I won’t say this course was easy. I am raising three very young children and working a full-time job. This course has required to me to use my writing skills in a way that I feel like I haven’t used before. My topic was essentially over post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. It was required of me to write several essays over this topic along with using resources surrounding philosophers. My main philosopher was Albert Camus, who until this course, I had no clue who he was.
          The first essay was about the social epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder and how it can be changed, if possible. This was a difficult paper to write because I had to really dive into the topic and find credible resources. I learned much more about the history of PTSD, along with the treatments and available resources for people with PTSD. In previous classes, I felt like research was a minimum, making this assignment hard for me. This helped me become more confident in finding credible resources, which I know will help me with the rest of my nursing degree. Along with that, I learned how to properly reference and cite these resources, which made the next assignment a little easier. I was frustrated when I first turned the assignments in for this essay, because it felt like a slap in the face. But I now understand why and understand that it was a necessary critique from the professor to make the essay more collegiate.
          The second essay was even harder because I had never written a rhetorical analysis. It was very hard not to put my own input into the essay. I kept going back and forth about.

what to write and what sources to use because Camus has so many thoughts and sayings that I found so credible for the essay. It felt like I was going down a rabbit trail with one resource leading to another, and then another. I could have gone on forever trying to fit what I felt like was proper into this essay. Learning how to write a paper over a difficult subject and philosopher, without my own personal aspects was very difficult. I learned so much about Albert Camus with this assignment and found some of his works very inspirational, even though the settings were dismal. Although this assignment was so hard, I learned so much and feel so much better about how to research, to keep an open mind and dig deeper into research.
          Aside from the essays, I feel like all the assignments that were required, were somewhat difficult, only because I have never been exposed to this type of content. I have learned so much about APA and MLA format, citations (including block), and how to open my mindset to a new type of topic. I learned the differences between APA and MLA, such as what courses use which style and how the reference pages are different. I learned how to properly cite resources and until this course, I didn’t know what a block citation was. I learned that the critique from my peer and professor wasn’t meant to hurt my feelings or make me feel stupid, but to truly help me become a better writer and researcher. I am thankful for this class. I would have never been exposed to Albert Camus’ works. I would have never thought I could enjoy the works of someone who the type of views that he does. But I found positivity in the light of his darker works.