In Class:reflection on analysis process

I found the analysis process to be a lot more difficult than I had planned on it being. The first obstacle I came across was defining and really knowing what a primary source was. I found this to be even more difficult when I began looking into different sources and reading them. That was a process within itself. It was pretty tricky to try to differentiate between which sources would be correct for this unit and which sources would maybe not be beneficial. One thing that really helped though is when Professor Irvin gave us that handout on how to better understand and be able to tell if my source was primary or not.
Once I found and validated that my sources were indeed primary I found it very difficult to read the articles and write about them "appropriately." It was very hard to try to analyze the argument that each article was making rather than making my own argument and in putting my own opinions. The first thing I realized was that I wasn't completely clear on what making a rhetorical claim about my argument meant. Honestly til this day I am still not completely sure but one thing that did really help me was when Proffesor mentioned that it was better sometimes to "just go." Keep writting.

Unit 2 Proposal

For Unit 2 my topic will based on the national issue of the DREAM Act. Most importantly my topic will revolve around the event that happened on September 21, 2010 when the Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act. To get a better understanding of this issues I will discuss what the DREAM Act is and who it affects.
The DREAM Act states the right for thousands of undocumented (illegal immigrant) students to gain a 6-yr long path to citizenship. These students would be able to gain there citizenship under certain requirements only. These requirements are as follow:

• Must have entered the U.S. before the age of 16
• Must have been present in the U.S. for at least 5 consecutive years prior to the enactment of the bill
• Must have graduated from a U.S. high school or have obtained a GED, or have been accepted into an institution of higher education
• Must be between the ages of 12 and 35 at the time of application
• Must have good moral conduct

The DREAM Act currently affects thousands of illegal students in a college institution and graduates from high school. Varios groups in the U.S. are either for or against this Act. That is why the fact that the Senate did not pass the bill for the second time in history this past September brought about a lot of speculation and arguments. My topic would be based on the arguments that these speculations made regarding this incident.
For my topic I have already found many related sources like articles, blog posting and news interviews (CNN and Fox 4) that responded to the failure to pass the Act. The DREAM Act has it's own website and their are also facebook and myspace pages on the DREAM Act that brought about a lot of responses to this incident.
I chose this topic for two main reasons. It is a very interesting topic and yet a not very known topic to many Americans. Many American still remain oblivious to this topic. Another reason is that I know of close friends here on campus and off that were affected by this topic. Therefore through this paper I myself would like to gain more knowledge of the arguments made about this topic.