Diane Van Stone
Web Quest - English 101

Adapted from Bernadette Low Web Quest

The Quest

Introduction

As you begin your cause and effect essay, you want to find some sources on the web that will provide you with more information and will present the thinking of some experts on an issue. The issue explored in this Web Quest is poverty. You may approach either poverty and children or poverty and the working poor. You will be searching for causes and or effects of either.

Task

Write a essay explaining the causes and or the effects of one of these concerns: 1) poverty and children or 2) poverty and the working poor.

Process

1. visit the sites listed below
2. skim the material looking specifically for information about the topics, choosing one or the other to focus on
3. jot some notes to yourself including, and perhaps most importantly, the url
4. talk to a partner exploring the same issue to compare and share information
5. write a essay that:
   • has a topic sentence that generalizes about causes or effects of the issue you explore
   • has at least five sentences that identify and describe the causes or effects
   • uses two critics or sources
   • introduces each critic
   • Provides minimal information about source in parentheses at end of sentence

      

Information Sources

Databases:
Go to the List of all of our Databases with articles in magazines, newspapers and journals. and for Social Issues try the General Interest Periodical Databases such as: *SIRS, *Opposing Viewpoints, CQ Researcher, Research Library and Newspapers in Proquest Direct, and Academic Search Premier in EBSCO.

Also try the Social Science Databases and Diversity databases: SocINDEX with Full text, Alt Press Watch, GenderWatch, Ethnic NewsWatch.

For Off campus instructions.

Suggested Web Sites:

The Working Poor 

A Profile of the Working Poor, 200 5A Profile of the Working. Poor, 2005. U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Bureau of Labor.
www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2004.pdf

A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003 As defined for this report, the working poor are individuals who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force (working or looking for work), but whose incomes ...http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2003.pdf

USATODAY.com - What recovery? Working poor struggle to pay bills Cathy Gardner faces difficult choices. With barely enough money to cover her bills and the rent on the home she shares with her brother... http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2004-06-08-low-wage-working-poor_x.htm

The Working Poor Families Project (WPFP) was launched in 2002 by national philanthropic leaders.
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/
Reports and Publications In addition to the WPFP state partners' reports, the national Project team periodically releases materials on the conditions of low-income working families.http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/reports_and_pubs.html

Playing by the Rules but Losing the Game: America·s Working Poor. Urban Institute. http://www.urban.org/urlprint.cfm?ID=7494

Who are the Working Poor in America (PDF) Article with links. Literature Review on the Working Poor. Prepared for The Delta Strategy. Summer 2002 http://www.cridata.org/Publications/working_poor.pdf

Problems Facing the Working Poor from the U.S. Department of Labor. Problems Facing the Working Poor Marlene Kim Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations. This paper was presented at an Economic Policy Institute ...http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/conference/workingpoor/workingpoor_toc.htm

Hunger and the Working Poor In 2006, 16.8 million people lived in working-poor families. This translates into 7.7% of all American families living below 100% of poverty have at least one family member working. http://www.secondharvest.org/learn_about_hunger/fact_sheet/working_poor.html

Economic Success Clearinghouse Contains links to "policies, programs and financing strategies that help low-income and working poor families." Topics include welfare, workforce development and support, and personal finance. http://www.financeproject.org/index.cfm?page=24

A Local Ladder for the Working Poor: The Impact of the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the U.S. metropolitan areas from the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/eitc/eitcnational.pdf

The Working Poor and Welfare Recipiency economics research results- Current welfare debates assume that the poor are taking unfair advantage of the largeness of the government by shunning work for welfare benefits... (long report) http://netec.wustl.edu/WoPEc/data/Papers/wpawuwpma9810006.html

A $7.25 MINIMUM WAGE WOULD BE A USEFUL STEP IN HELPING WORKING FAMILIES ESCAPE POVERTY By Jason Furman and Sharon Parrott. from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. http://www.cbpp.org/1-5-07mw.htm

PEOPLE LIKE US: Social Class in America Working Poor. PBS From Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Copyright (c) 2001 by Barbara Ehrenreich. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Online NewsHour: Conversation: The Working Poor -- April 1, 2004RAY SUAREZ: The book is "The Working Poor: Invisible in America." The author is the Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and writer David Shipler. ...www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june04/poor_04-01.html

Children and Poverty

Children in Poverty America's Ongoing War http://www.heartsandminds.org/articles/childpov.htm

Children in Working Poor Families http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/pdf/74_PDF.pdf

How many children are poor? http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp/faqs/faq6.htm
from The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp/

*The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)- http://www.nccp.org/Identifies and promotes strategies that prevent child poverty in the United States and that improve the lives of low-income families. It publishes the Child Poverty News and Issues newsletter.

*Child Poverty List of full text articles on child poverty in Child Trends. Tracks the prevalence of child poverty over time overall and in key population groups (such as children of single mothers). http://www.childtrends.org/_portalcat.cfm?LID=44C5D489-E573-4D2B-AE105641678D2421

Reasons for Child Poverty http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2827/information_show.htm?doc_id=72153

Tacking child poverty and promoting the social inclusion of children in EU. 2007 - long pdf atudyhttp://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_inclusion/docs/experts_reports/synthesis1_2007_en.pdf

Poverty Facts About Children Children and Family http://www.ncsu.edu/csleps/service/Facts%20on%20Children%20&%20Families.pdf

Children in Working Poor families http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/74WorkingPoor.cfm
from Child Trends.

Remember that you can use the articles in our textbook as well.

Activity

After gathering information, write an . It should:

• generalize about what you found,
• develop your point in at least four supporting sentences,
• use two critical sources.

 You should introduce each critic or critical source in your text and you should cite enough information about the source that the reader can find this source on your Works Cited page. You will attach a Works Cited page.For example, you sentence might write a sentence like this as you support develop a point on the working poor. or children and poverty: Social commentator, Barbara Ehrenreich asserts that ·workfare· is not the solution to welfare for unemployed women with children.Lack of work is not the problem for poor women with children. She goes on to add that ·the problem is poverty, which most women enter in a uniquely devastating way·with their children in tow· (288). On the Works Cited page, you will identify the title of the article and the book with publisher and publication date.If you do not include a Works Cited page, place the title of the article in the sentence and the title of the book with date of publication in parentheses. Example: In her Article · A Step Back to the Workhouse,· Barbara Ehrenreich asserts that lack of work is not the problem for poor women, poverty is the problem (Readings: An Anthology, 2004).

Notice that you should introduce the critic or writer first, if one is cited. If one is not cited, it would be helpful to assert that by saying a web contributor or an online commentator on children·s issues, then proceed with the quote. At the end of the quote, before parentheses, cite your source.If it is a web source, place the most important part of the url in the parentheses and the entire address in the Works Cited page. If you are writing an essay where you do not include a Works Cited page, place the entire url in parentheses. Example: You might handle an online source like this:According to the U.S. Department of Labor The majority of the working poor·three-fifths· were, nevertheless, full-time workers (http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2000.htm).

To assist you further with questions or concerns about documentation, go to the closest campus Writing Center or see the online tutors or Online Writing Center (OWL) http://www.ccbcmd.edu/tutoring/index.html.

Evaluation

Your paragraph will be evaluated by a peer and by your instructor using the following criteria:

• generalize about your point in a topic sentence (ideally the first sentence)--20 pts.
• have at least four sentences that support the topic sentence--20 pts.
• use two critical sources--20 pts.
• introduce each critic at least once--20 pts.
• provide minimal information on source in parentheses at the end of the sentence where critic is referred to--20 pts.

 Please exchange essays with peers or groups to see the total points you earned for this activity.

For more on Web quests check out the following sites: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html