A reflection paper for Refugee Literature

EN 334: Refugee Crisis in World Literature Anderson

Reflection Paper Assignment

Due by 5 PM Tuesday, February 9th

We have now read four articles that look at some of the ethical questions raised by the contemporary refugee crisis: Matthew Gibney’s “The Ethics of Refugees,” Rachel Landry’s “The ‘Humanitarian Smuggling’ of Refugees: Criminal Offence or Moral Obligation,” Michael Huemer’s “In Defense of Illegal Immigration,” and Joseph Nevins’ “Migration of Reparations.”

Choose one of these articles and write a 2- to 2½-page essay that summarizes the author’s argument, explains his or her reasoning, and comments on its effectiveness. Some questions that might help you plan your essay are the following: What is the author’s main point? What ethical question or questions is he/she addressing, and what is his/her position? What kind of argument does the author make for this position? Is the author’s argument persuasive? Why or why not? What are the ethical or practical consequences of accepting the author’s argument?

While these questions can help you organize your thinking, I do not recommend that you try to answer them all sequentially—an approach that could leave your discussion feeling pretty fragmented or dispersed. Instead, you should find a main point or thesis (usually stated at the end of your introduction) that can act as the essay’s center of gravity and give structure to the discussion. Remember too that each of the articles covers a range of issues, and you cannot talk about everything in the scope of a two-page paper. You’ll need to make some thoughtful decisions about what to include and what to leave out.

Please send your completed essay as a word document file to my Caldwell email address. The word document should be titled with your last name and the name of the writing assignment: e.g., Anderson, EN 334 Reflection Paper.