I really enjoyed writing this critical argument essay, I was expecting it to be much harder than expository essay, but shockingly it was not. In the expository essay we were required to write about puppetry. A topic that I know a little bit about. Due to the puppetry class taught by professor Adams it is likely that I know more about puppets than the average person but compared to how much I have learned about inequality towards minorities, I know so much more. I started to learn about inequality in the beginning of elementary school. Throughout the years we we learned about slavery, segregation, incidents like the shooting of Malala, and more. I have always felt very strongly about topics such as these because I don’t think it is fair that people get treated so horribly for being different. I feel that my school years leading up to now have helped me write the critical argument paper because of the knowledge I have gained. When the assignment was first assigned to us I contemplated it for a while, what topic I should write about. I had a lot of ideas on what to say for the confederate statues topic. I ultimately decided on writing about the representation of minorities on TV because it is something that is talked about a lot, and I feel that as a Hispanic it was a great chance to write about a topic that affects people like me.

      I began researching my topic a day after the assignment was given. There were many sources talking about the negative representations of minorities in hollywood. However, most articles and text were not from the year 2017 or up. Most texts were from the 1900’s. I eventually stopped looking at the tites first, and started looking at the dates. If I had found a piece from 2017 or up it was most times in another language. I ended up finding three resources that I found very useful. It was hard to choose my sources. Some of the sources looked very helpful but were hard to understand. I didn’t want to use a source that I didn’t understand because then I wouldn’t be able to interpret the evidence. I also asked some friends for help on looking for sources. I think that part of the reason why this essay was much easier for me was because I deeply cared about the topic and its issues. I just started writing on what I felt the issue was, and what others have to say about the issue.

      In the essay I tried to refer back to things like the Declaration of Independence because it shows how the United States supposedly wanted equality for all. I tried to find sites that show the Declaration of Independence directly. Most of the sources I found talk about the Declaration of Independence. It gives the author’s opinion on what was said in the Declaration instead of just showing me the paper or exactly what it says. I decided to not directly quote from the Declaration of Independence then.

      I found my peer review to be quite helpful. My peer had given me good feedback like clarifying some things. Sometimes, in our heads things may make sense to us but for others it is confusing. So I feel that that is something I should work on. Another thing that was mentioned in my peer review was my in text citations. This is another subject that I feel I can really work on. When we started working with in text citations I was confused for a while, so I consulted some friends and the Norton Field Guide. I thought I was doing my citations right, but I notice there are errors in it. Most of the time I was confused because some sources didn’t have page numbers. When sources didn’t have page numbers I only put the author’s name. In most cases I wasn’t able to find a pdf form. Other times, my source did not have an author, so in that case I just put the title of the source. I feel that I could have tried harder to find alternatives to the in text citations.

      I hope to improve on things like my counterclaim. I have difficulty knowing how much information is too much information for the counterclaim. I feel that if I add too much information about the otherside, it is going to seem as thought I support that side. I also don’t want to give too little information because then it seems as though I’m not even acknowledging the side. I think that in this essay I did a bit better with the counterclaim. I mentioned how Hollywood is doing a bit better because they are including some positive roles that are played by minorities, but then the minority does not get the credit that they should. I gave an example of one of the times that has happened in hollywood, so I think that that is enough for a counterclaim.

      When we had first started doing our essay I found it very interesting that there were different ways of writing argumentative essays. There are different techniques such as Classical, Rogerian, Invitational and more. I decided to do the Classical style because it is what I am most familiar with. I really wanted to take risks and try another style but I was extremely worried that I might mess it up in some way so I decided to stick to what I know. I think it’s good that I did this because if I wouldn’t have, and I would have failed trying to do something new that would be very upsetting. Although, I do understand that when you are trying things for the very first time it is normal to make mistakes here and there.

      Again, I am really happy that I choose the topic that I choose because it was a topic that was very important to me and my culture. I enjoyed writing this essay a lot and hope I did very well.