To Research or Not to Research, That is the Question?!

             I'll never forget the day I was assigned my first research paper, I was sitting in my junior year English 3 class when my teacher passed out a lengthy handout all about the assignment. The paper had to be six pages long with a work-cited page, the only good thing about the project was that we were able to pick our own topic on which to write about. After scouring the web for hours trying to think of what hot issue interested me I realized I should pick something that has affected me most of my life, animal rights, I've been a vegetarian since I was thirteen years old.
            I took hours pre-planning my paper, making webs with three main ideas and writing tons and tons of rough drafts. I spent days on my computer researching all about animal rights and watching disturbing videos of animals being tortured and abused. With all of this information I began to build myself a very effective and convincing essay. I explained that animals deserved to me treated just like us, in a humane way. Chickens shouldn't have their beaks cut off and be forced to run around in pain for plain enjoyment. I revised my essay probably ten times before I thought it was good enough to turn it.
           A week after I turned my paper in it was passed back and I couldn't believe my eyes, I was overjoyed, I finally received the A I knew I deserved. Through building a convincing argument I showed my teacher I did all the research necessary and worked hard on my topic. I used pre-planning and revising techniques to perfect my paper. Im so glad I was assigned this essay because it made me look at writing in a whole different way.