness in my first draft, aside from grammatical errors, was my annotated bibliography and works cited. I was confused by these, and made mistakes in how they should be written. Having the chance to redo them in my second draft was a good advantage, because I was allowed to fix my mistakes and therefore learned the right way in writing an annotated bibliography and works cited.

I think my final draft of my critical thinking essay really displayed my strengths in writing. I feel as though my second draft was greatly improved. It was free of grammatical errors, and my annotated bibliography and works cited was fixed as well. I think my writing was excellent in my final draft, and I really believe my writing has improved immensely over the course of my first year in CAP. I was very proud of my final grade on my critical thinking essay, I had no points taken off. I think it was the best work I have written as a freshman.

This topic has changed me drastically, and I look forward to writing the other side of my argument next year. Because of this essay, I am now aware of the effects we have on the animals living in our county, such as the wolves. This essay opened my eyes to whole new issues that would’ve gone unnoticed.