I was very nervous turning in the final HCP. However, the draft process that I went through when revising my essay did helped me practice my writing skills and refine certain parts of my essay that needed work. My topic for the HCP was the welfare queen stereotype a generalization of African American women on welfare. A stereotype which has affected them psychologically but in addition it has affected other people that have been exposed to the stereotype, including policy makers. For my first draft that I turned in for the HCP I was still confused on what I wanted my HCP to answer. I knew that the stereotype of "welfare queen" is a problem but did not specifically write about how it has been affecting African American women. Therefore, the comment that I received for my second draft really helped me narrow down the cause the stereotype has on African American women.

The comments/questions that I received from Professor Berghof really helped me address the psychological causes that African American women have because of the stereotype. Since in my first and second draft I did not mention who it was affecting in a direct way nor did I mention that related causes it was easier for me to become confuse. Which I did when I ended up writing about another cause unrelated to my topic. Using these comments when I was writing my final draft helped me address how the stereotype has cause lower self esteem among African American women and as a result from that they are less motivated to move out of welfare.

On both my first and second draft of the HCP I was very vague about the media that has been used to reinforce the stereotype of welfare queens. It wasn't until I read Professor Berghof's comments when I realized that even though I knew exactly what type media I was talking about I needed to more specific and say that the media I was addressing were political campaigns, presidential speeches and political news/commentary.

Also, the photograph (picture below) that I used as a multi-modal sources for my first and second HCP drafts I decide it to remove it because just like Professor Berghof commented it did not make an argument; therefore, I decided to instead add a more recent multi-model source, which was Mitt Romney's Political commercial. Using that multi-model source instead of the photograph helped explain and show that the stereotype of welfare queens still exist in our society and among politicians just how it existed in the 80s during Reagan era. Also, including the Mitt Romany's video made my paper more focus than including the picture because i was able to explain the parallel there is between the severity/imporatnce of the problem in the past to the present.

I used the second and third image to work together in my essay when describing how Reagan and Romney are examples of how the stereotype of welfare queens have altered their views regarding the welfare program and welfare recipients. Both Romney and Reagan want to lower welfare funds because they believe that the people on welfare live a life of leisure. Reagan more than Romney clearly shows how the stereotype of welfare queen has actually influenced his decisions. In his speech he speaks about a women that fits the characteristics of a welfare queen and actually creates the term "welfare queen." These two multi-modals show that the views of "welfare queens" have remained a problem in society and overall the effect it has had on the economy. Changing the first image (welfare queen) with the second imagine (Romney's video) made the part of connecting the problem in the past with the present more clear. Since Romney's view and Reagan's view on "ending culture dependency and restoring a culture of good hard work" were similar it indicated that the problem dealing with ending welfare or decreasing welfare funds and the welfare queen stereotype have continued to be a problem. 

The most important feedback that I received on my HCP D2 going into my final HCP was the conversation Professor and I had over eee. The screenshot shows specifically where I felt that a light bulb turned on and which parts of our conversation I did take into consideration when working on my final draft. The part where Professor Bergohf  (middle part) talks about the different causes of the welfare queen stereotype which were that some people think that the welfare queen stereotype is damaging psychologically while others believe that it is damaging economically. You can see that right under that comment I wrote "ohhhhhh okay." The eee chat actually helped me become less confuse and more able to distinguish the causes that the stereotype produces and the causes that poverty produces which I needed to avoid in my essay if I didn't want to go off topic. After this chat I was able to focus on researching scholars that were for the idea that the welfare queen stereotype has caused an economic damage and how the welfare queen stereotype has caused psychological damages. Without the help of this chat I can still picture myself being confusing and writing about causes related to poverty. That is why I believed that overall this chat was the most helpful source that gave me a big hint on what I needed to focus on more and which led my essay to become more precise regarding the causes of the problem. In my final draft I was able to focus on the actually causes that the welfare queen stereotype produced throughout my essay which were psychological causes: low self esteem, affecting others perceptions; negative economic cause: people thought welfare was damaging the economy and how the stereotype affects the funding.

At the end the changes that I made in my HCP benefited my final draft. Even though when I turn it in I still doubted myself and the changes that I had made. The screenshot above is the email where Professor Berghof gave me comments on my final draft. At the end I was able to take the advice that she gave me during office hours and over the eee chat and incorporate it into my final draft by making the causes of the stereotype the prime focuses of my paper. Overall, I know that my final HCP is not perfect and still needs work but during the process I was able to learn something new about myself as a writer and as a person. When it comes to essays, reaching out and asking for the most help I can really helps me understand better what I need to do for the specific essay or just become more aware of what are the flaws of the paper or my struggles when writing it. However, another thing that I learned from this experience is not to doubt my ability as a writer and not to doubt the revisions I made in my final draft because if I continue to doubt myself I just bring myself down as a writing because I think that I am not good and it creates more stress for me.