While I thought I knew a great deal about writing prior to taking this course, I learned plenty about the art of genre as well as the effectiveness of writing strategies in an argumentative paper. The course has shown me that genre does not only apply in the form of a document or novel. My knowledge on genre has expanded a by large degree, and on top of that, I have gained a firm understanding on research. 

            In this class, I felt a bit more confident about sharing my story in my writing. Also, I didn’t feel forced to be engaged with the class, which I believe helped me be more open with discussion in general. In my project 1, I was comfortable with opening up in my paper. With the paper being a narrative, I had no problem using my creativity and well-versed writing to create an organized piece that flowed well. 

            I had the most trouble with project 2. I would say about eighty percent of the battle for me was finding a topic of interest that was not so difficult to find and analyze valid research on. It took me up to the second draft being due for me to find a topic fit for me. My initial topic was about the hardships of foreign exchange students. I then changed my topic to be about the research of genetics in siblings. I quickly realized that these topics were not topics I would be inspired to write about. Whilst thinking about passions that I have and analyzing them to see what I could create a valid argument about (and do research on), I boiled it down to football in my hometown—this took me about two weeks. My first draft on project 2 was about genetics, but I had no problem with coming up with 1500 words to write on my topic. The revision process was rather simple, as I just took heed to the notes and suggestions given to me by Mat to improve my paper. A problem with this topic, though, was finding hard facts and information about the area of my hometown using resources from the lib.fsu.edu website and editing in-text citations into my paper. I think that being able to find research and properly giving credit to the sources that I used were two of the most important elements in writing, especially in school. 

Upon approaching Project Three, I had already had an idea of how I wanted to present whatever main topic that I was going to promote. The most difficult part was figuring out which point in my Project 2 paper I wanted to emphasize—I ended up deciding to create three genres based on supporting young student-athletes who may have a lack of encouragement in school. The first genre that I planned to use is a Facebook page, where I would establish an organization that advocated the goal of supporting children that are having trouble in the classroom and not seeing the importance of school. Following that, I created an advertisement in the form of a flyer. This flyer would appeal to an audience that may feel a need to be involved with a community with intentions similar to the goals of the organization; it gives some pieces of information about what the organization is about and plugs the Facebook webpage. My last genre was a mentee letter that I created based on the real-life experience of a student-athlete that experienced a substantial academic improvement after joining a mentoring program. The letter was used as a voucher for the organization that I was promoting. 

In the aspect of personal development, the course encouraged me to challenge myself as far as taking the extra step necessary to make myself and my writing better--I was encouraged to not just do what is required to get by. I could say that before, I have never felt the need to dig so deep to create a body of work. Mat introduced me to a side of literature that I felt like I wanted to actually be engaged in, one that still challenges me to think critically and creatively without committing to reading 800-page novels.