I began this class in the second semester of my senior year. I was hesitant to enroll in an online English class because English is not my strongest subject. That being said, I learned a great amount in this course. I had a central topic that I had to discuss in different ways throughout the semester, distracted driving. I wrote two separate essays with two different prompts, but both had a common theme of distracted driving. 

     I have taken several higher-level English courses, but this class made me think in a way I had yet to be taught in previous courses. In this class, I had to think about my paper as a whole instead of just several separate pieces. For example, in my second essay, I had to decide whether or not a historic author would agree or disagree that distracted driving is a social epidemic. At first, I struggled with this prompt because my chosen author did not have any precise thoughts about distracted driving. Then, I realized I had to think broader and find information about how the author felt about similar issues in his time. Though the author didn’t say the quotes in direct comparison to distracted driving, they were still applicable to understanding his beliefs and ideas. 

     I also learned how to properly cite sources in MLA format. Every high school teacher I have had has taught me a different way to cite my sources, none of which being the actual MLA format. It was refreshing to have a professor have a common format that was expected to be followed in every essay. It was also nice to know that when I had an irregular source, I could research MLA series nine and find the proper way to cite the reference in my essay. I also appreciated the access I had to SafeAssign. SafeAssign was very useful because it helped me find places I had forgotten to cite or cited incorrectly. 

     Throughout the course, we focused on a genre that was entirely new to me. The genre the class focused on was absurd literature. Before this course, I had never heard of any type of literature from the genre of absurdism. Over the course of the semester, I was able to dive deep into the minds of famous authors in the genre of absurdism. One author, Samuel Beckett, particularly stood out to me within the first few weeks of the class. I was able to read a few of Becketts plays, which helped me grasp a better understanding of the way Beckett’s brain worked. Absurdism was particularly interesting to me because, as a Christian, I do not often think in such a peculiar way. I am fascinated in learning how each person’s brain sees the world, and the genre of absurdism allowed a new light to be shed on a new way of thinking. 

     When I first began researching absurd literature, I found it to be quite depressing. I tend to be an optimist and a dreamer, so I found the thoughts and quotes of absurd authors to be very offputting. However, after reading a few of Beckett’s works, I found an aspect of my life to which I could compare this genre. The book of Ecclesiastes in the bible can often be depressing, confusing, or disheartening to some, but after more profound study, a reader can clearly understand what God intended the message of the book to be. This comparison of a genre so unknown to me with a book in the bible I had studied allowed me to feel confident in my research into the genre of absurd literature. 

     Overall, this class made me push my knowledge into things unknown while strengthening my previous knowledge. Throughout the course of this semester, I gained a greater understanding of the social epidemics in today’s society, learned about a new genre of literature, and learned how to follow a citation guideline properly. I hope to take the research and writing skills I have learned from this class and use them in other areas of my life. I would suggest this course to any student at any level of English expertise because I think there is something in the course for anyone to learn. Professor Hammett is excellent at working with students at any level.