AWD vs. CJ

Honestly, I was not looking forward to this class at all, as most of us have already expressed. Advanced Writing is necessarily for CJ, as is all majors I’m guessing? My intentions were to take 3305, which is Advanced Writing but for the Criminal Justice major, but they weren’t offering it this summer and because I was Jan-Start I have to take summer classes to graduate on time and this was literally the only class that was being offered that would contribute to some of my credits. I chose this section because of Charlie’s ratings on ratemyprofessor.com, which were awesome. I’ve heard nothing but horrible things about Advanced Writing, especially the online class. I think I have PTSD about Northeastern writing classes from taking College Writing my freshman year. My professor was an old, miserable man who’s main goal in life was to make everyone else’s life just as miserable as his was. Anyways, I have been nothing but pleasantly surprised with this class. This class is pulling me completely out of my element. I’m a Criminal Justice major. I’m used to being given a topic, told to write a 15-page research paper and that’s the end of it. There is almost zero room for creativity and expression in my discipline. The only thing remotely relatable that I’ve done to this class is a reflection on a paper that I had written. I’ve never actually put any thought into why I chose to make my PowerPoint presentation neutral colors, or why I chose the word struggles over hardships, or what Lil Wayne meant by the term “heat”. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve done very much close-reading either, which was an interesting new concept. Honestly this entire class has been such a struggle for me. I’m completely out of my comfort zone, but I feel like this is a good thing. I’m so used to just research research research that I feel like I’ve become some term paper writing robot. I think the concept that has been a complete eye-opener to me is the term “genre”. I only really knew the word genre to describe something like horror films vs. comedy. I guess I didn’t realize that the word genre could be used to describe something such as a PowerPoint presentation or an email. I think the most interesting part of this class was the last assignment. When everyone in the Criminal Justice field would most likely choose a PowerPoint when the given the option to make a presentation, it was interesting to see everyone else’s first choice of genre that they felt best described their topic within their disciple. Anyways, I’m actually really enjoying this class. It’s a really nice break from the usual research papers and PowerPoint lectures. The class discussions are also a huge benefit. It means a lot to students, well to me anyways to know my opinion and thoughts are being considered as opposed to be completely shut down by a pompous attorney who begins each class by telling us how many degrees he has. Overall this class is pulling out the creativity in me that is rusty and covered in cobwebs because it hasn’t been used since high school art class.