Semester Long Project Proposal

UNC Charlotte
Lily Taylor, Kasey Guilfoyle
Overview: We decided to research the mistreatment of animals in zoos across the world. This
project will include different regions in which animals are captured, shipped, and kept in in
enclosed spaces. We want to elaborate on how animals should be kept. This will include research
on different habitats for each animal we will focus on. Several questions on our topic will
include, why should we have zoos? How do zoos benefit humans? Are there cases where having
zoos are positive? How is it positive? Are there cases were having zoos are negative, why are
they negative and how? As well as how do zoos contribute to the extinction of animals?. Some
modes of explanation we will use to describe our topic are an oral presentation, a physical
presentation (a prezi or powerpoint). We may event use videos as well as images to further our
argument.
Our project plan, includes the use of a powerpoint or prezi, we are not sure which one yet, to
design our project. Majority of our information will come from reliable internet sources, as well
as media footage and news channels. The information on different habitats and zoos/ zoo
treatment will come from the internet or maybe even first hand visiting a zoo, but that
information will be limited as we cannot see behind the scenes on how animals are being treated.
Our plan is appropriate, yet effective for our topic because it will thoroughly explain our point
and our ideas about the mistreatment of animals. Our audience should care about the treatment of
animals because animals are a huge part of history and our current time. Extinction is something
that has been happening for a long time and is due to the interface of man. New species can
develop but if nothing changes on the treatment of current species, they will become extinct. air

and water pollution. Forest clearing, loss of wetlands, and other man made environmental
changes, extinctions are not occurring at a rate that far exceeds the speciation rate. Each
extinction of each special animal diminishes the diversity and complexity of life on earth. The
loss of a single species can result in the loss of an educational experience for a younger
generation. If enough living connections are broken, whole ecosystems could fail the balance
of nature could be forever altered, and our own survival could be jeopardized. Most
importantly, the species of an animal and plant life provide us with food and many life-saving
medicines. When a species is lost, the benefits it might have provided are gone forever.
The roles and responsibilities for this project will not be 100% divided between Lily and I
because I do not want each of us to have specific tasks. The roles of the two of us will be to work
together finding information, outside of school we can both find information/ videos or news
stories in which we think pertains to our point and show them to each other and explain how and
why the pertain to our point. If roles are eventually decided, both of us will be the researchers,
and then we can both focus on different parts of the presentation, such as the written form or the
physical form.
We will both research and find information that pertains to our points and put them into a shared
google document, with the link if there is one and explain why we think this is good information
for us to include in our presentations in some way, shape or form. We will also find time to meet
outside of class. Currently, we do not know each other or each others schedule that well, so as
we move forward with finding information we can find time when the both of us are free and can
meet up to work on this project.
We plan on hoping to have affected the students in our class. Everyone has a soft spot for
animals, and everyone knows they should be treated correctly especially when they are being

used for human benefit. We plan to have informed people of what you might not typically have
thought about when it comes to zoos, also we hope to find a way to possibly help those
mistreated animals, whether it be a world wide organization that is there for the protection of
these animals, just to inform people that there are ways to help.