For the persuasive essay, I want to make my audience clearly understand the structure
of my essay and explain the complicated relationship between place and immigrants.
Since most of my audiences have similar complicated backgrounds like international
students, I want to evoke their emotions and sympathies towards my essay. I feel that
I choose a satisfied topic which mainly focuses on the immigrants, including the
international students. Since the issue for immigrants and international students to
search their self-identities becomes important today, this topic will attract
many audiences.
However, I am also worried about the structure of my essay, and I hope that I explain
it clearly in the introduction part. I try to write down the general ideas and details as
clearly as I can, but I am not sure if every reader can understand my intentions. Thus,
I feel somewhat unsatisfied about the structure of my essay. The professor argues that
I should write my idea based on my initial thoughts. So when I write my essay, I
follow my initial idea to explain the complicated interacted relationship between place
and immigrants instead of following the proposal to write a simple relationship. I
really hope that after reading my essay, the readers will tell me if they understand the
structure of my essay, and if they understand how place and immigrants share an
interacted relationship.
For revised bibliography and proposal, I would like to emphasize the intention of my
essay. Since I changed my mind when I wrote the essay, the proposal could not show
my idea correctly. However, since the proposal is related to the persuasive essay, I
hope that the audiences can learn the general outline and background of my writing
process. I feel that I write the general outline clearly, and it indicates the thoughts of the
essay, and the audiences can read the outline before they read the essay and to have
a primary understanding of it. Besides, since I mention that I will focus on immigrants
in the essay, I think this emphasis will attract my audience to read my essay when
they read my intention in the proposal. Therefore, I add some pictures to show the
immigrants’ culture on the blog. I am not satisfied because I did not write the proposal
briefly, and I am afraid that the audience cannot be patient to read it thoroughly. I
hope that my audience can tell their reactions after they read the proposal. For example
, I want to know if they would like to read a long proposal to understand my idea.
Bibliography and Proposal:
People can define place by identifying their own statuses and their relationships with
place. In my research, I will mainly focus on the relationships between the immigrants
in the United States and their place, and I argue that the immigrants develop their own
senses of place through their personal experiences and emotions in the local
communities. After they cultivate the intimacy and personal emotions towards the local
space, the immigrants will find their place and establish relationships with their place.
Thus, the tentative title of my paper will be “Defining and Developing the Relationships
Between Immigrants in the United States and Place”. I plan to engage the topic by
analyzing the immigrant background of Jhumpa Lahiri in “Rhode Island” and
interpreting the emotional development of immigrants according to Price’s “Place”. I will
also combine the general idea about place in Tuan’s “Space and Place”(3-18,136-
148) with the detailed facts about immigrants in Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Rivas’s
article, “the Adaptation of Migrant Children”. I will join Tuan, Price, Alejandro Portes and
Alejandro Rivasin in the critical conversation surrounding the topic.
The reason that the topic I have chosen is important to me is related to my own
complicated relationship with place. As an international student who plans to
immigrate to the United States in the future, I want to explore the relationship between
the current immigrants and place, and to find out how they redefine their sense of
place and belonging after they move to a strange space. I will also analyze what
immigrants undergo in a new community and how they maintain a balance between
their previous hometown and their current residence. Since I am in a similar situation
and I can relate to their challenges, I would like to research their experiences. I suppose
that most international students have similar problems to mine, and nearly 13.3 percent
of Emory students are international. Thus, I believe that if I explore the relationship
between the immigrants and the place, it would be helpful for the international
students to find out the ways to redefine their understanding of place and redefine
their identities.
I intend to answer the questions about what the challenges and experiences that the
immigrants in the United States have undergone are, and how they find their place
and establish their relationships with the place. Since the references and bibliography
I prepared for the essay are scholarly articles, I will compare various arguments of
different authors and then develop my own scholarly analysis of the question. The
academic article of Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Riva is most helpful. Their essay
lays out the problems of immigrants which I want to explore, and they also mention
self-identity and other problems referring to the place. Their article is more related to
the topic I chose, while Price and Tuan’s articles include the more general contents
about the place. “Rhode Island” focuses narrowly on the author’s personal search of the
place, and it is more helpful to utilize this article as one important detail. I envision
that I will interpret the facts and thoughts in “The Adaptation of Migrant Children” and
use “Rhode Island” as a critical example. I will also analyze the formation of the
relationship according to the general idea about experiences and emotions in “Space
and Place” and “Place”.
General Outline:
I. Introduction:
1.Briefly introducing the background of the immigrants in the United States
2.Indicating the importance of analyzing the topic about immigrants
3.Briefly arguing that the immigrants develop their own senses of the place through
their personal experiences and emotions in the local community
II. First Subtopic:
General idea:
a.The “place” depends on the “experience” to define. ( Tuan 3-18)
b.Experience depends on various senses and mind.
c.The intimacy experience, especially when people are in the vulnerable conditions
such as being sick, can change the space into the place. (Tuan 136-148)
Specific idea:
a. The challenges that general immigrants encounter (“the Adaptation of Migrant
Children”)
b. The challenges that Jhumpa Lahiri encountered (“Rhode Island’)
c. The challenges that the international students encounter (use personal example)
III. Second Subtopic:
General idea:
a. “Place” contain people’s emotions, and it is the difference between “space” and
“place”. (“Place”)
Specific idea:
a. The emotions that Jhumpa Lahiri had that was generated from living in Rhode Island
(“Rhode Island’)
b. The emotional analysis about the international students (use personal example)
IV. Conclusion
1. Concluding the statement of the relationship between the immigrants and the place
2. The prospect for the immigrants and their place in the future
Annotated Bibliography:
Lahari, Jhumpa. "Rhode Island." Identity: A Reader for Writers. By John Scenters-
Zapico. N.p.: Oxford U, 2013. 101-13. Print.13 Sept. 2014
This article illustrates the experiences and memories that Jhumpa Lahari recalled in her
childhood at Rhode Island. Lahari introduces the history of Rhode Island and the back
ground of her family at first. Then she explains her memorable experience such as
spending time at the library, and some miserable experience such as being
discriminated. The author argues that Rhode Island is her only hometown, and she will
continue to visit it for her parents. I chose this article because the author’s story
demonstrates that intimate experience can change a space to a place. I also plan to use
the author’s experience as an example to support my argument that the immigrants
develop their own senses of the place through their personal experiences and
emotions in the local community.
Portes, Alejandro, and Alejandro Rivas. "The Adaptation Of Migrant Children."
Future Of Children 21.1 (2011): 219-246. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.
This articles analyzes the fact that how immigrants in United States, especially young
immigrants adapt to life there. The authors compare the different views from
culturalist researchers and structuralists and to explore the self-identity,
self-affirmation and survival of the immigrants. The authors also explain two policies
for unauthorized and disadvantaged migrants to survive in the United States. Besides,
the authors also interpret three forces to influence the barriers for immigrants to
integrate into the community. I chose this article because this article is relevant to
immigrants and it supports the argument that experiences can change the sense of
space of the immigrants into the sense of the place. I also plan to use this article as the
foundation of research to analyze the relationship between immigrants and the place.
Price, Patricia L. "Place." The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography.
By Richard H. Schein, Jamie Winders, and Nuala Christina Johnson. N.p.: n.p., 2013.
118-29. Print.13 Sept. 2014
This article analyzes the difference between space and place in a psychological aspect.
Price believes that space is lack of emotional uniqueness and significance of social life
, while she also explains that place contains people’s emotions such as respect and
affection. People can discover a “place”by walking into it and obtaining the sensual
experience. Thus, “place”becomes dynamic instead of a simple motionless pause. Price
argues that “place”consists of more sophisticated meanings than “space” which has
only the simple geographic significance. I chose this article because Price’s article
supports the argument of my essay to demonstrate that people can create the sense of
place by developing their emotions. I also plan to use this general idea to interpret the
emotional development of the immigrants.
Tuan, Yi-fu. "Introduction and Experiential Perspective." Space and Place: The
Perspective of Experience. By Yi-fu Tuan. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1977.
3-18. Print. 13 Sept. 2014
This article illustrates the difference between space and place and it also argues that
place depends on experience to define itself. Specifically, Tuan explains the range of
experience or knowledge by analyzing the senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and
vision. The author believes that experience enables people to have strong emotions
towards a place. Tuan argues that place and objects are defined by people’s experience,
and their meaning become more concrete comparing with space. I chose this article
because the author’s general idea emphasizes the importance of experience in order to
change space into place. I also plan to use this theory to combine the detailed
information about the immigrants in other articles to demonstrate the argument of my
essay. The idea of Tuan provides the foundation of my persuasive paper.
Tuan, Yi-fu. "Intimate Experiences of Place." Space and Place: The Perspective of
Experience. By Yi-fu Tuan. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1977. 136-148. Print.
13 Sept. 2014
This article illustrates that people need intimate experiences to change abstract space in
to concrete place. Specifically, when people are sick or injured, it is easier for them to
create the sense of home and they can recover themselves under solicitous care. Tuan
also explains that although it is not immediately acceptable, some people regard their
family members or other intimate people as “place”. Tuan argues that people feel
“real” in place rather than feel “unreal” in space. I chose this article because it is well
written and supports the argument of my essay. I also plan to use this theory which
emphasizes the importance of experience to explain the relationship between
immigrants and the place.
of my essay and explain the complicated relationship between place and immigrants.
Since most of my audiences have similar complicated backgrounds like international
students, I want to evoke their emotions and sympathies towards my essay. I feel that
I choose a satisfied topic which mainly focuses on the immigrants, including the
international students. Since the issue for immigrants and international students to
search their self-identities becomes important today, this topic will attract
many audiences.
However, I am also worried about the structure of my essay, and I hope that I explain
it clearly in the introduction part. I try to write down the general ideas and details as
clearly as I can, but I am not sure if every reader can understand my intentions. Thus,
I feel somewhat unsatisfied about the structure of my essay. The professor argues that
I should write my idea based on my initial thoughts. So when I write my essay, I
follow my initial idea to explain the complicated interacted relationship between place
and immigrants instead of following the proposal to write a simple relationship. I
really hope that after reading my essay, the readers will tell me if they understand the
structure of my essay, and if they understand how place and immigrants share an
interacted relationship.
For revised bibliography and proposal, I would like to emphasize the intention of my
essay. Since I changed my mind when I wrote the essay, the proposal could not show
my idea correctly. However, since the proposal is related to the persuasive essay, I
hope that the audiences can learn the general outline and background of my writing
process. I feel that I write the general outline clearly, and it indicates the thoughts of the
essay, and the audiences can read the outline before they read the essay and to have
a primary understanding of it. Besides, since I mention that I will focus on immigrants
in the essay, I think this emphasis will attract my audience to read my essay when
they read my intention in the proposal. Therefore, I add some pictures to show the
immigrants’ culture on the blog. I am not satisfied because I did not write the proposal
briefly, and I am afraid that the audience cannot be patient to read it thoroughly. I
hope that my audience can tell their reactions after they read the proposal. For example
, I want to know if they would like to read a long proposal to understand my idea.
Bibliography and Proposal:
People can define place by identifying their own statuses and their relationships with
place. In my research, I will mainly focus on the relationships between the immigrants
in the United States and their place, and I argue that the immigrants develop their own
senses of place through their personal experiences and emotions in the local
communities. After they cultivate the intimacy and personal emotions towards the local
space, the immigrants will find their place and establish relationships with their place.
Thus, the tentative title of my paper will be “Defining and Developing the Relationships
Between Immigrants in the United States and Place”. I plan to engage the topic by
analyzing the immigrant background of Jhumpa Lahiri in “Rhode Island” and
interpreting the emotional development of immigrants according to Price’s “Place”. I will
also combine the general idea about place in Tuan’s “Space and Place”(3-18,136-
148) with the detailed facts about immigrants in Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Rivas’s
article, “the Adaptation of Migrant Children”. I will join Tuan, Price, Alejandro Portes and
Alejandro Rivasin in the critical conversation surrounding the topic.
The reason that the topic I have chosen is important to me is related to my own
complicated relationship with place. As an international student who plans to
immigrate to the United States in the future, I want to explore the relationship between
the current immigrants and place, and to find out how they redefine their sense of
place and belonging after they move to a strange space. I will also analyze what
immigrants undergo in a new community and how they maintain a balance between
their previous hometown and their current residence. Since I am in a similar situation
and I can relate to their challenges, I would like to research their experiences. I suppose
that most international students have similar problems to mine, and nearly 13.3 percent
of Emory students are international. Thus, I believe that if I explore the relationship
between the immigrants and the place, it would be helpful for the international
students to find out the ways to redefine their understanding of place and redefine
their identities.
I intend to answer the questions about what the challenges and experiences that the
immigrants in the United States have undergone are, and how they find their place
and establish their relationships with the place. Since the references and bibliography
I prepared for the essay are scholarly articles, I will compare various arguments of
different authors and then develop my own scholarly analysis of the question. The
academic article of Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Riva is most helpful. Their essay
lays out the problems of immigrants which I want to explore, and they also mention
self-identity and other problems referring to the place. Their article is more related to
the topic I chose, while Price and Tuan’s articles include the more general contents
about the place. “Rhode Island” focuses narrowly on the author’s personal search of the
place, and it is more helpful to utilize this article as one important detail. I envision
that I will interpret the facts and thoughts in “The Adaptation of Migrant Children” and
use “Rhode Island” as a critical example. I will also analyze the formation of the
relationship according to the general idea about experiences and emotions in “Space
and Place” and “Place”.
General Outline:
I. Introduction:
1.Briefly introducing the background of the immigrants in the United States
2.Indicating the importance of analyzing the topic about immigrants
3.Briefly arguing that the immigrants develop their own senses of the place through
their personal experiences and emotions in the local community
II. First Subtopic:
General idea:
a.The “place” depends on the “experience” to define. ( Tuan 3-18)
b.Experience depends on various senses and mind.
c.The intimacy experience, especially when people are in the vulnerable conditions
such as being sick, can change the space into the place. (Tuan 136-148)
Specific idea:
a. The challenges that general immigrants encounter (“the Adaptation of Migrant
Children”)
b. The challenges that Jhumpa Lahiri encountered (“Rhode Island’)
c. The challenges that the international students encounter (use personal example)
III. Second Subtopic:
General idea:
a. “Place” contain people’s emotions, and it is the difference between “space” and
“place”. (“Place”)
Specific idea:
a. The emotions that Jhumpa Lahiri had that was generated from living in Rhode Island
(“Rhode Island’)
b. The emotional analysis about the international students (use personal example)
IV. Conclusion
1. Concluding the statement of the relationship between the immigrants and the place
2. The prospect for the immigrants and their place in the future
Annotated Bibliography:
Lahari, Jhumpa. "Rhode Island." Identity: A Reader for Writers. By John Scenters-
Zapico. N.p.: Oxford U, 2013. 101-13. Print.13 Sept. 2014
This article illustrates the experiences and memories that Jhumpa Lahari recalled in her
childhood at Rhode Island. Lahari introduces the history of Rhode Island and the back
ground of her family at first. Then she explains her memorable experience such as
spending time at the library, and some miserable experience such as being
discriminated. The author argues that Rhode Island is her only hometown, and she will
continue to visit it for her parents. I chose this article because the author’s story
demonstrates that intimate experience can change a space to a place. I also plan to use
the author’s experience as an example to support my argument that the immigrants
develop their own senses of the place through their personal experiences and
emotions in the local community.
Portes, Alejandro, and Alejandro Rivas. "The Adaptation Of Migrant Children."
Future Of Children 21.1 (2011): 219-246. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.
This articles analyzes the fact that how immigrants in United States, especially young
immigrants adapt to life there. The authors compare the different views from
culturalist researchers and structuralists and to explore the self-identity,
self-affirmation and survival of the immigrants. The authors also explain two policies
for unauthorized and disadvantaged migrants to survive in the United States. Besides,
the authors also interpret three forces to influence the barriers for immigrants to
integrate into the community. I chose this article because this article is relevant to
immigrants and it supports the argument that experiences can change the sense of
space of the immigrants into the sense of the place. I also plan to use this article as the
foundation of research to analyze the relationship between immigrants and the place.
Price, Patricia L. "Place." The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography.
By Richard H. Schein, Jamie Winders, and Nuala Christina Johnson. N.p.: n.p., 2013.
118-29. Print.13 Sept. 2014
This article analyzes the difference between space and place in a psychological aspect.
Price believes that space is lack of emotional uniqueness and significance of social life
, while she also explains that place contains people’s emotions such as respect and
affection. People can discover a “place”by walking into it and obtaining the sensual
experience. Thus, “place”becomes dynamic instead of a simple motionless pause. Price
argues that “place”consists of more sophisticated meanings than “space” which has
only the simple geographic significance. I chose this article because Price’s article
supports the argument of my essay to demonstrate that people can create the sense of
place by developing their emotions. I also plan to use this general idea to interpret the
emotional development of the immigrants.
Tuan, Yi-fu. "Introduction and Experiential Perspective." Space and Place: The
Perspective of Experience. By Yi-fu Tuan. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1977.
3-18. Print. 13 Sept. 2014
This article illustrates the difference between space and place and it also argues that
place depends on experience to define itself. Specifically, Tuan explains the range of
experience or knowledge by analyzing the senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and
vision. The author believes that experience enables people to have strong emotions
towards a place. Tuan argues that place and objects are defined by people’s experience,
and their meaning become more concrete comparing with space. I chose this article
because the author’s general idea emphasizes the importance of experience in order to
change space into place. I also plan to use this theory to combine the detailed
information about the immigrants in other articles to demonstrate the argument of my
essay. The idea of Tuan provides the foundation of my persuasive paper.
Tuan, Yi-fu. "Intimate Experiences of Place." Space and Place: The Perspective of
Experience. By Yi-fu Tuan. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1977. 136-148. Print.
13 Sept. 2014
This article illustrates that people need intimate experiences to change abstract space in
to concrete place. Specifically, when people are sick or injured, it is easier for them to
create the sense of home and they can recover themselves under solicitous care. Tuan
also explains that although it is not immediately acceptable, some people regard their
family members or other intimate people as “place”. Tuan argues that people feel
“real” in place rather than feel “unreal” in space. I chose this article because it is well
written and supports the argument of my essay. I also plan to use this theory which
emphasizes the importance of experience to explain the relationship between
immigrants and the place.
cultural_geography_place.pdf |
the_adaptation_of_migrant_children.pdf |
rhode_island_-_lahiri.pdf |
Citation:
Lahari, Jhumpa. "Rhode Island." Identity: A Reader for Writers. By John Scenters-
Zapico. N.p.: Oxford U, 2013. 101-13. Print.13 Sept. 2014
Tuan, Yi-fu. "Intimate Experiences of Place." Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. By Yi-fu Tuan. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota,
1977. 136-148. Print. 13 Sept. 2014
Yi-fu-tuan-space-place. 2012. Potential Of A Disremembered Space. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://dickiewebb.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/space-and-place-place-and-space-you-decide/>.
Space-place. 2008. Almost Nimja. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://almost-ninja.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html>.
Space & Place. 2013. Venture Outdoors. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://www.outdoorrecreationni.com/venture-outdoors/news/big-lottery-fund-space-and-place-now-open/>.
America-China. 2014. The Coming Chinese EMP Attack Upon America. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://www.torn-republic.com/2014/04/the-coming-chinese-emp-attack-upon.html>.
China & America. China Daily Mail. Accessed December 4, 2014. http://chinadailymail.com/2013/01/11/analysts-split-over-report-saying-china-far-healthier-than-america/.
Lahari, Jhumpa. "Rhode Island." Identity: A Reader for Writers. By John Scenters-
Zapico. N.p.: Oxford U, 2013. 101-13. Print.13 Sept. 2014
Tuan, Yi-fu. "Intimate Experiences of Place." Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. By Yi-fu Tuan. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota,
1977. 136-148. Print. 13 Sept. 2014
Yi-fu-tuan-space-place. 2012. Potential Of A Disremembered Space. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://dickiewebb.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/space-and-place-place-and-space-you-decide/>.
Space-place. 2008. Almost Nimja. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://almost-ninja.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html>.
Space & Place. 2013. Venture Outdoors. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://www.outdoorrecreationni.com/venture-outdoors/news/big-lottery-fund-space-and-place-now-open/>.
America-China. 2014. The Coming Chinese EMP Attack Upon America. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://www.torn-republic.com/2014/04/the-coming-chinese-emp-attack-upon.html>.
China & America. China Daily Mail. Accessed December 4, 2014. http://chinadailymail.com/2013/01/11/analysts-split-over-report-saying-china-far-healthier-than-america/.