What also might be confusing is that c# is a case-sensitive language. Member, member, mEmber, meMber, etc are all distinct and different variable names. Most of them are not good choices however. Usually when I write methods like the ones above I will almost always use a variable name that mimics the Type name except for the case of the first letter. For me it makes it more readable. Others might disagree but since I am the only one that programs and maintains my code i prefer to do it this way.