This is a series of assignments in which you will write a research paper on a migratin system of your choice. This assignment is worth 30% of your final grade.
1. Choose a topic. You will be writing a 10-12 page paper on a migration system of your choice. You should plan to explore the impact of the migration system in the sending and receiving countries, explicitly applying the theories and concepts you've learned in class readings and discussions.
2. Narrow down the topic to something do-able in a research paper. You should be thinking about applying theories to specific cases, thinking about such questions as the history of the migration system, including its economic, political and cultural sources; the current forces that are shaping the system, including states' policies, economic forces, globalization, etc.; the cultural issues raised by the system (drawing specifically on readings from the last section of the course).
3. Method. How will you go about answering the question? What are the sources you will be using? Given the question you are answering, what kinds of evidence, data, sources will you look to in order to try to answer the question and to explore alternative explanations?
Assignment 1: Choosing your topic
Which migration system will you be looking at? What countries will be your focus? What are some of the issues that arise within this system? Write a paragraph or so explaining why this topic is of interest and how it fits into the theories we've learned and discussed.
Due Friday April 20, 4pm.
You will write an annotated bibliography of sources you will be using for the paper. You should draw on a minimum of eight sources. They should be from:
Other sources may be internet sources but you must be very explicit about the credibility and reliability of the sources. (Online versions of academic journals do not count as internet sources.)
Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography.
Prepare an annotated bibliography of your sources. For each source, provide a citation (Author, Title, place/date of publication, Journal name and issue number), and a one-paragraph summary in your own words of the main points of the source, as well as how/why it is useful for your paper. (For more info on annotated bibliography see How to write an annotated bibliography, from Cornell Univ. library.)
Due Monday April 30, 4pm
Assignment 3: Final paper.
The final paper should be about 10-12 pages and describe as well as explain the migration system you have chosen, including its history, the factors that contribute to the system in both sending and receiving countries as well as in terms of the global/regional context, the responses of sending/receiving states to the system, as well as any issues related to citizenship, culture, etc. that the system raises in these states.
Due Friday 5/11, 1pm
Here are some useful links:
Return to Crossing Borders/Global Migrations,
Politics 335 syllabus
Return to Chip's page
Last revised 3/9/2012