Unit 2 Discourse Analysis

Gutierrez, Sergio. focus west Loas americanosPersonal Interview. Focus West. 26 Feb 2011. http://www.focuswest.org/latino/losamidaho.cfm

Albright, Jodeane. "Migrant farm workers are modern-day slaves." Polotics. 29jun2007. Web. 26 Feb 2011. http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/politics/?p=3209

COHEN, AUBREY. "Hispanics came for work,Stayed to build futures." Bellingham Herald (2008): 1. Web. 26 Feb 2011. http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2007/11/13/233401/hispanics-came-for-work-stayed.html

"End Illegal Immigration." Boundary of the United States. ALIPAC, Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.endillegalimmigration.com/About_Us/index.shtml

Americans for legeal Immigration. ALIPAC, 27feb2011. Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.alipac.us/

Center For Imigration studies, Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.cis.org/

NumbersUSA for lower immigration levels. NumbersUSA, 2010. Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.numbersusa.com/content/

Milton, Katherine, and Jack Watson. "Distance Education for Mexican-American Migrant Farmworkers." Arizona state university, n.d. Web. 26 Feb 2011. http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598geold97/Spring97/10/migrant.html

Discourse analysis can be a difficult task unless you have tools from which to draw upon. The book writing analytically has some great information and tools for this. The Toulmin model by far is my favorite, it is a basic outline of how to question the claims and warrents that a person uses in there arguments. Not only can you use it to evaluate an argument or article from some one else but you can also apply it to your own writing in order to strengthen your claims. Wysoki's writings on how to analyze web pages and other media is also useful in helping to determine if the information is valid and put together well. Wysoki's guidelines are helpful when setting up your own papers or web documents so as to make them easy to follow and aid in keep your audiences attention. I have attempted to use parts of these methods in my discourse analysis below.

Judge Sergio Gutierrez

The interview with Judge Gutierrez shows the success of an individual and how his success has inspired others within the migrant farm worker community. I feel the interview was conducted well and it asked some very specific questions concerning the difficulties Judge Gutierrez faced in his life leading up to his being appointed Judge. The interview with his wife also focuses on the difficulties children of migrant workers face in our education system and what she is doing to improve their success. A young girl Angeles Jacobo was also interviewed and she is quoted as saying "I was so impressed with him. And I said, I want to be like him. I was working in the fields and I know that I can do it because he did it. " . This interview speaks very positively towards the migrant communities and what they can accomplish through hard work and the help they receive from others.

Another article I discovered does not shed such a positive light even though it was written by a person obviously concerned with the well being of migrant workers. The blog "Migrant farm workers are modern-day slaves" (Albright) This blog post written by a news assistant for the Idaho State Journal shows just how we can over simplify a topic and let emotions overcome our search for facts. First off the article itself is very narrow minded and quite unsubstantiated using little facts to back up the claim that migrant workers are modern day slaves. It is based more on the person's opinion rather than proof. Using a term like "SLAVE" which implies that the migrant workers are property is ludicrous to say the least. The entire theme of her post however well intended, actually has an opposite effect than the one she desired based on some of the comments her blog received. "Jodeane, you see it is a vicious circle and you are most definitely running around in circles."(Anonymous post) Very few people will take a blog post like hers seriously especially when no credibility was established and when the author also misuses old sayings. "The biblical warning that you sow what you reap" (Albright) which is actually stated "You reap what you sow".

There are obvious differences between the two articles and there influences, even though they are posted by entities on the same side of the coin if you will. The most obvious is how things are perceived by people. The first article shows a very positive setting while the second even though it was meant to be helpful and bring some awareness to a problem it has the effect of being discarded and not taken seriously because of its emotional focus and lack of credibility of the author.

The third article I'm looking at shows a long history of Hispanic workers migrating to areas of the northwest. Around the time of world war I Hispanic farmers and farm workers were hired to supply sugar beets to the factories but this was only the beginning (Cohen). They were also later contacted to work the railroads from Seattle to Bellingham, the latter of which has seen a steady growth of its Hispanic community over the last few years. The sense of community and familiar like surroundings (Cohen) are a large reason why these formerly migrant workers have settled down and began working in other jobs aside from farm work. Some have started restaurants and work in "less visible jobs" (Cohen). The success of the community I'm sure has an impact on the successes of the individuals as well. It is now a place where they can feel a part of something and have friends and family to turn to for aid when it is needed. In a lot of areas migrant workers do not have this type of environment to help them. Without the benefits of a community such as the one in Bellingham most migrant workers find themselves at an extreme disadvantage. This article does a good job of staying somewhat unbiased while showing a positive outlook on a difficult topic.

The number of web sites devoted to immigration either for or against it is mind blowing to say the least. I've gathered a few examples here for this analysis. Websites like (NumberUSA and ALIPAC) are set up and designed with the purpose of "Educating the public" as well as urging people to take action to stop illegal immigration. I will mainly focus on whether or not they do a good job focusing their websites goals and organizing there information. First (NumnbersUSA) is set up in an easy to scan format showing links to news, blogs etc… it is very easy to follow and shows a lot of current topics concerning immigration, the up to date topics lends a lot to the pages credibility. (ALIPAC) on the other hand is a very busy looking site that is not as easy to scan their choice of fonts and bold outlines as well as their un-clear links in the margin do not make for easy access to information you might be seeking, to be honest the page hurts my eyes when I try and scan thru the text to seek key information. The (Center for Immigration studies) webpage is laid out very similar to (NumbersUSA) and has quick links to the most read topics as well as to their database of information and statistics. (Boundary of the United States) is an (ALIPAC) sponsored webpage that suffers from not being updated since 2009 degrading some of its credibility by not staying up to date with current topics. It however has a better design than the actual (ALIPAC) webpage. The very concise list of links on the left hand side allows for easy scanning and selection of information. The main body of the page also has imbedded links within the text for easy reference while reading through the information.

The task of researching and gathering current, factual and credible information on migrant farm workers and illegal immigrants to say the least is a difficult task. There are literally hundreds of websites speaking for "this" and against "that" and many have strong political views to one side or the other. Having spent hours going through the information out there I find myself no closer to any real viewpoint one way or the other. One thing however that is very obvious is that the matter of immigration legal or illegal is a growing issue that will have dire effects on our country if some solution is not found.