a) Mention both sides of your family - where they came from, why they immigrated, where they went, what the did for a living, what was life like, what about other family members - did they stay in the home country or immigrate too? To what extent did your parents and you (and your siblings if you have any) stay in touch?
b) Be sure to put into context the political, economic and historical context of both the originating country and the country of destination. Who was in power politically on a national level? At local level, if that is pertinent to the immigration story? What was the economic situation like? Or did your family move for other more personal reasons? Even if it was the latter and not for economic reasons, be sure to explain what the economic context in the home and new country was like overall and for the occupations which your parents have.
c) If you do not have an option to approach biological family, apply this assignment to the family of someone whom you like.
3) I expect you to use outside sources to provide the context for 2b. Wikipedia, the History Channel's website or other popular sites are OK as a starting point. But you will need to cite these and use at least two other sources. You need to cite these in your text and on the final page which will have the header "Works Cited." (This page does not count as Page Six - instead it's an add on to the body of your six page paper). Please use MLA or APA formatting. Put in parenthesis after the "Works Cited" title in bold which format you used. You will be marked down if you do not use at least two scholarly outside sources and if you do not cite these sources throughout the paper using MLA or APA methods (Purdue University's OWL website has tips on using both).
4) The paper's body can be more than six pages. Please double space it so that I can write comments. Please also note that you will be marked down if it is less than six pages or between 1300-2500 words. Please use regular margins to save paper. Ultimately, I will judge the length based on the word count rather than the printed length.
5) Points will also be deducted for poor grammar, paragraph and sentence structure. Remember to use a lead sentence for each paragraph and to use the rest of the sentences in that paragraph to back up your lead sentence with data or information. Please consider using sub-sections where you talk about your family under a heading which might read, "My Family" (in Bold or underlined), the economic contexts of the home and destination countries under a heading "The Economic Context in the Home and Destination Country" and the political situation in the home and destination countries under a heading, "The Political Climate in the Home and Destination Country." You could further personalize this by inserting the country's names instead of writing "Home and Destination Countries."