Bacchus 1

Jerry Bacchus
Voltz
UWRT-1102
November 13, 2014
EIP Reflection
My idea regarding my EIP remained constant throughout. I sometimes have difficulties
writing longer papers so I knew I had to include multiple races. As for why I chose the ones I
did, I am an African American so our plight and perception is near and dear to me. It pains me
when I see black males being shown to be inferior and uncivilized people on the big screen. I
chose Arab Americans because a majority of my friends are Arab. They are consistently being
judged based on the actions of a radical few who are made out to be the majority. Lastly, I chose
Native Americans because as I progress through my education I am learning more and more that
the history made by America regarding the natives is false. They were not savage people and had
no issue with whites until whites attempted to and took their land.
Initially I thought I could write my paper solely using movies. This proved to be incorrect
because I needed to write an essay and not a movie summary. I was hoping to find more articles
on stereotypes of Arab Americans to help build up that section but I feel as though the further we
get from war the more the plight will be heard. Before I started my research I thought I might
have to discuss other ethnic groups but upon my completion I found I had sufficient information
to complete the paper.

Bacchus 2
I have always been a free-writer in my first drafts. This time I wrote about one group a
day instead of trying to write my whole essay at once. That helped me maintain strength
throughout my essay. I chose a research informational type of essay because there is not much
room for argument or persuasion. I chose to inform the reader about stereotypes each group has
faced in films, then pointed out how they are applied in major motion pictures.
My writing group had little impact on my paper outside of helping me with formatting.
Having soft due dates for each section of the paper helped tremendously. Without due dates for
each section, the EIP on top of the portfolio would have crushed me. This inquiry project has
been very similar to my junior paper. They are both research based papers but the inquiry paper
has a reflection. I have had more independence with my inquiry and for the first time I have
instructors notes to help me edit my final product.
I have learned that breaking down an assignment piece by piece makes it easier. At the
beginning of the semester I was intimidated by the EIP but now it is not too bad. It has taught me
procrastination with semester projects is not wise. Prior to this research paper the longest paper I
wrote was three and a half pages. My EIP final paper will be around five strong pages,
something I was not aware I could do.