Topic/Preliminary Argument:
For the historiographical essay, I would like to look at how scholars have studied and written about undocumented Latino children and their course of shifting from the culture they were born in, to the jarringly different culture of the United States. In the course, the class has mainly focused on discussing adult immigrants and then future generations of those immigrants who are born in the United States. Observing this, I began to question what groups we had not had a chance to learn a lot about. Children who immigrate illegally into the United States in their youth probably have a completely different experience than the established adult immigrants. I am interested in seeing how scholars have looked at undocumented children and the effects that come from immigrating at such a formative time for their development and maturity. I have not found any scholarly work about undocumented child immigrants earlier than 2010, which means it is a very new idea in the academic realm. In the articles that I have read, I see a pattern of education being core issue discussed when looking at areas of hardships for the children. Education seems to be at the center of the earlier literature, while the newer articles have a more comprehensive look at effects on youth. If I continue to see this pattern while reading, I think this might be a good direction to go for my paper.
Current Sources:
Abrego, Leisy J. “Legal Consciousness of Undocumented Latinos: Fear and Stigma as Barriers to Claims-Making for First- and 1.5-Generation Immigrants.” Law & Society Review 45.2 (2011): 337-69. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Gonzales, Roberto G., and Leo R. Chavez. ““Awakening to a Nightmare”: Abjectivity and Illegality in the Lives of Undocumented 1.5-Generation Latino Immigrants in the United States.” Current Anthropology 53.3 (2012): 255-81. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Gonzales, Roberto G. “Learning to Be Illegal: Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood.” American Sociological Review 76.4 (2011): 602-19. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Silver, Alexis. “Aging Into Exclusion And Social Transparency: Undocumented Immigrant Youth And The Transition To Adulthood.” Latino Studies 10.4 (2012): 499-522. Chicano Database. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Rojas-Garcia, Georgina. “Transitioning from School to Work as a Mexican 1.5er: Upward Mobility and Glass-Ceiling Assimilation among College Students in California.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 648 (2013): 87-101. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Thoughts on Histories 
A historiography asks a very specific historical question–what frames our historical understanding and how has that understanding evolved through a specific set of readings?
An important part of setting yourself up for success is making sure you select good sources up front, ones that can answer historiographical questions. For you, that means taking a step back and just finding 3-4 books that talk about Latina/o immigrants. It might be useful to focus in on a time period (the mid-20th century has some potential). You might want to try the new book by Natalia Molina; Mae Ngai’s _Impossible Subjects_; and Kelly Lytle-Hernandez’ _Migra!_. These would be a good start. You can use them to find others (maybe one important article or other book) that might change your use of one or more of those above.
Then see what they say about the past. Try to focus in on something they speak to in common. See if something doesn’t come from thinking about gender or youth, but don’t force it. They have to be doing the work and you need to be able to let them determine the basis for discussion. That is the heart of the exercise.
Let me know how it develops…