Interview Summary/Synthesis- Farmington Pet Adoption Center

Farmington Pet Adoption Center

A passionate animal lover, Sandy King, is currently the Vice President on the Board of Directors, as well as the Head Adoption Counselor for the Farmington Pet Adoption Center (FPAC) going on 11 years now. Before she lived in Farmington, Ms. King resided in the suburbs of Chicago. She decided to move back home to retire and spend more time with her grandchildren. Shortly after moving, Ms. King was appalled by the way animals were being treated in her new hometown; thus prompting her to reach out as a volunteer at the FPAC. Ms. King typically spends around 45 hours per week volunteering at the shelter. During our interview, Ms. King explained that FPAC’s funding is mostly from donations, their animals are strays and pound recues, and the adopted animals do not leave the shelter without first being neutered. Comment by Author: A source with 10+ professional years’ experience in his or her discipline works well for this essay. Comment by Author: Please review the following source for semicolon and colon uses: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/col-semi.html. Determine whether a semicolon, colon, comma, or no punctuation is best suited here by studying punctuation rules. View this link for comma guidelines: http://www.towson.edu/ows/modulecomma.htm

The FPAC is a non-profit, no-kill shelter overseen by the Department of Agriculture used to provide a temporary home for the many homeless dogs and cats. Since it is a non-profit shelter, the only stable form of income received is from the FPAC Resale Shop along with occasional donations. These funds go toward the cost of food and care to maintain healthy adoptable pets. Comment by Author: Two words that are commonly, but mistakenly used for “because” are “as” and “since,” but there are others such as “being.” If you can replace “as” or another similar substitution with “because” and keep the same meaning, please do so. Additionally, please note that “since” should be used only when you reference a time in the past: “since yesterday,” “since they began construction,” etc. Therefore, please change “since” to “because” where applicable. IMPORTANT: If you have a comma before any of these words that should be “because,” please omit the comma. A comma should never precede a “because” clause. Comment by Author: Strive to use the active voice over the passive voice. First try to identify the verb. Does the subject who/that is acting out the verb come before the verb? If not, you may need to change to the active voice. For instance, “The fish was caught by the seagull” should be in active voice: “The seagull caught the fish.”The passive voice also often fails to reference the subject, which leads to broad claims, and, remember, your claims should be as specific as possible. See below:Passive: “The law should be passed.”Active: “The US government should pass the law.”Please study http://www.towson.edu/ows/activepass.htm and https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/passive-voice/.

Although most dogs and cats brought into FPAC are strays found by local residents, some are rescued from the pound. An estimated 35 to 40 dogs and cats are brought in on a monthly base. Due to a maximum capacity of 40 dogs and 100 cats, FPAC is constantly full leaving the heartache of denying others. This is where the importance of pushing adoption comes to play. Comment by Author: Be sure to use wording that indicates the information that comes from your interviewee.

In order to adopt, FPAC requires all dogs and cats be spayed or neutered before they can leave the shelter. This is to minimize reproduction and the potential of future homeless animals. It costs anywhere from 35 to 95 dollars to adopt a pet from the FPAC which is a fraction of the expenses the consumer would incur if purchasing a dog or cat from another provider. Even though the adoption fee tends to affect the rate at which they are rehomed, FPAC still manages to find loving homes for about 20 to 25 dogs and cats per month. Comment by Author: Please use a comma before (and after if it is in the middle of a sentence) a nonessential clause, also called a nonrestrictive clause, because these clauses tell you something about a preceding subject, but they do not limit or restrict the meaning of that subject. Typically, you can remove these clauses without disrupting the sentence. Keep in mind that the word “that” is often used to begin an essential clause while “which” often precedes a nonessential clause. Please review this source and check your essay for other instances: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/ and http://www.kentlaw.edu/academics/lrw/grinker/LwtaClauses__Restrictive_and_Nonrest.htm

Whether living in a big suburban city or a small rural town, there are many dogs and cats in need of loving homes. Reaching out to local shelters in search of a new family member would not only give these animals a home, but also bring joy to those adopting. Despite the limitations of the facility, Ms. King and her team will continue to show their love and care to many mistreated dogs and cats in rural Farmington. Comment by Author: In the conclusion, in addition to summarizing the subtopics in your essay, synthesize the information you gathered from your source. To synthesize just means you should consider all of the information you gathered from the source and draw conclusions. What did you learn beyond the information from the source? How did you draw these conclusions? Other sources or experiences? What were you surprised to learn that you did not know previously? How will the source help you develop the research essay?