Due: September 9, 2004 at the Beginning of Class

Montelongo History 1302 Fall 2004 Due: September 9, 2004 at the beginning of class

REACTION PAPER #1

Your first paper assignment is to write a three to four page (3-4), typewritten, double-spaced, essay (12pt, Times New Roman) using the following documents from Chapter 4, “New Americans: The Immigrants,” located in the primary documents reader Constructing the American Past: A Source Book of a People’s History. Answer the following questions:

Based on a close, careful reading of Document 3 “Chinatown,” Document 4 “The Biography of a Chinaman,” Document 5 “Jewtown,” and Document 6 “A Capmaker’s Story” compare and contrast Jacob Riis’ descriptions of Chinese and Jewish immigrant life with the interviews given by Lee Chew and Rose Schneiderman. How did Riis depict the immigrants? Did he use stereotypes that are still common today (Give examples, explain)? To what extent did Lee and Schneiderman consider themselves Americans? To what extent did they consider themselves Chinese and Jewish?

The goal is to present a coherent essay with a clear argument. Instead of answering each part of the question in order, you should state your general argument (your thesis) in an introductory paragraph and then use the rest of the essay to support your position, making sure that you deal carefully with each of the issues the questions raise somewhere in the paper.

A few additional comments:

1.) You don’t need to use footnotes. When quoting or citing from the documents or your textbook, simply put author and page numbers in parenthesis. Ex. (Gorn, 52) or (Jones, 167). There is absolutely no need to refer to other, outside sources for this assignment—this is a critical essay, not a research paper. If for some reason you choose to use other sources, you must use footnotes to indicate where you have drawn from those sources.

2.) Be very careful to avoid plagiarism. Do not use words or ideas from the internet, from any publication, or from the work of another student without citing the source. Also, if you use more than three words in a row from any source, including the document you’re writing about, those words must be enclosed in quotation marks.

3.) Please just staple your papers in the upper left hand corner. You may use a title page if you like, but please avoid plastic covers.

4.) Your essay should be based primarily on evidence drawn from a close, careful reading of the documents. You can also use appropriate background information from the textbook and lectures, but you should use most of your space to discuss the documents.

5.) Writing style counts. You need to edit your paper multiple times to be a successful writer.