On July 2, your second out-of-class paper will be due at 5 pm. It must be at least 750 words long, word-processed, and double-spaced, saved as a Microsoft Word document.  Grammar, spelling, and overall neatness will certainly affect your grade, so be sure to write carefully and allow yourself time to proofread and correct your paper before turning it in to me. E-mail the paper and the formal outline and the Works Cited page as attachments.  Save the paper as YourNameImmigrationPaper. docx and the outline as YourNameOutline.docx

Many local areas have faced the question of how best to deal with large numbers of immigrants who gather on street corners, often outside convenience stores and in parking lots, to wait and hope  for manual labor jobs.  These communities have proposed using taxpayer money to build employment centers designed to help these immigrants contact potential employers, receive English language instruction and assistance in adapting to life in the US, and have a safe, comfortable place to gather.   Opponents of the employment centers argue that many of the immigrants are in the country illegally and that employment centers will simply make it easier for them to live in the US, a bad message to send to potential immigrants.

Your assignment for this paper is to take a position on the issue and write an argument in the form of a public speech to a specific audience, attempting to persuade them that your position is the best one.  If you argue that taxpayer-funded employment centers are the right thing, then you must write your paper as a speech directed to an audience of American citizens, such as those in the Fairfax County Homeowners Association, who are strongly opposed to unchecked illegal immigration.   If you argue that such employment centers are a bad choice, then you must direct your speech to a group of people sympathetic to immigrants, such as the Citizens for Diversity in America, who may be or may have been immigrants themselves, or with family members in that situation, with close ties to immigrants who have entered the country illegally. 

In other words, no matter what your position, you must write to a somewhat hostile audience.  Your argument should be tailored to that audience.  Do not count on an audience of people strongly opposed to illegal immigration to agree that providing comfort and safety for undocumented workers is something that should be done because of compassion or because it’s the right thing to do.  They are going to want to know why they should pay for employment centers instead of spending their tax dollars improving their local roads, or building a new community hospital, or hiring more teachers for their children’s school.  You must give them hard facts, good reasons why such employment centers are the right choice.  Similarly, if you argue against the employment centers, you’ll need to address the audience who believes that most illegal immigrants are honest, hardworking people who deserve a chance to succeed in the US.  Labeling them as criminals because they arrived illegally is not likely to persuade that audience.  Keep your particular audience in mind as you draft your argument. 

In the opening paragraph, specifically address your audience by naming the group or groups to whom you are speaking.  Failure to do so will affect your grade negatively. 

To present a convincing argument, you will have to conduct research on this topic.  A minimum of two outside sources must be correctly and effectively cited in the course of the paper.  Do not include any dropped quotations or any quotations that are longer than three typed lines of text.  Either mistake will cost your points from the final grade of the paper.  You must turn in a formal outline and a Works Cited page along with the final paper.  If you have questions, ask me sometime before or after class, or come to see me during my office hours.  Good luck.   

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