PURPOSE

You will write an essay that takes a close look at a particular immigrant community in the San Diego region and explore some of the same ideas we’ve explored this semester.

To help your reader better understand the local immigrant community of your choosing youll want to explain when they arrived to the region, why they have come, where they have settled, what struggles they have faced, and what is being done to support them. Your argument will likely come in the form of suggesting why it is important for these people to belong to a community, and/or suggesting what else can be done to support them.

In order to make this happen you will be conducting a few research tasks, which will include finding data about this particular immigrant community, reading articles about and by members of this community, and maybe even interviewing a member of it.

In the coming weeks we will work together to gather data, evaluate resources and construct our essays. Its important that you keep up with each step.

This assignment will help you practice the following SKILLS:
Conducting small research tasks to locate and evaluate appropriate sources
Synthesizing and contextualizing ideas in response to research questions
Supporting ideas with examples and evidence from multiple primary and secondary sources
Utilizing knowledge of complex issues related to immigrants to connect with our community
This assignment will help you gain the following KNOWLEDGE:
Learning scholarly research skills
Evaluating and integrating information and ideas to support your own claims
Practicing appropriate documentation of sources
Becoming more informed about and engaged with the people within our local community
TASKS
To complete the assignment, you will do the following:
Select an immigrant community that currently lives in the San Diego region and presenting a proposal of what you hope to learn and discuss (I will provide you with a list of larger immigrant groups, but you may propose one not on the list)
Find and document articles and websites with important data and information about this community
Conduct additional research by finding and evaluating articles from credible publications
(Optional: conduct an interview with a member of this immigrant community)
Read and annotate example student essays
Synthesize ideas gathered from multiple sources in a logical and coherent essay
Include accurate documentation to credit your sources
Participate in peer-review workshop, giving you insights into improving your writing
Conference with you professor to gain even more insights
Revise for final draft submission

CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS
Your essay must be from 4-7 pages long, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, and formatted according to MLA guidelines.
Your essay must include references (direct quote and paraphrase) to at least 3 self-selected articles from reliable newspapers, magazines, books, journals and websites; and can also include references to any interviews you conduct.
Your essay must have a strong thesis that is well supported through well-developed, unified and coherent body paragraphs that contain effective topic sentences.