Annotated Bibliography Worksheet

1.Citation (ASA Style):

St-Halaire, Aonghas. 2002. "Social Adaptation of Children of Mexican Immigrants:

Educational Aspirations Beyond Junior High School." Social Science Quarterly
(Blackwell Publishing Limited) 83:1026-1043

2.What is the primary research question or thesis of this article?

The article draws on the concept of segmented assimilation to analyze the values toward,
aspiration for, and realistic expectations of pursuing formal education among Mexican-
origin students in southern California.

3.What are the characteristics of the population studied? How many

people, ages, genders, race/ethnicity/nationality, professions, etc.?
How were these people selected?

The population studied was random eight- and ninth- grade student from schools around
the San-Diego area with the average age being 14. The participants in the study were
either Mexican immigrants or have a least one of their parents enter the United States as
an immigrant of Mexico. Students selected to include both inner-city and suburban areas.
The entire sample included 728 cases.

4. What research method(s) was employed by the researchers? Was

this appropriate for the population and the research question? Were
there limitations to this method?

The researchers in this article retrieved data from the several non-profit organizations; the
Children of Immigrants Project, funded by the Spencer Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, and National Science Foundation. The researchers
used questionnaires both in English and Spanish. The questionnaires had questions with
measures on the students’ values and aspirations towards formal education, their
acculturation and identity, and discrimination. The level of measurements used with the
survey questions was ordinal. These methods were appropriate to for the population
sampled because it was easy enough for the students to understand.

5. What were the primary findings of the research?

The primary findings in this research is the data collected specified that the majority of
the eighth- and ninth-grade students do not lack the pro-educational values as predicted
because they are too young to experience the consequences of negative pressures of
assimilation. Consequently, the study shows that as they age, that segmented-assimilation
becomes has more of an effect on their pro-educational values.
6. Critique this article; discuss method, findings, analysis, writing style,
or other elements of the research project.
I feel that if the subjects in the study were older, as the researchers concluded; that the
results would have a significant difference. That is presented as the sole discrepancy in
the methods of the study. Also, not having data on the tracking of the students would be
suggested doesn’t support the suggestion that students are veered away from the
educational path. However, the study was still sound and provide a great amount of data
on the perceived educational values of the students.