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Latin American and Caribbean Studies

This guide provides resources on Latin America and the Caribbean to help you with your research.

Assignment

In this course you will choose between writing a (A) Literature Review Essay OR a (B) Contemporary Issues Essay. Regardless of your choice of assignment, this is an opportunity for you to discover whether or not questions concerning migration & the environment in Latin America remain unanswered, and interpretations need to be revisited.

Literature Review Essay

  1. Literature Review Essay

Literature review essay is a type of research paper that allows you to gain a deeper understanding of your topic by analyzing a variety of interpretations of the subject. Write a literature review (8-10 pages long) that features works about a particular issue/topic concerning migration & the environment in Latin America.

Specific guidelines:

1) Brainstorm a few ideas before pursuing the topic that interest you the most. Ask yourself the following questions: What are the areas in Latin America and time periods that most interest me? Why? Do I prefer political, cultural, social, gender-related, or economic approaches to histories centered on migration & the environment? Why? What are some of the important events, people, ideas pertaining to the areas and time periods that most interest me? Have I stumbled across events, people, or ideas that I had forgotten or did not realize were part of my chosen areas and time periods?

2) Your literature review must include enough works to provide evidence of both the breadth and the depth of the research on your topic or, at least, one important angle of it.  A working bibliography of at least 8 academic history sources (featuring both history books and significant peer-reviewed articles) is mandatory.

3) The goal of this assignment is to identify, compare, and evaluate the viewpoints of two or more scholars writing on the same subject (Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, p. 17). You might determine that the literature makes sense when divided by period, by thematic focus, by race/ethnicity/gender of author, by political ideology, etc. You might also decide to subdivide categories based on other criteria (i.e. every source has its thesis, date, author background, methodology, and sources: does a pattern appear when you consider such information from each of your sources? Do interpretations change at some point? Do interpretations vary based on sources used?)

4) The literature review has 3 main ingredients which must be presented in an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion:

a) A brief discussion of the topic that you chose

b) Your thesis about the literature

c) A clear argument using the working bibliography (at least 8 academic history sources) about the selected topic as evidence (i.e. discuss the sources in relation to your thesis).

d) Your conclusion should not only reiterate your thesis, but also present questions that remain unanswered by the literature.

5) Your paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Please use 12-point Times New Roman font and number your pages. I will not accept late assignments, handwritten assignments, or assignments submitted via email. You should cite specific information in your paper and must use in-text citations to reference everything you cite. All assignments must use in-text citations and include a Works Cited page using the MLA Bibliography format.

Contemporary Issues

Write a Contemporary Issues Essay (8-10 pages long) examining the historical roots of a contemporary issue concerning migration & the environment in Latin America of interest to you.

Specific guidelines:

  1. Explore current primary sources (i.e. newspaper articles, magazine articles, personal letters, recordings of televisions, published photographs, songs, etc.) in order to identify a contemporary issue and its historical roots for study. Additionally, ask yourself the following questions: What are the areas in Latin America that most interest me? Why? What are some of the issues concerning migration & the environment of local/regional/global significance pertaining to those areas that most interest me?

  1. Gather relevant sources for your chosen topic. Your essay must include at least 2 primary sources (i.e.newspaper articles, magazine articles, personal letters, recordings of televisions, published photographs, songs, etc.) and 4 academic history sources (both history books and significant peer-reviewed articles).

  1. Develop a thesis statement for your essay featuring a hypothesis about the potential historical roots of your contemporary issue. Your essay must have an introduction, body, and conclusion, and critically connect and analyze the sources (primary and secondary) that you have gathered.

  1. Your paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Please use 12-point Times New Roman font and number your pages. I will not accept late assignments, handwritten assignments, or assignments submitted via email. You should cite specific information in your paper and must use in-text citations to reference everything you cite. All assignments must use in-text citations and include a Works Cited page using the MLA Bibliography format.

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