The current issue the United States has with illegal immigrants has been a major part of our society that effects numerous people. For my final website presentation I have decided to further explore the dilemma by focusing on Pat Mora’s poem “La Migra.” In the beginning of the semester I felt like I didn't have enough time to research further on the topic due to only having one week to get the presentation ready therefore I’d like to take the chance here to delve further on the issue. A constant dilemma that I ran into when doing the research is the lack of sources on the topic on Academic Search Complete which highlighted for me that immigration is still an ongoing issue due to lack of topics written about it.
So far I haven’t had much of a chance to look into the website project so I honestly am not complete settled on the poem being my topic. Im also deciding on doing the website on the Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. I haven’t read the novel yet, but from past experience I know that novel’s such as this provide a lot of room for further research on their theme topics. Since Im a big procrastinator I’m certain that I wont know for sure what my topic will be until the moment that I sit down to start doing the research.
Briefly thinking about the public that I would like to market my research project would probably be younger generation of high schoolers. After spending a few week in this course I realized how my high school didn’t attempt to teach about the frontier or the immigrant issue in any of the courses, not even U.S. history which mainly focused on the east coast in the early Americas days. I plan on using a lot of visual images in order to further appeal to the high school public because I noticed that at that age I used to fall asleep when reading a source that had nothing but text on it, making it extremely boring.
Finally I also plan on showing both sides of the argument if I choose to do my topic on La Migra or any other subject that is debated. I think that overall the best websites when doing scholarly research are the ones that provide both sides of the issue that they are discussing because it provides a sense of trust in the to the reader that it is a non biased site. Throughout my past experience of doing research on topics I noticed that the sites I used tended to exemplify one side of an issue that i was reasserting which made me constant think of where the author altered the information or which part was not reliable therefore straying my attention from the actual topic being discussed. Overall i believe that this is going to be an exciting project to do where i will learn a lot because I have never designed a website so Im looking forward to doing that.
This is a great idea. I could see lots of interesting web design choices you could make with "La Migra," and I think your marketing idea is perfect. I like that you're thinking specifically about your audience already.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard not to get swept up in Gatsby, though (at least for me), so I also understand if you decide to do your website on the novel! :)
Pasha,
ReplyDeleteYour post brings up a really good point in comparing what you're learning in this class versus how history was taught in highschool. In my own schooling experience, it seemed like the timeline went, "Boston Tea Party; New World Found; Colonists settle down; American is born, the end." If you do decide to market you website for a young highschool kind of a crowd, it might be interesting to have a blurb somewhere on your site detailing differences between how history is taught in different settings.
La Migra is a really interesting poem, and I'm glad to read that you're eager to show research on both sides of the argument. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned a reader's trust in the site. A biased site always comes across as much less informed than a fair site.
Otherwise, the Great Gatsby is awesome too! I really don't think you can lose no matter which idea you go with.