diff --git a/text-compression/src/lib.rs b/text-compression/src/lib.rs
index 4866a6c..d56d4b4 100644
--- a/text-compression/src/lib.rs
+++ b/text-compression/src/lib.rs
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ impl ProteinText {
 
         let mut bit_array = BitArray::with_capacity(input_string.len(), 5);
         for (i, c) in input_string.chars().enumerate() {
-            let char_5bit: u8 = *char_to_5bit.get(&(c as u8)).expect("Input character not in alphabet");
+            let char_5bit: u8 = *char_to_5bit.get(&(c as u8)).expect(&format!("Input character '{}' not in alphabet", c));
             bit_array.set(i, char_5bit as u64);
         }
 
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ impl ProteinText {
 
         let mut bit_array = BitArray::with_capacity(input_vec.len(), 5);
         for (i, e) in input_vec.iter().enumerate() {
-            let char_5bit: u8 = *char_to_5bit.get(e).expect("Input character not in alphabet");
+            let char_5bit: u8 = *char_to_5bit.get(&(e as u8)).expect(&format!("Input character '{}' not in alphabet", e));
             bit_array.set(i, char_5bit as u64);
         }
 
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ impl ProteinText {
     /// * `index` - The index of the character to change.
     /// * `value` - The character to fill in as `u8`.
     pub fn set(&mut self, index: usize, value: u8) {
-        let char_5bit: u8 = *self.char_to_5bit.get(&value).expect("Input character not in alphabet");
+        let char_5bit: u8 = *self.char_to_5bit.get(&value).expect(&format!("Input character '{}' not in alphabet", value));
         self.bit_array.set(index, char_5bit as u64);
     }
 
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         let mut bit_array = BitArray::with_capacity(input_string.len(), 5);
         for (i, c) in input_string.chars().enumerate() {
-            let char_5bit: u8 = *char_to_5bit.get(&(c as u8)).expect("Input character not in alphabet");
+            let char_5bit: u8 = *char_to_5bit.get(&(c as u8)).expect(&format!("Input character '{}' not in alphabet", c));
             bit_array.set(i, char_5bit as u64);
         }