Based on the first two weeks of class, I had very low expectations for what I would be

gaining from the course material. The introduction to Reading and Inquiry 1102 involved quite a
few heated debates on a lot of different hot button topics. The atmosphere was uncomfortable to
say the least as many of the students in the class rejected their higher learning and reverted to
simply yelling at one another. Looking back on this, however, it is easy to see the reasoning
behind all the debates. Not only did it open up the environment to talk about difficult topics, it
allowed everyone in the class to feel at least able to discuss things they felt passionate about.
Every English class that I have taken up until now has seemed to have nothing but
repeating lessons. In the past, it was very common to read a text and analyze the metaphors or
symbols. For the first time, Reading and Inquiry 1102 has pushed me to look at reading and
writing in a different light. The objective of this course was to pick a topic and research it over
the course of the semester. At first, this seemed like very vague directions. It did not seem
possible to research a single topic for three months. If not for the first few weeks, I would have
picked a simple topic that I already knew about, but thanks to the awkward discussions that we
had participated in previously I was ready to attempt a topic that I actually cared about. If not for
the unique way the class agenda was laid out, I probably would have done poorly on the
extended inquiry project, but thanks to the order of the previous papers, I was basically doing all
my research through accomplishing the topic proposal, annotated bibliography, and rhetorical
analysis papers.
As I was putting this website together, I had the unique opportunity to see how I
originally approached the extended inquiry project and how the class guided and shaped my
thoughts through the other papers leading up to it. My final paper, although it still holds the
theme of cellphone use, looks at a completely different aspect than what I originally wanted to

address in my topic proposal. As I worked through the annotated bibliography and rhetorical
analysis my thoughts and opinions on cellphone abuse became more clear and concrete.
Generally speaking, doing more and more research will have this affect but through the analysis
of the articles that was necessary for several of the other papers, I created well informed opinions
that helped guide my final extended inquiry paper. Although I did not realize it at first, I am very
thankful for the way this class was set up because it guided me through my papers without me
even realizing it until the very end.