This six-page paper will examine your own experiences since coming to the United States, and compare certain conditions of life in the two countries. It is to be partly descriptive, explaining the who, what, where, when, and why of your "American Experience." However, it must also be analytical -- that is, you must use course concepts to explain your experiences. You should especially concentrate on important course concepts such as assimilation, opportunity, and discrimination, and forms of cultural identity such as race/ethnicity, gender, and class. In Part One of the paper, you will begin by describing and analyzing your experiences in the United States since you arrived. In Part Two you will then analyze and compare how your own experience of race/ethnicity, gender, and class, seem similar to, or differ in the United States, based on what you have observed here.
What circumstances led to your coming to the US? (be brief!)
What were some of your expectations of what America would be like culturally? Were your expectations accurate?
What were some surprising things you discovered about life here?
What were some expectations Americans had of you and your culture?
What kinds of pressures to conform to American cultural norms did you feel here, and to what degree did you do so?
What opportunities did you feel were open to you here, and what were not? Was discrimination or stereotyping a problem for you?
Part Two (about 3 pages): In this part of the paper you should compare how your own experiences of race or ethnicity, of gender norms, and of class expectations and attitudes, seem similar to, or different from the experience of Americans, as best as you can tell from your personal observations and experiences here. You should discuss:
2.) Similarly, for gender, you should compare how expectations about being a man or a woman differently (or similarly) impact people’s lives in your home country, and in the US.
3.) Finally, you should address how class attitudes and economic differences affect people’s lives in the two countries. Are class differences heavily emphasized? Is there a high degree of economic equality, and how do people feel about these differences? You may also discuss other relevant aspects of each of these questions that occur to you.
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International Student Roots Writing Assignment Checklist
_____ Essay is six double-spaced pages.
_____ Essay has 1-inch margins.
_____ Essay has page numbers.
_____ Essay uses 12pt Times New Roman font.
_____ Pages are stapled or fastened with paperclip.
_____ Student has included name on first page.
_____ Essay includes a title, introduction, conclusion, and thesis.
_____ Essay does NOT include subheadings.
_____ Essay includes comparison of expectations of US versus reality of US as you understand it, and comparative cultural identities analysis.
_____ Essay cites all secondary sources parenthetically. E.g. “The fear of Eastern and Southern European immigrants in the 1920s probably exacerbated my great-grandfather Leo Frank’s struggle to escape poverty” (Foner, 780-1).
_____ Essay has well developed sections addressing each requirement, and with well-chosen supporting examples. Content addressees course themes explicitly and with keen understanding.
_____ Essay’s expectations/realities section focuses tightly on course themes that are examined insightfully in the analysis section, demonstrating keen insight into the concepts of race/ethnicity, gender, class, and other forms of identity discussed. The essay reflects rigorously and explicitly on these concepts, and on the changes that the writer’s family has undergone.
_____ Essay powerfully and logically organized, with coherent paragraphs and effective transitions and clear topic sentences. Expression is clear, grammatical, and appropriate for academic writing.
_____ Essay has been proofread.
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