Process paper
This summer, for U.S. History II we were assigned to read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a novel about the friendship between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl during Japanese-American Internment. This story peaked our interest about incarnation in WWII. It was ironic and unjust that America was imprisoning its own people without accurate charges. Additionally, we chose Japanese-American internment as our topic because when studying history, people’s stories were always of interest to us. Although the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans was cruel and unwarranted, it is important to learn about their stories and pay tribute to those who suffered in order to turn the United States into what it is today. Learning about lives such as Korematsu’s makes history much more personal because you feel sympathy for him and the others who were interned. In this way, we were able to see history as real events affecting real people, and not just words in a textbook.
We chose to construct a website because we felt it was the best way to organize our topic. Although we focused on the leadership and legacy involved in Japanese-American internment, we took a holistic approach to our topic and covered all aspects of the causes, process, and effects of internment. Therefore, we were able to make multiple tabs and subtabs to organize the information properly. Also, a website allows for creativity. With a paper, there is a rigid format and minimal room for originality, but with a website you are able to organize the information in whatever way you like. Also, visual aids are helpful in understanding the impact of internment. We can describe the conditions in depth, but a picture can very accurately depict the struggle of the Japanese-Americans. Finally, we were able to incorporate videos, which can summarize the information in an alternate format. With all these different aspects of the website, it is more interactive and enjoyable for the reader, as they can explore the many different forms of information.
To conduct our research, first we went to the library and found books about our topic. As we read, we got an overview of everything and began to pick certain subjects to concentrate on. Then, we created an outline with the different aspects of internment we wanted to focus on. As we researched, we found additional sources to fill in the areas where we did not have as much information. We thought our topic fit well with the NHD theme because when thinking about leadership and legacy, Japanese-American internment stood out to us. Although the imprisonment of all these people was horrible, it has had a lasting impact on U.S. policy. As a country, America has learned from its racist mistakes and attempted to make up for the harm it caused Japanese-Americans. Although it was awful to put these people through camps, especially since the majority of them were U.S. citizens, America recognized its mistakes and moved forward, something not every country would be willing to do.
We chose to construct a website because we felt it was the best way to organize our topic. Although we focused on the leadership and legacy involved in Japanese-American internment, we took a holistic approach to our topic and covered all aspects of the causes, process, and effects of internment. Therefore, we were able to make multiple tabs and subtabs to organize the information properly. Also, a website allows for creativity. With a paper, there is a rigid format and minimal room for originality, but with a website you are able to organize the information in whatever way you like. Also, visual aids are helpful in understanding the impact of internment. We can describe the conditions in depth, but a picture can very accurately depict the struggle of the Japanese-Americans. Finally, we were able to incorporate videos, which can summarize the information in an alternate format. With all these different aspects of the website, it is more interactive and enjoyable for the reader, as they can explore the many different forms of information.
To conduct our research, first we went to the library and found books about our topic. As we read, we got an overview of everything and began to pick certain subjects to concentrate on. Then, we created an outline with the different aspects of internment we wanted to focus on. As we researched, we found additional sources to fill in the areas where we did not have as much information. We thought our topic fit well with the NHD theme because when thinking about leadership and legacy, Japanese-American internment stood out to us. Although the imprisonment of all these people was horrible, it has had a lasting impact on U.S. policy. As a country, America has learned from its racist mistakes and attempted to make up for the harm it caused Japanese-Americans. Although it was awful to put these people through camps, especially since the majority of them were U.S. citizens, America recognized its mistakes and moved forward, something not every country would be willing to do.