The Dust Bowl of the 1930s – An Environmental Disaster
Outline
A. Intro
1. Attention getter – John Steinbeck’s most successful novel The Grapes of Wrath is based on an Oklahoma family that moves west to escape the blighted farming conditions created by years of dust storms.
a. paraphrase Quote #5 – Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Dorothea Lange
2. State the topic – dust storms in the Midwest created unlivable conditions
3. Thesis -- …many conditions, not just drought…profoundly affected the people who lived in the region…went on for many years.
B. Thesis element #1 (many conditions, not just drought)
1. farming practices
a. Quote #7 from xxxxxx.org – erosion and loss of topsoil
b. Quote #8 from xxxxxxxx.com – pulling up of roots from indigenous plants took away natural “anchors” from the soil
2. extended drought
a. Quote #2 from Wikipedia.com – drought dries the topsoil
b. Quote #3 from Wikipedia.com – affected 100 million acres in 5 adjoining states
3. Transition statement – people living on those 100 million acres in 5 states were affected, not just the land
C. Thesis element #2 (affected people in the region)
1. People moved away
a. Use half of Quote #6 from history.com – families had to travel to other areas
2. Homelessness
a. Paraphrase half of Quote #6 from history.com – many people lost their homes, became homeless, abandoned their farms
b. Quote #4 from history.com – people moving to California became known as “Okies”
D. Thesis element #3 (years/duration of the dust event)
1. Waves of drought
a. Quote #1 from Wikipedia.com -- drought came in three waves
b. Paraphrase from Quote #9 from xxxxxxxx.org – the impact of the extended drought, farms would start to recover and then drought would happen again
E. Conclusion
A. Save your best quote on your topic for this part of your paper.
B. Find a statistic or fact that sums up your paper.
C. Leave the reader wondering. What question could you ask of the reader that wants them wanting more information? Go back to something you put in your introductory p’graph.
(How would America regard John Steinbeck, one of the nation’s best writers of the 20th century without his story of Tom Joad’s family making its way to California, facing near starvation and fighting for food and shelter?)