Dear Marlen,
Wow this has definitely been a very busy semester and I am so extremely happy that I made it through! Compared to English 101 I would say that the workload significantly increased haha. When it is all said and done though I think everything we did was well worth it.
Writing this research paper was a struggle for me. First off, I never really found a topic that I was really excited about. I just knew I needed to narrow a topic down soon because we did not have very much time to work on our papers. I had written research papers in high school, however, the formatting we used was very different. I felt that I would lose focus after every section I wrote and would stop and ask myself “What am I trying to find out again?” Even after doing the blogs on each section and looking at examples of what information these sections were to include, I still got very confused. You had explained to us that this would happen and it most definitely did for me. I know that I have never been so stressed out over writing a paper until this research paper.
One of the articles you had us read titled “Confronting Writing Anxiety,” helped to ease my anxiety a little about writing. Throughout the process I was still extremely stressed though. I thought that the group discussions we had helped some too. It was relieving to know that all of my other classmates seemed to be in the same boat I was in as well. I found that trying to balance out all of the work in my classes and still give 110% on my assignments is a struggle. I always try to push myself to do the best that I can but I think I am finally starting to learn that I can only do so much.
If I were to go back and do it over again, I would have chosen I different topic than what I did. I had really enjoyed writing an autoethnography in English 101 and thought that it may be interesting to do another one. However, I found that it was rather difficult for me to do my research paper in this genre. Since I did not have any participants but myself, I was not sure what I should do to research how I felt about cosmetic advertisements. I ended up focusing my results on the two cosmetic issues I have dealt with the most. This was acne and indoor tanning. I felt that I should have expanded my methods a little more; however, time constraint was clearly a very big issue.
I cannot believe that this semester is over already. I remember you saying that it would fly and you were very right. Once again I am very glad that I got to have you as a professor again before you left IUP. Despite how frustrated I would get with the work at times, I knew that it was for my own good. It feels so rewarding to actually know that I will be taking something from this course that will stick with me. Thus far I have never had a professor at IUP that has pushed a class like you do. It felt great to be able to have someone believe that even when our class did not think we could make it through, you knew that we could.
I wish you the best of luck in whatever you do in the future. You seemed to have had a very adventurous life so far and I am sure it will only get better from here. I just want to thank you for all that you have done, and it was truly a joy to be able to have you as my professor one last time. Thanks Marlen!! 
Ganbatte!
~Dani
