Immigration Experiences and the Responses to Immigrants

Using the primary and secondary sources in the module on “migration and its enemies,” reconstruct the immigrant experience and the response to immigrants. In particular, answer the following questions: how did migrants experience their move to and life in a new world, what did they find problematic about their situation, and what could they do about it? What were the “official” reasons cited by immigration opponents in support of regulating immigration? Do you think that these are the “real” reasons or may there be unstated motivations as well? In order to support your argument, paraphrase or quote specific information from the reading materials.
Specifications
*There is no particular word limit, but 1,500 words is a good guideline.
*The essay must include a “works cited” that mentions the reading assignments from class (the relevant references are in the pdf files) and any other source that is being used to complete the assignment.
*No need for a separate title page or a separate works cited page (just put the works cited on the last page at the end of the text).
*Please double-space the text and number the pages.
*Acceptable file types: DOCX, PPTX, PDF, HTML, RTF, TXT [please note that .ZIP and .PAGES will NOT work!]
Tips and hints
*The essay should use material from the historical sources we have read, either through paraphrasing or quoting. If you use quotes, integrate them into the narrative both grammatically and logically. It is important to comment on quotes to identify the argument itself along with its significance, its motivation, its perspective, its relationship to concrete situations or examples etc.
*This essay is argumentative: it does not just summarize the relevant texts but uses them to support an assertion. Ideally, the main thrust of the argument is condensed in a thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph that provides your answer to the question(s) of the prompt. The entire essay should follow a coherent, logical structure and use formal language (you may use the first person, however).
*Any argument makes claims and supports these with evidence (in the case of a historical argument, the evidence comes from the primary sources). It is a good idea to be aware of all the claims you make (underlining them in a draft may be a useful exercise) and to verify that all of them are, in fact, supported.
*Make sure to treat the sources within their historical context. That is to say, take into account who wrote them and why they were written and do not treat any of the claims that are made literally (i. e. as fact).
*You may use outside sources to complete this assignment, but note that it is not a research paper. There is enough information in the sources we have read and using additional information may actually obscure (and hence weaken) your argument.
*Writing and reading an argument are inverse processes. Most writers will naturally start with the evidence and then draw conclusions. However, readers would rather hear the claim first and then see how it is supported. This makes editing your writing very important: ideally, try to "pull" your conclusions up in each paragraph. This can be done with "topic sentences" that anticipate the main claim of a paragraph or section.
*Another point of editing is to make the argument consistent: for example, you will likely start the writing process with the introduction and the thesis statement. However, since the body paragraphs are still missing at this point the thesis statement will, necessarily, be tentative. During the editing process, make sure that the thesis still matches the ensuing argument (or change it accordingly).