I took this course in hopes that my writing skills as a scientist would improve. There were two major project in this course: a review of literature and a collaborative piece for the general public. I chose to write my review of literature on arson investigations, as I have an interest in that discipline of forensic science. It was rough going to begin with, but once I finally got myself organized with all of my sources, it was smooth sailing. With the help of my instructor and peer reviews, I was able to successfully write a review of literature, something I had never done before. Finishing this project, I felt extremely accomplished and proud of what I was able to do, especially after receiving praise from my instructor. 

Our second project of the semester seemed less daunting at first, but it proved to be difficult in its own way. The goal of this project was to collaborate with a classmate in order to make a scientific work for the general public. Essentially, we were turning our reviews of literature into an article you might see in the New York Times. The catch was that we couldn't work with someone who had the same discipline as us. For example, I was working with forensic chemistry, so I could not work with another chemist. My group consisted of a forensic biology major and biology major who plans to go to medical school. Our topics were very different, and it was a struggle to translate our highly technical language into something the average person would understand. However, we were able to create a website that detailed three different topics: forensic entomology, the use of nanoparticles in cancer treatment, and fire investigations. 

The website received praise on multiple levels from both our peers and the instructor. They admired the eye-catching design that exceeded other projects as well as the universally understandable language that we employed. If there is one thing that this class taught me, it is that writing is learning. You have to have a lot more knowledge than you might expect in order to write something of high quality. I found that even if I didn't know much about a topic, I am more than able to learn about it to the extent that I can write about it.