Texts

• “TRANSFORMING BORDER GEOGRAPHIES IN A MOBILE AGE” by Gabriel Popescu
• “A World without Borders Makes Economic Sense” by Michael Clemens
• “A World without Border” by Stefany Anne Golberg

Requirements

Your essay should have an original title, use 12 pt Times New Roman Font, and be double spaced. This essay will be approximately 7-10 pages, and any essays that do not meet the requirement will lose points. Create a properly formatted works cited page, and correctly use in-text citations. 

Source requirements

For this essay, you must use 6-10 outside sources for support. You are welcome to use texts from previous weeks, but these do not count as outside sources. If appropriate, you can include a source you have cited in a previous essay. 

You must have a variety of sources, including AT LEAST:

• 3 sources from the college library databases
• 1 credible online article
• 1 credible media source, such as a video, podcast, work of art, etc.

Writing Task

For this essay, you will apply conceptual and theoretical frameworks in a research-based essay. Analyze a controversial topic related to the theme of borders using issues raised by the texts we have discussed. Use additional research to articulate your understanding of the issue/topic, position yourself in the critical conversations about this aspect of borders, and make clear the larger significance of your argument, exploration, and analyses. You must use relevant strategies of argument to support your positions, and you may use REVISED portions of other essays from this class.

Tips

To effectively approach this topic, you must come up with a critical question about borders that can be answered through analyzing multiple readings, images, and videos used in this class. A good research question might look like the following:

• To what degree do strong borders improve national security?
• How do immigrant artists in America portray the concept of borders, and what impact does this portrayal have?
• Would open borders positively impact the world’s economy? 

Getting Started

Here are some interesting places to begin your research:

• The Conversation – Articles on Open borders
• Open Borders: The Case
• Immigration – Pros and Cons

The Annotated Bibliography

In addition to the essay, you will need to create an annotated bibliography. 

DUE: [] on Canvas 

1. Formatting: Use MLA-style formatting (see sample) and include the following.
1. Three correctly formatted MLA Citations
2. Three corresponding annotations, including at least one academic journal article for this part of the assignment.
2. Annotations: An annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Your annotations must do the following.
1. Summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article?
2. Assess the source. Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?
3. Reflect on the source’s usefulness to your research paper. How do you plan to use this source in your research project?