Competency #6

Critical thinking has taken on a new form of life for me. Before I had started back to university, all I worried about was budgeting time, money, and taking care of my family. Making sure the children were fed, the dogs walked, and the house cleaned was a critical part of my day.

• From my first research paper to my last, conceptualizing, analyzing, and interpreting data has improved tremendously.
• Thesis writing has become second nature to me through the process of critical thinking. My research process has developed greatly, so I can minimize the time to write out papers that are coherent to the reader.

The environmental literature classes, English 303 and 423, with Dr. Sarah McFarland, taught me to analyze writing in a whole knew dimension, and to review novels or short stories through ecocriticism.

• This involves reading with the intent of finding what the author is trying to convey to the public concerning the environment and what affect we have on it.
• Ecocriticism is the study of nature and writing, also referred to as environmental literature. For me, the controversial topics concerning our environment and those that write about environmental issues left me with a bad taste. But, it has also made me aware of the footprint that I will leave behind. This paper is available through professors to review.