There have been many things that I have learned throughout the semester in this class. I feel that I have a much better understanding and grasp on how to write a properly constructed paper for different audiences, as well as writing in different genres. Looking back on the semester, and past assignments that I have turned in, I have noticed significant improvement and clear shifts in how I approach the necessary topics. Specifically, I have noticed growth in my ability to address different audiences and genres, as well as how I research for these prompts. 

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In terms of writing for different audiences, I have noticed that I have been able to better shift and mold my language and rhetoric to who will be reading it. Starting out, I usually have kept in general in the audience that I was addressing. I didn’t charge my work to a specific person or group of people. However, after consistently focusing on addressing the specific audiences, I have noticed my papers’ arguments have gotten significantly stronger. A specific moment that made me realize this was in my conferences, where I found out my language and rhetoric could be more properly utilized and effective if applied to the appropriate audience I wanted to address. This helped me really get a grasp on addressing different audiences by making sure I focus my paper with them in the foreground of writing.

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Another area that I have noticed significant improvement in my writing skills is my ability to address different genres of writing. When I first started this class, I felt like I had mastered the basic, essential genres of writing. I had also felt like I had a good grasp on what could be considered marketable material as well (i.e. Social media posts and flyers). However, at the end of this class, I felt like I had a better and broader understanding of the different genres of writing. Specifically, when looking at how to write a research paper, I felt that I have a better grasp on how to start and structure my paper in an organized and effective manner. A certain moment that really caught my attention and helped me truly understand what this meant was the Hot Ones podcast we did in class. Before that, I didn’t really understand what an interview was supposed to be. I mean, I knew what the basic structure of an interview is, but not how to properly conduct one effectively. By watching the podcast, it opened my eyes and constructed a concrete example of what an interview is supposed to be in my head. It helped me throughout the process of conducting the actual interview for my counterstory and research paper. 

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Also, in relation to my research paper, there has been significant improvement in my ability to research a topic and gather information to support my thesis. It has taken a big step forward in terms of selecting meaningful, authentic evidence that properly supports my logos and ethos. A specific example of improving my research ability was when we were doing peer reviews for the first paper. It helped me begin to realize and conceptualize what is good evidence for my argument, and what is evidence that would be better left off of the paper. By developing this internal system of organizing and sorting evidence to find what is the most beneficial for the paper, It has greatly improved my logical and ethical arguments for my topics. 

For my reading and writing knowledge that I have developed this semester that I can carry forward into the future, I felt that what I have learned in terms of my ability to properly format arguments and claims in my paper to properly address and effectively tackle the prompt at hand will be the most useful and beneficial for me going forward. This is a skill that can be adapted and molded into whatever writing medium I am needing to write in, which gives it a universal benefit that I can carry with me throughout college, and eventually life. As someone who is majoring in business management, It is widely useful for me to maintain and continue to develop this skill, as it can help me push forward my persuasive writing in critical situations. This is why this skill can be carried with me forward: It is easily adaptable to potential future tasks and problems. 

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One other thing that I will bring with me that I have learned from this class into the future is the reminder to target my works towards the audience and genre I am addressing. By carefully and intentionally calibrating my research and opinions in an effective manner, It will allow my work to stand on its own, and have real ground in a competitive work environment. I struggled with properly formatting my essays and papers beforehand, often overexplaining unnecessary parts which clouded the main argument I was attempting to make. However, this class has helped me better identify and prevent these kinds of mistakes in my writing, which has led to overall stronger papers that do a better job of hitting the target objective. 

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While significant progress has been made in developing my writing skills, there is still some improvement I can focus on so that I can be better off in the future. The biggest one being how to make the paper sound less repetitive throughout the piece. I have a habit of using the same words repeatedly in my works, and the repetition can cause my point to potentially come across as less effective. One way I can fix this is by reading more papers, and taking notes from the techniques and words that they are using. Then, when I am writing my own works, I can use the techniques that I have learned from reading these papers in my piece to breathe some fresh air into my writing. 

Overall, this course has taught me how to significantly improve my writing skills. I feel much more confident in my ability to address different audiences and writing genres, as well as researching evidence to support my argument. I will be taking the skills I have learned from this course into my future career as a manager, and continue to build on what I have established in this course.