Geography 312: Chicago and Its Region Assignment #2: Ethnic Patterns Winter 2024 Assignment posted Feb. 22; Assignment The second essay assignment in the course focuses on ethnic groups and their patterns of geographical location in Chicago and its suburbs. Each student will pick one group, do a short research project on it, and produce a three-page paper summarizing the findings. The choice is yours whether you pick a group most often identified by race or whether you pick one more often identified by ethnicity, which usually means national origin. Any group will do, so long as there is some guiding definition of who is being included. Several of the reading modules for the course contain ethnic and racial distribution maps for Chicago going back to the 19th century. Reading modules 13, 15, and 17 contain a number of useful maps. There are two major themes that should be developed in your essay. One is background on the group itself and the circumstances of their arrival in Chicago. A second theme is the group's pattern of residence in Chicago and how it changed over time. Be resourceful and creative in your search for outside sources. Ethnic restaurants are one starting point. Ethnic religious parishes are even better. Some of the larger groups, especially the Poles, have a rich literature on their history in Chicago already written and published. For others you might have to do some digging. Anecdotal information, including family experience, can be useful to include and is not to be avoided, provided you remember that it is anecdotal. Three pages of text, plus a list of references, is the assignment. Any style of referencing Is acceptable but if you make a direct quote a full citation of the origin is the way to do it.