Thesis statement + annotated bibliography
Thesis statement:
Chinatown is one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods and has one of the fastest immigrant expansions since the mid- 1800s, to the 1940’s and today, due to a self-sustainable system created by the immigrants.
Annotated bibliography:
- Lee, Jennifer. “A Tour of Chinatown, Manhattan-Style.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2016 http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/a-tour-of-chinatown-manhattan-style/?_r=0
I choose “A Tour of Chinatown, Manhattan-Style” by the New York Times because it is a well-known magazine that guarantees reliability of the information provided. Also, it specifies historical facts about the immigration rates and stories from the people who immigrated to the country. The source claims that Chinatown “encompasses the old and new, reflecting both its century-and-a-half of history and its current influx of fresh immigrants”. It not only mentions immigration rates but also specifies how the immigrants got to Manhattan. This article relates to my thesis because it gives facts about the expansion of the Chinese and other ethnic groups in the country and how it became a well-supported system. I will use this source to provide first hand examples of Chinese immigrants and to have reliable and authentic facts about this issue.
- Reimann, Clemens, and Patrice De Caritat. “Factsheet Description.” Explore Chinatown (1998): 5-9. Explore Chinatown. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. http://www.explorechinatown.com/PDF/FactSheet.pdf
This source was chosen because it is a very specific fact sheet about Chinatown today, which also includes a brief explanation about its history. It claims that Chinatown in New York City “is the biggest in the United States, with the largest concentration of Chinese in the Western Hemisphere”. Therefore, this source will be very useful to be able to analyze and compare Chinatown in the past and in the present. This relates to my thesis because it gives the basic facts needed to make precise assumptions about the immigration movement and how it has become successful today.
- Waxman, Sarah. “The history of New York City’s Chinatown.” Com. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. https://www.ny.com/articles/chinatown.html
This source was chosen because it explains in detail the history of Chinatown and the arrival of immigrants to the country. It provides information on how Chinatown was born, the living arrangements, the immigration, the growth, Chinatown today and more. It also claims that Chinatown had an “internal structure of governing associations and businesses which supplied jobs, economic aid, social service and protection”, all factors that contribute to the self-supporting structure mentioned in the thesis. This source will be used to acquire information about the topic and to learn more about the system used to help Chinatown expand.