Erik Neri

Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009

This has been quite a semester in UWRT 1102 and I honestly have learned a great deal
from Ms Rothwell, the assignments she gave us, and the lectures all made me grow as a writer.
For example: Earlier in the year she pushed me to my limits when I had to write a final draft for
my narrative. She asked me to put the most detail possible so the reader could invest themselves
in the story I was telling. My 2nd draft was lifeless compared to amount of detail in the final
draft, and the reader can clearly see there are more specific details that help tell the story that I
wanted to tell. You can see evidence of that improvement in story telling here with the first block
compared to the second block where the highlighted words are the key details that were added to
make the story more believable. Rhetorical Knowledge is more evident in the second block
because the paper feels like a focused cohesive story with all the detail written by the writer for
the audience to pick up and rally visualize the scene.
The red bricks stood out from the rest of the buildings from the road. The church we went to was in the
midst of a lower-income neighborhood, and therefore attracted lower income Latino-American families from
around Charlotte. Latinos were the target demographic for the church because it wanted to be a community
center for Spanish speaking people in Charlotte.- 2nd draft of narrative
The bright red bricks stood out from the rest of the buildings on Tuckaseegee road. The name of the church
we went to was Nuestra Seora de Guadalupe and growing up around other kids at school I could never tell
them the name of the church I went to because I would feel embarrassed about my ethnic background. - Final
Draft of narrative

I feel like I have talked so much about this narrative but I just want to say that I wish I would
have gotten a chance to make every project I did in the class like this one. The biggest triumph
was turning my strange feelings, and past experiences about the Catholic church into a true story
that unraveled itself before my eyes in my younger life. Critical Reflection is evident in these
reflections about my writing, the reader can appreciate all the analysis about how I grew as a

Erik Neri
Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009

storyteller and as a writer. Storytelling/ being more detailed is something I can definitely say I
improved upon this semester. I can say that it is one of my new found strengths this semester in
UWRT 1102. I can even say that I was storytelling quite a bit in my Story of a paper
assignment.There was plenty of dialogue all throughout this excerpt, because that is something I
thought would make it more of a real story. I think my weakness as a writer is that I dont learn
from my mistakes and my greatest downfall has always been waiting till the last minute to do
something I should have already started/ completed. I let things pile on top of me such as the
feasibility study that ended up being very poor because I did it just to do it, such as the following
example from my story of a paper.

I heard Rothwell say something about the feasibility project due next week. Better check moodle out before it
sneaks up on me again. I thought to myself in the library after class. I quickly opened the UWRT 1102 tab and
scrolled anxiously/ hoping Rothwell said next week. DUE MONDAY NOVEMBER 23rd. Sweet sounds like
plenty of time to me! I said to myself in relief. -Story of a paper and a second coming

It is something I found deeply enjoyable whenever I could add it in. I think I can say that the
excerpt above exemplifies Knowledge of Conventions because understanding the traditions,
rules, and forms of various genres is what I essentially did. I understood that the assignment was
to really tell the story of the paper and go deeper into the dialogue I had going on with myself
throughout the entire story. I revised The feasibility study in my story of a paper and a second
telling and I chose to replace the introduction of the paper because I realized that it was holding
back the paper from what it should have been. Later in the paper the assignment makes you take
less of a 1st person role and has you switch into editor mode, to really make you go back

Erik Neri
Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009

change/tweak certain parts of your paper. Below you have both the new introduction and the old
introduction that I essentially replaced
Change the entire introduction to how we need to change the culture educate people of healthy eating and smart
food shopping. Starting with lower-income communities that have lower education and that are at a higher
chance of developing chronic diseases. Unfortunately lower-income neighborhoods tend to be food deserts and in
order for a community to properly benefit from a new grocery store they must learn how to properly cook
nutritious food and how/what to purchase from a grocery store. There is a trend of low-income neighborhoods
getting a new grocery store and the people in that community either don't know how to shop or refuse to shop
somewhere new, and that has to end before it causes even further problems. -Final feasibility draft (revised)
page 1

Composing Process is evident in this specific edit, because I had to strategize what would make
the paper deliver the most focused message and also make it as effective as possible. First I had
to figure out that the introduction was the unfocused mess that ended up derailing my topic study
in numerous ways. Then I crafted a new text that fit the sources I did have, and therefore now fit
the new argument a lot better than the last one!

Food deserts are a major problem affecting lower income communities in the United States. The access
to healthy and nutritious food is not only a necessity, but it's a right as a human being living in a developed
country. It saddens me to hear that there are people who only have access to a local convenient store where there
is a major lack of major necessary nutrients found in fresh fruit and vegetables. People that have any sort of
health disease are dug into an even deeper hole when they live in a food desert, because they can't access the
proper nutrients they need to prevent further complications with their health issues. I have no doubt in my mind
that if this problem could be eradicated from our communities then it would greatly help them make better
choices towards a healthier life. -Final feasibility Draft page 1

In the midterm reflection we were instructed to come up with 3 reasonable writing goals that
were possible to accomplish by the end of the semester. My 3 writing goals are listed from
difficult to easy. That is also the order in which I will reflect upon them. The goals are as follow:
1.

Difficult goal: Space out assignments/ dont cram all of the work the day before or day

of (stop procrastinating)
2. Medium goal: Write with more purpose and stay focused on your topic

Erik Neri
Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009
3. Easy goal: Get feedback from two people (2 perspectives)

Saying you will stop waiting until the night before to complete your assignments is one thing but
I can tell you it is a seemingly impossible habit to break. I feel like I can relate to a smoker when
everyone around them feels the need to inquire why they smoke when they know how potentially
detrimental it is to their health, and I intentionally wrote the word potentially because even the
most chronic smokers can quit with the right help. The smoker is a perfect parallel because I can
compare that unique cooling of the nerves sensation that is produced from inhaling the nicotine
in the lit tobacco, as opposed to the contrasting hot, pressing, do or die urgency of the unstable
nerves I feel when I am grinding out an assignment in the dying minutes of the deadline. I feel
like I can stop my chronic academic procrastination with the right help, and save myself from
hurting my GPA even more, but one things for sure it will take substantially more time to break
this habit. I found myself making baby steps in this class, and I can immediately think of how I
have steadily been working on this final portfolio days before it is due. However I still find
myself doing a large majority of the work on the days before/of the due date. In conclusion I
realize I have made some progress but I know I cannot fully change the way I work overnight.
Critical Reflection is evident in these self reflections about my writing journey this semester, the
reader can appreciate all the analysis about my negative procrastinating habits I have vowed to
break. The other two goals are significantly more straightforward and are checklist items, either
they are done or they are arent.
The medium goal that I created is cut in two synonymous parts: Write with purpose and
Stay focused. It almost seems like a duh Captain Obvious! moment because it might seem
like it is something we always account for, but prior to writing my midterm reflection I had not
realized why some of my writing had suffered point deductions.

Erik Neri
Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009

The simple ideas of writing with a purpose and staying focused had always been a point
of concern in my writing even before college. In all honesty these writing flaws do have a
correlation with each other, quite simply it can all be related back to a lack of planning,
prewriting or any other real preparation before the start of the final draft. Finally this lack of
preparation can be connected to the root of my problem, which is not feeling the need for
planning if I can just start writing my final draft that will actually be graded and do less work.
This is how my brain has become accustomed overtime of consistently doing only what is
necessary or in other words the bare minimum. To elaborate further and to give an example in
my own writing. This is a clear lack of Critical Reading because the assignment was to narrow
down your focus to something more feasible instead of trying to take on major nationwide issue.

The study actually tells a similar story to the last study I analyzed. It shows a trend of how people who are
privileged enough to have convenient access to fresh food tend to eat less healthy. I feel like that is a whole
separate problem to the one I am tackling, but I do think it is very important for us to change the way we eat
because it is up to us to set an example for younger generations in the hope of lessening child obesity and other
preventable health issues. - Feasibility study final draft page 3

The entire paper I am wrestling with too many different subjects and therefore I struggle
to find a true focus in this paper which should have been to find solutions to bring fresh foods to
areas deprived of it. Narrowing down to a more concise topic of study was something I
essentially failed to do in this feasibility study. So therefore I technically did not meet this
writing goal.
I recall the day when I asked my classmate Keyshawn to read my feasibility draft and
give some feedback on Google Docs.

Erik Neri
Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009
This is a great point, there should be food stores close to every neighborhood for those that don't have
transportation. - Keyshawns comments

I admit that he was a little too nice when he gave me feedback, and I realized how much I missed
the critical constructive criticism I had gotten from Rothwell in my narrative. He did agree and
understand my argument that there should be fresh food available to everyone within walking
distance and was nice to hear someone else agrees with my study, but what can I say? I dearly
missed hearing what I needed to hear,

After this paragraph your writing moves more into a reflection than a story. The story should show your
discomfort with the catholic church and how the classes and services were failing to answer your questions about
the earth and its relation to God. Perhaps you could center on a story about a particularly irrelevant
confirmation class where you had to memorize stuff instead of answering questions you had. Get into the
narrative mode.
The essay you write is has two themes: one is relationships with other kids and the other is a relevance of the
church to the earth. Pick one and go with that. Save the other for a later time. Does this help?- Rothwells
comments on 2nd narrative draft

instead of seeing comments any yes man would make. I guess Rothwell is good at her job, but
dont tell her that it might get to her head.
What are your goals now? Consider what you wrote at Midterm as a springboard for your
Projection.
My goals now are to keep trying to meet the goals I set for myself in the midterm reflection. I
think that is something I want to vow myself to improve on. It's something that will benefit me
for the rest of my life and I think that is what Im going for as of right now. I hope I can apply
some of the skills I learned in this class to other classes I will take in the future.

Erik Neri
Reflective Essay
UWRT 1102-009