One of the most helpful aspects of this course was summed up by the first course outcome provided in the course description: apply the writing process to develop essay using various rhetorical patterns in order to inform and persuade an audience. I had always felt that I could research and present information about a topic with relative ease, however I wanted to improve my ability to write persuasively. The course provided me with exercises and multiple opportunities to achieve this goal. Some of the assignments were especially challenging to me because I had to attempt to persuade an audience on a topic that I did not feel strongly about one way or another. This pushed me to really try to understand the topic that I was writing about and not just make generalized arguments and claims as I had done in the past when writing a persuasive essay. The improvements that I made in just the persuasive style of writing alone made taking this class worth it for my writing ability.