Option 3: Conduct a contemporary Issue Analysis

This option requires you to apply the knowledge on issues pertaining to immigration and the immigrant experience you’ve gained over the course of the semester to a contemporary issue/current event of your choice.
First, you will need to select a contemporary issue that deals with issues surrounding immigration or the immigrant experience.
Once you have made your choice, you will need to locate a news article aimed at the public that deals with this topic – whether this article appears in a national or local publication does not matter, it just cannot come from an academic journal or government/non-profit. I recommend picking the source that will given you the most material with which to work! Keep in mind; you are only considering the way this single news article frames that issue, so you are not required to do any additional research on the topic.

Tasks to complete in Your Essay:

After picking your news source, you will need to write a minimum of 5+ page (double-spaced) paper that critically interprets and analyzes this news source.

What viewpoint does the article represent?
Who is if targeting?
What preconceived ideas are embedded in the article?
Why have the events of the article taken place?

Please note – You will want to provide a brief description of your contemporary issue before beginning you interpretation and analysis, but this description should be no more that a paragraph, as details from an about your news source will be included throughout you essay as evidence for your argument. In other words, do not merely summarize the contents but present your own unique and informed analysis of the issues involved. You will use the course materials to inform you analysis of your news source and, while there is no set number of terms or articles I expect you to support you argument (nor do you have to directly quote courses texts if you do not wish to do so), I should see evidence of this throughout your paper.
You will need to conclude your paper with a consideration of ow you believe your news source contributes to the larger discourse surrounding the contemporary issue and, accordingly, what type of political work it does out in the larger culture.

Final Essay Prompt – Option 2 – Curate a YouTube Playlist

For this assignment, you will curate a YouTube playlist specific to a theme or topic related to immigration that we have covered in class. This assignment has two parts: 1) a YouTube playlist and 2) a curator rationale. For instructions on how to create a YouTube playlist, visit: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57792?co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop&hl=en

Your playlist should be no less than 40 minutes and no more that 60 minutes in length. How you curate this list is up to you, but it should have a clear rational linking the videos together.
You should have at least 4 videos in your playlist, and you cannot include any videos we have screened in class. You will include the URL for your playlist in an appendix to your curator rational essay.

Write a (minimum) 5-page (double-spaced) curator rational essay explaining why you chose the theme or topic that you did and how each video speaks to that theme/topic. You will need to use a minimum of 3 sources to support the argument you develop in your curator rationale. While you are welcome to use as many sources as you wish, 3 of them need to come from our class readings.

Some questions you will want to consider in your curator rationale: What is the intention of each video? (Is it a historical intervention? Does it aim to personalize history or provide a first-person account?) Do these videos problematize conventional narrative of immigration? If so, how and in what ways? How and in what ways do you see these videos in conversation with any of our 324 course readings? (This does not mean that the videos you select have to agree with the arguments put forth in our course readings – although they can. They can also disagree, compliment, etc., our course readings).
Do these videos offer solutions to issues pertaining to your theme/topic? If so, what are the solutions being offered?
How might each video work towards enriching our understanding of your selected theme/topic?

American Immigrant Cultures Final Essay Prompt (worth 100 points)
These essays assignments are a chance for you to consider and review what you have learned in this course and extend and apply your knowledge beyond our classroom walls. Final essays will consider immigration from one of these different areas of inquiry:

Option 1: Conduct A Primary Source Analysis

You will do a cultural analysis of a primary source of your choice from American Mass Culture through which you will explore the topics from this course. You can choose one- or more – of the weekly topics, as identified on the syllabuse (ex. Nativism, culture wars, gatekeeping, etc)
Your first task will be to pick an American primary source (specifically one that deals with representations of immigration) from the following list:

A Film
A music Video (both the visual image and the song lyrics)
A Television Show ( a single episode only)
A Novel
A photograph
A comic strip
An advertisement
After picking your source, in a 5+ page (double-spaced) essay, you will critically interpret and analyze this source. This means moving on just describing your primary source – You will want to think about the overall argument that this source is making about immigration and how it is making said argument.
When writing your essay, you will want to consider:

Who is the target audience of your primary source?
What is the historical context of your primary source?

What does this primary source say about immigration? In other words, what is the narrative presented, and what type of work does the presentation of this narrative do?
Please note – you will want to provide a brief description of your primary source before beginning your interpretation and analysis, but this description should be no more than a paragraph or two (on page, maximum), as details from and about your source will be included throughout your essay as evidence for your argument.
You will need to use a minimum 3 sources to support your argument/analysis.

These three sources need to come from our class readings – you are welcome to bring in additional outside scholarly sources as long as you meet this requirement. 

Modern World SP23 History
Qn1. Which of the following groups of people was NOT targeted in the Holocaust?
Qn2. Which of the following refers to the period when Germany was in a state of war between Britain and France, but no military engagements took place?
Qn3. Which of the following tactics was NOT used in Blitzkrieg wars?
Qn4. Which of the following is NOT true about the Battle of the Bulge?
Qn5. Between _ Jews were killed in the Holocaust, most of whom came from
Qn6. Where did the D-Day invasions take place?
Qn7. Which of the following largely contributed to the Fall of France?
Qn8. For which of the following reasons did the United States decide to use an atomic bomb against Japan?
Qn9. Who was the prime minister of Great Britain during Germany’s attacks in 1940?
Qn10. The United States dropped two atomic bombs in Japan: one on the city of _ and the other on the city of _______________.

Writing Assignment #2: The Public Face of Mental Health

_Due: 11/27 (Postpone)
_ Please select one current news story from popular media and one current podcasr episode related to mental health(e.g., disparities, availability, stigma, delivery, access, utilization, effectiveness, quality, funding, policy). You may select one artucle and one podcast episode that are entirely different from one anoterh, or you may select two algned by one unifying themse. Provide a copy (or link to) each article and episode alongside your written reaction (refleection paper). APA-formatted papers should be 4-5 double-spaced pages, not including the title page and references page. You may prepare separate reactions to your two sources, or one reaction that includes reflections on both. Select one article or episode to share with you classmates ( You will have 5 minutes to introduce the main theme and questions raised by the article/episode). Be prepared to facilitate and contribute to discussion.
Question to consider:
Audience Segmentation: Who is the audience for the news story/episode you selected (e.g., demographics, who’s included, who’s missing); Who was the author/host? (e.g. Journalist, scientist, consumer)
Scientific communication: To What extent does the article/episode cite primary sources (i.e., academic journals) – to what extent is science accurately or mispresented? To What extent are findings contextualized in a broader scope of literature? To what extent would more (complete) information or less (complex) information be recommended toward informing readers?
Public Face of Psychology: What does the public take away from the news story/episode with regard to perceptions of psychology and. or mental health (health, education)? What is the reader/listener left with to inform decision making (e.g. about whether or not to seek mental health care; regarding stigma; understanding the causes or correlates or a disorder).