Chicano Studies 110B-53129
Spring semester 2024
Latina/o Midwest Reader Composition #1 Directions
For this assignment, you are requested to provide a composition on the readings from the Latina/o Midwest Reader anthology. This is the first of your two compositions about the book. Each composition will count as 15% of your overall class score, thus the combination of both compositions will count as 30% of your overall class score. Your composition is to be a least 3-4 pages long, but you are welcome to write up to 6-7 pages. For your first composition, you have the choice of two areas to discuss in your essay. Choose from either:
Part 1, The Browning of the Midwest (pp. 25-67, readings by Louis Mendoza, José Limón and Aidé Acosta) or
Part 2, Essential Laborers and Neighbors (pp. 71-119, readings by Michael Innis-Jiménez, Lilia Fernández and Marta María Maldonado)
Please submit your review in either of the following formats: doc, docx or PDF (If you are using Apple Pages to write your review, just convert your finished product to a PDF or docx file, and then send that to me). Please double-space your review and be sure to have a series of clear and coherent paragraphs. Avoid both very short and excessively long paragraphs. In terms of the content of your composition, I am looking for two main points of discussion. First, you should devote most of your composition to a summary of the main points that the authors trying to convey to the reader. To help you to address this issue, consider some of these questions: What topics are being discussed by each of the authors? What is the central argument that each author is trying to prove in his or her reading? How does the author conduct her or his research, does she or he interview people, or rely on research from other scholars or primary source documents, like government records? Essentially, provide an objective overview of the scope of the topics in the summary of the readings.
As for the second point of discussion, this is where you provide your opinion or perceptions of the readings. In other words, what did you think about the readings? What were the strengths or weaknesses of the readings? How did the readings relate to the class? Do you believe that these topics have any relevance to contemporary Chicano history and society? What did you find most surprising or intriguing from the readings? You are definitely encouraged to write in first person singular (I feel that…, I think..) as you provide your opinions. As a general rule of thumb, your composition should be about 2/3 summary and 1/3 commentary. Thus a 4-page review with about 3 pages of summary and 1 page of commentary is an ideal proportion.
