Karla leiva palacios

2/18/18

WP1 Cover Letter

For WP1 I chose immigration as my topic, specifically illegal immigration. I

decided to chose this topic because it was something that I wanted to learn more about

as it has a direct and personal connection with me. At first I was not sure what genres to

choose as I thought that only news articles would talk about that topic. I did my research

and I found many blogs addressing this issue; I found it very interesting how many

people take their time and write pieces like the one I found. My visual genre was a lot

easier to come across because of the pages I follow on instagram, this piece fell right

into my hands. Being so closely involved with that topic I realized I was the audience

post like the one I chose were targeting. The hardest genre I would say would be the

scholarly article, it's not that often that I come across document like that one. I found

myself very interested and genuinely intrigued by the information being provided. I also

found the scholarly article more difficult to read and understand who the audience was.

After finding the three different genres that I was going to use I made a list for all

three. I listed the writing conventions and characteristic of each genre that I had chosen.

I then figured out who the audience was and the purpose of each piece based on the

writing conventions used. By making a list i was able to compare and contrast the

similarities and differences of each genre a lot quicker.

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K​arla Leiva Palacios

Mariel Aquino

Writing Project 1

Determining a genre can be very useful to and analyze the purpose of different

forms of writing. Every genre has different writing conventions that change based upon

who their audience is. For this Project I chose three different genres that talk about the

same topic; Immigration, specifically illegal immigration and the policies that have been

put in place to deal with this crisis. For my non academic genre I chose a blog that

discusses potential solutions to thousand of immigrants who will be left undocumented

after the termination of their legal status: TPS. For my Visual genre I chose an

instagram post made by a first hand activist who is involved in this issue; she takes a

more emotional approach. Finally for my scholarly article I chose an online detailed

article about the effects of immigration in this country and all of policies introduced over

the years and its effects, including the establishment of TPS. All of these different

writing pieces discuss the same topic but in very different ways by using a variety of

writing conventions, and tone depending on its audience. Although they have many

differences they all have the same purpose, which is to inform the people of the current

immigration crisis in the country.

The non Academic genre that I chose Is a blog titled “​What Comes Next:

Potential Relief Options After the Termination of TPS” by ​David Isaacson​. In this blog
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entry he discusses the various ways in which immigrants affected by the removal of

TPS could keep residing in the country. The tone of this blog is very candid and critical

therefore this gives away that in fact this is a blog. Blogs are usually full of the authors

opinion or knowledge on a subject. However It is definitely more casual than most news

articles and scholarly articles. It was also very bias although informational. He also

provides hope for the people affected by this by stating that “​It is important to know,

however, that the termination of TPS may not equate to the termination of all ability to

remain lawfully in the United States”. 1We can sense the bias on the subject of matter

by the way he informs that there are different possibilities to help the people affected by

this; he uses encouraging and positive vocabulary and a very informational tone to get

his purpose across to the audience. His main audiences is first hand victims of this

issue, therefore he not only has to show empathy and hope, he is also providing useful

information that ​could help the nearly 300,000 immigrants to stay in the country they call

home. “materially affecting the applicant’s eligibility for asylum can also excuse late

filing under ​INA §208(a)(2)(D​) and ​8 C.F.R. §208.4(a)(4)(i)​ as long as the applicant files

with in a reasonable time given those changed circumstances.” 2He is giving legal

1
Isaacson, David. “What Comes Next: Potential Relief Options After the Termination of
TPS |.” ​The Insightful Immigration Blog​, David Isaacson
http://Blog.cyrusmehta.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/Sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_201
6.Png, 18 Jan. 2018,
blog.cyrusmehta.com/2018/01/what-comes-next-potential-relief-options-after-the-termin
ation-of-tps.html.
2
​ Isaacson, David. “What Comes Next: Potential Relief Options After the Termination of
TPS |.” ​The Insightful Immigration Blog​, David Isaacson
http://Blog.cyrusmehta.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/Sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_201
6.Png, 18 Jan. 2018,
blog.cyrusmehta.com/2018/01/what-comes-next-potential-relief-options-after-the-termin
ation-of-tps.html.
Karla leiva palacios
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advice to the families that will be facing deportation in light of the circumstances and

therefore establish a personal connection to the audience. His very personal approach,

and appealing to emotions gives him a very casual tone which also make this genere a

blog. This is in contrast to what I observed in the scholarly article that I used which

although it was also very informational it was much more formal.

For my scholarly article I chose an article called “Immigration and Immigrants:

Setting the Record Straight” by Michael E. Fix, Jeffrey S. Passel. He discusses the the

history of immigration and the policies that have been placed in the past few years. He

also discusses the pros and cons of immigration and how immigration has affected the

US economy among other statistics. For example “The United States is now

experiencing the largest wave of immigrants in the country's history. The first major

in-migration began in the late 1840s and peaked in the 1880s, a decade during which

somewhat more than 5 million immigrants arrived on U.S. shores (​Figure 1​).”3 In this

piece of writing the author is very straightforward and much less opinionated. This quote

was followed by a graph showing the growth of immigration throughout the years. This

makes this piece much more reliable and less opinion based which is therefore better

for academic research. I also observed that his writing is organized differently than a

blog. He divides his information into sections and bullet points. This piece of writing is

obviously much more accepted in an academic setting because of its research based

information and the way it is organized. By observing the characteristics of this article I

3
Fix, Michael E., and Jeffrey S. Passel. “Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the
Record Straight.” ​Urban institute nonprofit social and economic policy research​, The
Urban Institute, 1 May 1994, webarchive.urban.org/publications/305184.html#IV.
Karla leiva palacios
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can make a conclusion as to the purpose of this document and its intended audience.

Since the content of this piece is researched based and has many graphs and statistics

we can conclude that it is for students or anyone who might be working on a research

paper. It also is very informational and not bias; this lets us know that it is a trusted

resource and can be used in an academic setting. The main purpose is to inform

anyone about immigration in the united states, there is no political bias therefore it is

very neutral and can apal to anyone interested in learning about the history and effects

of immigration. This however is the complete opposite to the final genre that I chose to

discuss the same topic: an instagram post.

The visual genre that I chose was an Instagram post made by a first hand

activist who is involved in this issue; she takes a more emotional approach on the

matter. This piece is artwork by Yocelyn Riojas accompanied by a caption. Her painting

is depicting two hands holding, between them they are holding three flags from central

american countries that are affected by the removal of TPS. There are also flowers

between their fingers; the hands are also brown which depicts the main groups affected

by this. Her caption is also very lengthy and emotional, she is appealing to the

audiences emotions rather than logic. “​As of right now as many of you know or I hope

you do, the Temporary Protection Status is ending for Haiti, Nicaragua, and now El

Salvador...Many families under TPS have been here 17+ years building roots. Even

though they are all small countries ...this situation still matters. It’s disappointing to see

how little of this is being discussed in the media and community if at all. Just because

this doesn't involve you it's still wrong, and therefore deserves your attention and action.
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I stand with ​#DACA​ and ​#TPS​”. 4Considering that this is an Instagram post this would

be a lengthy caption which would incline more people to read it because of how rare it is

to see something like that on instagram. This form of Activism is becoming more and

more effective today among young adults and teenagers, which is who the audience for

this post was; young activist who want to take action in today's issues. Although her

vocabulary is more casual it is also very emotional. This post serves as political

propaganda by targeting the audiences emotions. The caption is lengthy for an

instagram post but very short compared to a news article or blog, this catches the

audience's attention. The purpose of this is to spark a curiosity on the topic and cause

the audience to inform themselves on this issue. This post serves to raise awareness on

a subject not often talked about.

Each of the genres chosen discuss the same topic of immigration, although each

have a very different approach to it. Both the instagram post and the blog had very

opinionated content, unlike the scholarly article. The scholarly article was very different

than both of the other genres as it was not emotionally driven at all and had no opinion

based content. The scholarly article had facts, statistics, and conclusions based upon

these facts and statistics presented. The tone was also very different from genre to

genre. Despite all of the differences in genres we can observe that the purpose doesn't

change as much. In each piece the author's purpose is to inform the audience of a

current crisis in the country, although some are bias.

4
“@Yocelyn.riojas on Instagram: "As of right now as many of you know or I hope you
do, the Temporary Protection Status is ending for Haiti, Nicaragua, and now El
Salvador....".” ​Instagram​, www.instagram.com/p/BdzFvJiAUcc/?taken-by=yocelyn.riojas.
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Work Cited

@Yocelyn.riojas on Instagram: "As of right now as many of you know or I hope you do,
the Temporary Protection Status is ending for Haiti, Nicaragua, and now El
Salvador....".” ​Instagram​, ​www.instagram.com/p/BdzFvJiAUcc/?taken-by=yocelyn.riojas​.

Isaacson, David. “What Comes Next: Potential Relief Options After the Termination of
TPS |.” ​The Insightful Immigration Blog​, David Isaacson
http://Blog.cyrusmehta.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/Sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_201
6.Png, 18 Jan. 2018,
blog.cyrusmehta.com/2018/01/what-comes-next-potential-relief-options-after-the-termin
ation-of-tps.html.

Fix, Michael E., and Jeffrey S. Passel. “Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the Record
Straight.” ​Urban institute nonprofit social and economic policy research​, The Urban
Institute, 1 May 1994, webarchive.urban.org/publications/305184.html#IV.