Delvin Jimenez
12/14/2025
ENGL 21002
Prof. Kay Bell
Peer Interview:
Self-Assessment Essay
In this Peer Interview based on my fellow classmate Kevaya and writing about her past experiences as
an African American, I’ve learned a lot about her struggles within the LGTBQ+ & Black community.
Diving deep identity-resilliance, and community taught me the complexity of being part of two different
marginalized communities in a society where discrimination and bias still exist. Kevaya’s personal
experiences created challenges within myself as the writer because it schooled me onto how deep my
understanding went into investigating systemic racism and social exclusion affects people’s everyday life.
In addition, Kevaya’s strength,pride in culture, and commitment in personal growth inspired me to learn a
little more about both of her communities and do outside research to educate myself more.
Community Observation:
My community observation consisted of writing/researching a topic based on a marginalized community.
I decided to look forward to Racial Discrimination & how it affects African Americans. In this research
plan I had to navigate through many different academic research tools such as Google Scholar, Jstor,
Academia Edu. This research paper helped navigate through many scholarly sources despite being highly
recognized. I seemed to struggle in finding a source specific to the topic that wouldn’t be too broad. It also
helped deepen my understanding as a writer and going straight to the point without falling off topic. In
addition my investigation paper helped me see the African Community differently by opening my senses
more in depth of what isn’t being talked or taught in schools more about what shows a lot of society.
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Literature Review:
My research paper for the Literature Review consisted of analyzing racial discrimination and its effects
on the Black community, such factors included education, economic opportunities, housing, healthcare,
and law enforcement. My focus as a writer was to make aware how systemic racism had plagued society
in a more “Modernalized” way that isn’t being openly talked about. By this my research plan consisted of
slowly creating pieces and points and documenting each dilemma backed by several research options as a
backup one being Dr.Gruys concept on Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome(PTSS). In addition to all these
facts I seemed to struggle with organizing my ideas accordingly, finding reliable sources. I improved my
writing research paper by choosing out of 6 sources only the top 4 sources. I also learned how to navigate
the web better by not only using Google but Google Scholar, Jstor etc.. by this I would also use MyBib to
check If the sources were reliable and credible.
Advocacy Plan:
My advocacy plan was a final piece backed up by my Literature Review, Community Observation based
on Racial Discrimination against African Americans. In this Advocacy Plan I came up with a Google Doc
presentation with key ideas of my topic and visual representations. The hardest part was transitioning
from a writing plan to an essay to then Google Doc and actually breaking down my work and coming up
with a Google Doc representation. Overall these assignments helped me lose the fear of deciding and
choosing one specific topic without feeling lost, also navigating through the web’s sources and using
MyBib to check out reliable sources. I also got to understand better the use of double spacing, page
numbers & fonts & sizes. This understanding helped me become a better writer whose job was to create a
more readable and outstanding job.
In conclusion all these writing pieces made me feel more confident when upcoming with my work pieces.
Why? After many ups and downs I learned to manage my thoughts properly by making smart but quick
decisions and adapting to circumstances very quickly, such as losing the fear of navigating through the
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web. Which eventually helped me find out new criterias for my sources such as Jstor, Google Scholar and
background checking sources using Mybib for credibility. In addition I learned more about the African
American culture that impulsed me to learn more about the culture and understand the significance of
rising and standing up for one’s rights & liberty in a society where no voice seems to be heard off and
walked past. Being Hispanic and raised by immigrant parents helped me create connections and
understand that no matter the background at the end we all have battles and sometimes judge others
without knowing their past.

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