The immigrant work

PURPOSE: The purpose of this assignment is for you to practice “doing history” by researching immigration. Do not worry if after reading the documents you feel like you have an incomplete understanding of the topic. No set of sources that a historian uncovers is ever perfect or ever fully reveals what happened and why it matters. The purpose of “doing history” is for you as the scholar to discern the meaning in the sources. This will sometimes involve some frustration and discomfort as you sort out the evidence. Embrace this struggle and you will thrive. After thinking about the primary document PDFs, use your insights and knowledge to craft discussion board responses to the question listed below under “task”.

TASK: Using the disparate primary source readings explain what life looked like for immigrants to the United States in the late nineteenth century. Why is it important to consider statistics about the immigrant work and living experiences just as much as it is to use textual documents and maps when studying the topic of immigration? Be specific and substantive as you answer these questions.

Information taken from sources other than the primary documents will not be evaluated and posts that are structured thusly will not count. You can, though, use your knowledge of the podcasts and the textbook for framing purposes, meaning typically one sentence per paragraph to set the scene. At least 90 percent of what you say needs to come from the documents in the form of summarizing content, minimally quoting, and analyzing. If a mathematical proportion would help you consider how much to summarize, how much to quote, and how much to analyze, consider the following as a good rule of thumb: 60 percent summary and discussion, 20 percent quotation, and 20 percent analysis.

CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS:
1. Document usage requirements: Be sure that you use at least three different primary documents from the assigned PDF for your first post. For each of your subsequent posts use a document not yet discussed in your group’s DB.
2. Permissible and impermissible sources: Completion of the DB assignment requires consultation of no additional sources. You must not use Wikipedia or any other Internet source. Use only your assigned materials: the primary documents, e-book, and podcasts. I instruct the TAs to ignore material derived from unauthorized sources, so using such material will only hurt your grade.
3. Outlining your post: As you are developing your answer, use the question to help establish your outline.
4. Late work: Late work will not be accepted. Plan accordingly.
5. Citation guidelines–quotes: All quotes must be placed in quotation marks and cited using the parenthetical method, putting the name of or short description of the document in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
6. Effective quoting: Simply quoting a primary document is not necessarily making effective use of it. You also need to explain what the document means and how that meaning advances your argument. Doing this requires that you draw inferences and synthesize information from multiple sources. In other words, be selective in quoting from the primary documents, and only quote very colorful and compelling language.
7. Quotes and the textbook: Do not quote from the textbook. Save your quotes for the most provocative concepts contained within the original documents!
• Since it is the documents you are analyzing, you are better off spending time with them.
• Use the text and lectures to make sure you understand the larger historical context.
8. Citation guidelines–paraphrasing: Paraphrasing well is an art, and paraphrased passages must be cited just like quotes. When you paraphrase you need to substantially change the wording of the original source. It is not sufficient to change a few words and retain the original sentence structure. That approach leaves you open to charges of plagiarism. Instead, you must take the idea from the original source and put it in your own words, which means a new sentence structure and significantly different word choices. See the examples below:
• Original passage: “Work-sharing festivals such as house raisings, log rollings, and quiltings gave isolated farm folk the chance to break their daily routine” (p. 359).
•
 Unacceptable: Work-sharing opportunities including house construction, log gathering, and sewing gave detached farmers an opportunity to change their routine (p. 359).
 Acceptable: Farmers merged their social lives with their work lives to gain relief from the monotony of an agrarian existence (p. 359).
• Use the same citation format noted above in number 5.