Throughout this course, I learned many things that I didn’t expect to learn. First and foremost, I didn’t expect to be given this much leniency in my work, in the sense that I had the freedom to write what I wanted to write about as long as I fit the criteria for each assignment. This was an effective learning strategy for me because writing on what interested me and what I felt comfortable writing about helped me expand my style of writing. I feel that by having the chance to write about things I’m passionate and knowledgeable of, I can focus more on my style and openness in writing. On the other hand, I learned a lot about structure and formatting that makes for the most presentable and digestible work. Understanding that I can be well structured and follow guidelines while writing freely and fluidly has brought me to a new level of skill as a writer. Besides actual writing, I learned a lot about body dysmorphia, my chosen focus for many of the bigger assignments in this class. The disorder fascinates me a lot because i’ve seen many examples of it in real life and I felt more engaged learning about it as a result. In addition to this, I became a better researcher and learned how to dig for answers to questions I didn’t know I had, and can now consider research as one of my strengths. However, I feel that I still need to work on my structure and in text citations, but with practice I hope to make those one of my strengths some day.

This course aided me in being a multifaceted researcher and writer, which could help me in a career in grant writing and take me very far.

~ Andrea Byrne