Final Thoughts

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When members of the criminal justice system complained about how much they hated the paperwork that was involved when writing a report, I was positive that it wasn't as bad as they made it seem. Writing has always been something that I am very good at and that writing reports was not going to be an issue. I am able to analyze and summarize information pretty well. However, in this course, I learned that there's more than that. The many activities that we did in class, I truly enjoyed. Even though it was a lot of writing and picking out important details, it really boosted up my rhetorical skills.

Documentary
I've mentioned this multiple times, but I really enjoyed this project. In a way, it prepared us in being able to take notes of what we thought was important and then being able to summarize them. What I liked about the documentary that I watched was that it wasn't something that was easy to take in and then write about it. However, when joining law enforcement and becoming a police officer, most situations deal with hard situations. The documentary project was definitely something hard to work with, mentally and emotionally, but it definitely prepared us for what's to come.

Making a Murderer and The Interviews
Watching some episodes and having to pay attention to the rights and wrongs of the police officers and having to reflect on peoples gestures also helped me when it came down to writing. With this activity, it gave me the opportunity to not only reflect and give my opinion about the people involved in the case, but it also helped in having to pay attention to someones body movements, such as fidgeting and moving around in the chair. All these little things are things that criminal justice students don't take into consideration when interviewing someone, and I say this because I know I didn't. When interviewing someone, details like this can help you find more information about a crime.

Blogs
When writing, one needs to also have the opportunity to express ideas freely. In the class, we definitely had this opportunity with the blogs. Having us read or view videos and then reflect really helped me in having to express my ideas. It gave me the opportunity to practice summarizing and being able to explain many things.

Throughout the semester, I gained knowledge in how reports are done, and now I believe those who say that writing reports suck. This class thought me that what everything comes out in television is rubbish and that there's more to just writing out someone's name and writing little details of the situation. I truly enjoyed the time in class and everything that I learned.