Objectives of this Essay: Critical Thinking, Analysis, Synthesis, Contextualizin

Objectives of this Essay: Critical Thinking, Analysis, Synthesis, Contextualizing, Audience–> Developing Context and Understanding to Prepare Audiences for Oral Histories
Writing Prompt: Gather together your understanding of our Oral History Project theme and its mission statement. Develop an authentic opening statement from your perspective that will become the frame of your oral history narrative. Your opening statement should be written in your voice and express your feelings and ideas about our topic (migration). It should become a useful backdrop that puts your oral history within the context of the greater theme of our project. It should help your readers understand why your subject’s oral history matters and why you are giving voice to their experience.
Writing Requirements: In addition to developing your authentic perspective in your opening statement, use our work on storytelling, development, structure, and MLA formatting to choose 2-3 pieces of evidence from one or more of the context materials I provided for our project (the links are in Canvas Module 4 under the heading “Journalistic Context”). Use the 2-3 examples of your choice as anecdotal, illustrating evidence to develop context and enrich your perspective in the opening statement. You could quote from/paraphrase the material, reference statistical data, and reflect on or elaborate on things said in these sources. Set up your references with signal phrases, attach quote according to MLA format, and document the source. Be sure to make use of the quote—explain and connect it to the perspective you are developing. The goal of this documentation is to enrich your perspective, provide context, and develop ethos/logos/pathos for your audience. With this opening statement, the audience will be prepared for your oral history.
Your piece should have an introduction that gives your essay a sense of purpose. After you’ve had a chance to think about migration and reflect on the stories we have heard in the context pieces, what is your perspective? What do you know about migration and why is this something worth talking about? Using concrete vivid language here really has an impact! Imagining talking to a specific person and teaching them what you know. Review your notes, look over the online conversation, gather your thoughts, and write down what you want to say about migration. What will your conversation fundamentally be about? Gather your reader(s) and orient them. Avoid broad sweeping generalizations about migration but really hone in on what you want to focus on. You will use these opening remarks to lead your reader to your thesis
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