PREPARATION FOR ESSAY #1

Overview:

It is estimated that 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants presently live in the U.S. Though the growing Hispanic population is often seen as the source, an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants come from Asia.

Many of these illegal immigrants cross our borders as individuals or in small groups; others pay professional smugglers up to $80,000 for their passage to America.

Presently Congress and the public are wrestling with solutions to this situation.

The above discussion leads us to Essay #1, a Persuasive Essay supporting a particular solution to this problem. 

But before we can build an essay, we need to familiarize ourselves with the complexity of the issue. 

Though simple "solutions" are batted about such as "deport them all" or "grant all of them amnesty," these "solutions" deny the complexity of the situation and reflect superficial, unworkable, and insupportable thinking.

Steps to follow:

1. Spend the first part of this week gathering as much information as you can about the present problem.  As I mentioned in last week's announcements, the April 10, 2006 issue of Time offers enough well-rounded perspectives to give you a trustworthy overview.

EPlease locate all the relevant April 10 Time articles by using the ProQuest periodical database offered through our S.C.C. library even if you have located these articles another way.  Why? We need the practice.

Simply go to the ProQuest assignment link on our course calendar and follow the directions.

We will discuss our ProQuest experience later.

2. Once you feel you have a fairly comprehensive handle on the issue, please write in your journal a one-page account of your findings and come to class ready to share what you wrote.

Please date this entry, label it Preparation for Essay #1, and box it. I will give your credit for this entry at the end of the week.

CA clear, well-written posting can yield up to 15 points.