Over the course of these two papers, written in the class, my writing became more scientific and the structure of my writing became less choppy. When I began writing in this course, I knew very little about ecology or science institutions, and I did not want to ask too many questions. Also, given that this was one of the first ecology classes I took at Longwood University, I did not know much. I was fighting myself trying to “wing it” on certain papers and assignments; however, by the end of the course, I found that the more information I learned from the class, the more I wanted to dive deeper into other topics. I would research information on my own and use it to support my claims in discussions. Along with this, my writing became smoother and more formulated, and I felt like I wasn’t “winging it” anymore. Over the semester, I spent writing these papers, I noticed that I did not just stick to one or two institutions either. I expanded my research and wrote about many different institutions. I started off writing a lot about what we learned in class, and then once we were given some more free range to expand our writing, I dipped my toes into other research; I looked at other institutions that interested me.