HIS 244 RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT FALL 2020

Our course this semester is a Writing Intensive section. To meet the requirements
of this section, we have a research paper requirement. This will be an assignment
in which you will conduct independent research on a historical topic related to our
course materials. The information provided on this handout will introduce us to the
assignment topic, writing requirements, and important dates for the remainder of
the semester. Please keep a copy of this information available.

Topic
One of the key themes in our course this semester has been the presence of
immigrants in the United States. Starting with the first great wave of immigration,
as that period at the end of the nineteenth century is often called, we begin a
process of seeing the migration of peoples from across the globe coming to the
United States in search of a new life. There are different periods of immigration and
different groups during those periods, but the process of coming to the United
States and settling here is one that is shared by all.
For your research paper, I want you to examine the immigration experience in the
twentieth century by conducting a compare-and-contrast of two different groups
at different periods of time. Your examination and analysis of each will culminate
in a discussion of the meaning of the American Dream to the immigration process.
In structuring your paper, you will first select the groups you wish to research
according to the following:
• Group One: Immigrants who arrived in the United States prior to the
Immigration Act of 1924
• Group Two: Immigrants who arrived in the United States after the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
You will select each group along the lines of traditional ethnic identity. So, think
along the “hyphenated” concept of identifying ethnic populations and the
immigration process that built up those communities. Examples would include
Syrian-Americans, Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans and so forth. You are
choosing two distinct groups; you cannot look at the same group for both periods.
The population you choose for Group One will represent the period of immigration
that came before the United States essentially closed is doors after World War I.
The Group Two immigrants represent the renewal of immigration in the final third
of the twentieth century.
These are two distinct time periods and the groups who arrived during these times
illustrate global events and trends. In your researching and writing you will want to
identify the why these immigrants came to the US: Did they emigrate to the US to
escape poverty? War? Government instability? Famine? Persecution?
You want to examine how they settled individually and in communities upon
gaining entry: Were they arriving to find already established communities of the
same ethnic background or where they going to be establishing the first larger scale
communities in the US? Where did they move to and what did they do for work?
Each immigration group has a story to tell, and you will need to identify the key
factors of their story. What did these groups share? What experiences were
different and why?

Paper Structure
Your thesis will be your statement on the meaning of the American Dream to the
immigrant. This will require you to define (in your own words, not from a dictionary
or website) what the American Dream is and consists of. You will then need to
identify the two different groups you are going to examine in your paper, briefly
explaining what you will be analyzing.
The main part of your paper will be your examining each group individually. In your
examination you should think about the questions I have noted previously
(italicized) and similar questions and themes you might have or come upon in your
research. You want to identify and discuss the distinctive aspects of each group,
but always maintain a discussion of how they represented the pursuit of their
American Dream (whether struggling or not, whether it was partially or fully
achieved).
After you have sufficiently examined how each group settled into the United States,
you will want to conduct a compare-and-contrast. In this section you will discuss
what similarities and differences you see between groups that may be separated
by as much as a century (for example, if your first group arrived in the 1890s and
your second group arrived in the 1990s). Identification needs to be accompanied
by analysis, so you need to explain the significance of these similarities and
differences, and more specifically discuss what this says about immigrants and the
immigration process to the United States.
Finally, your conclusion to the paper will need to return to your idea of the
American Dream. The discussion here should be a statement about what the
research on these two groups has revealed to you. Return to your thesis and discuss
why it has been validated or challenged.

Important Submission Dates

For the remainder of the semester you will have preliminary submissions of
elements of your research paper. These are designed to get the process of thinking
about and writing your paper started soon than later (i.e. to avoid the
procrastination of trying to write it in a 24 hour period a day before it is due). It is
also so I can review your ideas and plans and guide you as may be needed.
• October 18: Topic proposal – a brief paragraph in which you identify the two
groups you want to examine and why you have chosen them; a brief
explanation of your “American Dream” concept.
• November 8: Works Cited (working version) – you will submit a list of the
articles and books you are currently using or considering for your research.
After each book/article, provide a sentence or two in which you identify why
you have chosen this source.
• November 25: Rough draft of Introduction – submit a draft of your
introductory paragraph and a brief outline of your paper’s body
• December 14-20: Submission of Final Draft – You will have the entirety of
Final Exams Week to upload your completed research paper