Writing Manual                                                                               Revised March 2005

 

 

MACOMB JUNIOR HIGH WRITING STYLE REFERENCE

INTRODUCTION

 

While a student at Macomb Jr. High School, you will be asked occasionally to write on subjects that are outside your personal experience or knowledge.  Sometimes called a “research paper,” a “library report,” or a “research essay,” these types of writing all have in common the requirement that you use information from sources found in a library or through a computer.  The important aspect of such writing is that you must use information or opinions from others to “back-up” your own idea or opinion.

 

This reference was developed to show you how to prepare such writing assignments.  By reviewing this guide before you begin a writing assignment and by using the examples provided, you will be able to produce a finished project that will look professional.

 

The following information has been adapted from

 

 Hacker, Diana.  A Pocket Style Manual. 4th ed.  Boston:Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2004.

 

            The Modern Language Association (MLA) style is the guide used for freshman English at all state universities in Illinois.

 

Keep in mind that in preparing any assignment, you should strive to produce the highest quality work possible.  Being consistent and neat in your writing is a major factor in producing quality work.

 

THE PAPER’S PRESENTATION

 

By “presentation” we mean how a writing assignment looks when it is handed to your teacher.  Those elements that can have a positive effect on the presentation of the paper include:  appearance, typing, contents and page form.

 

Appearance.  Teachers appreciate a paper that is neat, organized and prepared with care.  Taking the time to be neat and organized will also help you develop more of an appreciation for your own writing skill.

 

Contents.  Every research paper should include these parts: a title page, the body of the paper, and a works cited list.  Longer papers may require the addition of a table of contents, an outline and an appendix.  Additionally, longer papers may be enhanced with section headings.  If you have any doubt about when to use any of these optional elements, you should ask your teacher.

 

Typing.  All of your research writing must be either typewritten or printed on a word processor.  Some assignments may be accepted in handwritten form, but be certain that your teacher specifically tells you that the handwritten form is acceptable for each assignment.

 

Page Form.

A.     Typewritten.  When a writing assignment is prepared on a typewriter or word processor, you should use a standard 8 ½” x 11” paper.  Allow 1” for the left margin and 1” for the top, bottom and right margins.  All typewritten work should be double spaced using one side of the paper only.

 

      When you begin a new paragraph, indent five spaces.  One space is left after commas and semicolons.  One  space is left after periods, colons and any other punctuation marks which are used to end a sentence.

 

      Direct quotations that are longer than four lines should be indented ten spaces, omitting the quotation marks.  The right margin remains the same.

     

      If you choose to use italics rather than underline the magazine or book title, the most import thing to remember is to BE CONSISTENT.

 

Handwritten.  Check with your teacher for specific directions when handwriting a paper. Use one side of the paper only, and write only in ink (blue or black).  New paragraphs should be indented one inch.  Be certain to leave enough space after the end of each sentence so that the reader can easily tell where the new sentence begins.  Spacing for commas and other punctuation marks should be appropriate.

     

      When you make a direct quotation that is longer than four lines, indent the   whole quotation two inches, leaving off the quotation marks.  The right margin remains the same.

 

Page Numbering.  In both the typewritten and handwritten forms, the page numbering should be the same.  In the upper right hand corner of each page, place your last name and the page number.  The rule will apply to all pages except:  the title page, the first page of the text, the works cited page (s) and any supplemental pages.

 

            Title Page.  As the first part of your paper, the title page is important in establishing the quality of your paper.  Therefore, the “look” of the title page is important.  All information on the title page should be centered left-to-right on the page.

 

The title should be ten spaces from the top of the page.  Then skip two more lines and type your name.  Then skip ten more lines and type the name of the course.  Skip two more lines and type the name of your teacher.  Finally, skip two more lines and type the date.

 

            Some teachers prefer students to put this information at the top of the first page instead of on a separate title page. Ask your teacher if (s)he has a preference.

 

BODY OF THE PAPER

 

                The most important part of your writing will be contained in the body of the paper.  This is where you will present your ideas and the information that supports those ideas.  For the purpose of this reference, we will refer to the information that you gather from other sources as EVIDENCE.

 

Just as a carpenter knows how to build a house, s/he must get the lumber, nails and other materials from a building supply dealer.  So too, you may have an idea about a topic, but you must gather evidence from the library to support or backup your idea.  The carpenter “pays” for the materials s/he uses.  In a similar way, the writer of a research paper must “pay” for the evidence s/he uses by giving appropriate credit or acknowledgment to the sources from which the evidence came.  The “pay” to the source if called a CITATION.

 

            Citation.  A citation is the writer’s method of telling the reader where the writer got her/his information.  To use information, whether facts or ideas, from another person without giving full credit to that person is a form of theft.  Called PLAGIARISM, this form of theft is most serious and will leave everything else in your writing in doubt.  Therefore, it is very important that you leave no doubt as to which ideas in your writing came from another source.

 

            When to use a citation.  The most difficult part of research writing for many students is trying to determine when to cite.  The following are situations when you must provide a citation:

 

A.     Whenever you use a direct quotation.

B.     Any time you copy a chart, diagram or illustration.

C.     Anytime you develop a chart or diagram from the information provided by some source.

D.     Anytime you paraphrase:

1.      Another writer’s ideas

2.      Another writer’s opinion

E.      Anytime you use evidence that is not considered to be common

knowledge, particularly statistics and data.

 

The last item on the above list is the most difficult rule to define.  For  example, most teachers would agree that you would not have to cite a source if you state Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgeville County , Kentucky, on February 12, 1809 and that he was the 16th President of the United States.

            Generally, if you are dealing with less well know topics, or if the evidence you are using is found in only one or two sources, it is best to provide a citation.

 

            Caution.  While the best rule is, “when in doubt, cite,” you must avoid the common trap of having your research writing become just a list of quotations and paraphrases strung together.  While such a form of writing may show that you did a lot of library work, it does not show that you can think for yourself.  Use your own words to tie the evidence together.  Try to avoid beginning or ending paragraphs with evidence.  Use your own words.

 

            Paraphrases.  To paraphrase, take the writing of another and rewrite it into your own words.  Such rewriting still requires that you provide a citation for the evidence used.  Also be accurate when you rewrite the ideas of another.

 

EXAMPLE – PARAPHRASING

 

Original            “Jones was continually guided by a high sense of professionalism

                           that led him to seek opportunities to further his education and to

                        write extensively on naval matters” (Spiller 545).

 

Paraphrase            John Paul Jones was a true professional naval officer who sought

                        to enhance his knowledge naval affairs, and to write on naval

                        subjects (Spiller 545).

 

PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION

(or In Text Citation)

            When you use a direct quote or paraphrase from a source, you must tell your reader where you got the evidence.  The method for doing this is called PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION.  According to the Modern Language Association (MLA), a writer is no longer required to use footnotes.  Instead, the writer inserts at the end of a direct quote or at the end of paraphrased material, a simple notation that will help the reader find out where the writer got the evidence.

 

            If you will look back at the example on the previous page on paraphrasing, you will see at the end of both the direct quote about John Paul Jones and of the paraphrase, there appears within parentheses ( ) the name of the author of the book and the page number of the book on which the information could be found.  That is the writer’s way of telling the reader, “If you want to know where I got this, or if you want to read more about this, here is where to find it.”

 

            It is important for you to remember that the information contained within the parentheses is only a shorthand note that will help the reader find a full citation on the “Works Cited” page of your paper.  As a writer, you want the reader to follow the flow of the ideas of your writing, so it is important that your parenthetical documentation not intrude upon the reading of your writing.  Therefore, the MLA has developed its system of shorthand notations to aid in this process.  Whenever you use a direct quote or paraphrase, you refer your reader to the list at the end of your paper for further information.

 

            Your “Works Cited” list will be organized alphabetically by the first word of each source’s entry.  Therefore, the system calls for you to tell your reader in the body of the paper only the name of the author and the page number of the direct quote or paraphrased ideas.  If you choose to give the author’s last name in the body of the paper, you do not need to do so in the parentheses.

 

EXAMPLES

 

“John Paul Jones exhibited no false modesty about his objectives”(Beach 87).

OR

Beach notes, “John Paul Jones exhibited no false modesty about his objectives” (87).

OR

Beach states that John Paul Jones was proud of his goals  (87).

 

        Both quotations and the paraphrase are from Beach, Edward L. The United States Navy 200 Years.  In the first example, the author and page number are given in the parentheses.  The second example shows the author’s name in the body of the writing, so only the page number must be given in the parentheses.  So, too, in the paraphrase, the author is stated in the body;  thus, the page number is all that is required in the parentheses. 

 

PUNCTUATION OF PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

 

        In the examples given, please note that punctuation at the end of the sentence comes AFTER the parenthetical citation.  When a direct quotation is made, the end punctuation also comes AFTER the parentheses.

        DO NOT PUT A COMMA BETWEEN THE AUTHOR’S NAME AND THE PAGE NUMBER WITHIN THE PARENTHESES.  Within the parentheses, the only punctuation that should appear is to provide the reader with more information than the author’s last name and the page number.  See the next section for an illustration of how to do that.

 

MORE THAN ONE SOURCE BY THE SAME AUTHOR

 

        At times, you may have in your Works Cited list more than one source by the same author.  In that instance, it is important to identify for your reader which of the sources by a given author you have used in a particular part of your paper.

 

EXAMPLES

 

Let’s say that you have used two books by Beach:

 

Beach, Edward L.  The United States Navy 200 years.  New York:   Henry Holt, 1992.

 

Beach, Edward L.   Submarine!   New York:   Henry Holt,   1952.

 

So that your readers would know which book by Beach you were using at any one point, it would be necessary to include in the parentheses not only the author’s last name and the page number, but also the title of the source.  It is not necessary to list the full title of each book in the parenthesis, if a few words will suffice.  Therefore, a citation for the first book in this example would be (Beach, United States Navy 87), while for the second book the citation would be (Beach, Submarine! 335).

 

 

WHEN THE WORK HAS NO AUTHOR

 

        When the work has no named author, begin with the word by which the title is alphabetized in the Works Cited (“Submarines”).  Magazine and encyclopedia articles sometimes have no authors named.

 

THE “WORKS CITED” PAGE

 

        The key to the parenthetical documentation format is the Works Cited page.  This page will be at the end of your paper.  On this page you will list all of the sources you have cited in your writing.  The list is arranged alphabetically by the first word of each entry.

 

      Each entry will have the first line beginning at the left hand margin.  All lines after the first line of each entry will be indented five spaces.  Please see the examples on the following pages.  All entries are double spaced.

 

      The following pages list examples of the entries for the most commonly found sources.  Follow these examples exactly.  It is very important that the format of your Works Cited page be correct.  When you are preparing a paper, if you have a source that does not fit one of the examples listed below, then consult your teacher for the proper form.

 

EXAMPLES

Books

 

By a single author:

 

Hopper, Karl. A Book about Jets. San Francisco: Harper, 1983.

 

Hagan, Kenneth J.  This People’s Navy:  The Making of American Sea Power. New York:  Free Press, 1991.

 

Stillwell, Paul.  Battleship New Jersey:  An Illustrated History.  Annapolis, Maryland:  Naval Institute Press, 1986.

 

Two or More Books by the Same Author:

 

Morrison, Samuel Eliot.  The Two-Ocean War:  A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War.

 

        Boston:  Little, 1963.

 

--- John Paul Jones:  A Sailor’s Biography.  Boston:  Little, 1959.

 

Note:  When you have two or more books by the same author, each entry after the first one may use three dashes (-) in place of the author’s name.

 

A Book by Two or More Authors

 

Woodward, Sandy, and Patrick Robinson.  One Hundred Days: Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander.

 

         Annapolis, Maryland:  Naval Institute Press, 1992.

 

Note:  When you have a book by two or more authors, the names of each author AFTER the first author are written first name first and last name last, instead of the usual entry pattern of last name first and first name last.

 

Britt, Albert Sidney, et al.  The Dawn of Modern Warfare.  Wayne, New Jersey: Avery, 1984.

 

Note:  The abbreviation et al. is used when a book has more than three authors.  Et al. is an abbreviation for a Latin phrase meaning and “and others.”

 

A Later or Revised Edition:

 

Hubbuch, Susan M.  Writing Research Papers Across the Curriculum.  2nd ed. Chicago:  Holt, 1989.

 

Note:  If the book is listed as a “Revised Edition,” then use the abbreviation “Rev. ed.” in the entry.

 

A Book by a Corporate Author:

 

Pacific War Research Society.  Japan’s Longest Day.  New York:  Ballatine, 1972.

 

Note:  A “Corporate Author” is when a book is published by some organization or business and does not have a specific author listed. 

 

Books in a series:

 

Clementine, Darling. Moving to Montana Soon. Studies in the States Ser. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1978.

 

Edited Works:

 

Forrestal, James.  The Forrestal Diaries.  ed.  Walter Millis.  New York: Viking, 1951.

 

Goldstein, Donald M., and Katherine V. Billon, eds.  The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plane.  New York:

 

          Brassey’s (U.S.), 1993.

 

Translated Work:

 

Mickel, Peter, Hansgeorg Jentschura and Kieter Jung.  Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1889-1945.   Trans.

 

        Antony Preston and J. D. Brown. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1977.

 

Anthologies-Emphasis on Editor:

 

Coots, John Olk, ed.  The Norton Book on the Sea:  an Anthology, New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.

 

Anthologies-Emphasis on Individual Author:

 

Lubbock, Basil.  “The China Clippers.”  The Norton Book of the Sea:  an Anthology.  ed. John O. Coote.  New York:

   

          W. W. Norton, 1989:  312-314.

 

Essay or chapter from an anthology:

 

Lubbock, Basil. “The China Clippers.” The Norton Book of the Sea. ed. John O. Coote.

 

New York: Norton, 1989: 312-314.

 

Spiller, Roger J., ed.  Dictionary of American Military Biography.  3 vols. Westport, Connecticut:  Greenwood Press,

 

            1984.

 

Articles in Magazines, Periodicals, Journals, or Newspapers:

 

Magazine Article – No Author Given:

 

“After Pearl Harbor.”   The New Republic 15 Dec. 1941:  816-817.

 

Magazine Article – Author Given:

 

Davenport, Walter.  “Impregnable Pearl Harbor.”  Collier’s  14 June  1941: 11-14.

 

Smith, Fred. “Riddles in Our Time.” The New Republic 23 Jan. 1997: 13-16.

 

NOTE: (use italics or underline title—not both.  Whichever you choose, be consistent!)

 

Journal Article:

 

Melosi, Martin V.  “The Triumph of Revisionism:  The Pear Harbor Controversy, 1941-1982.”  The Public Historian  5

 

        (1983):  87-103.

 

Smithers, Mary Ann and Terrence Smathers. “Situational Irony and Sarcasm in the Works of Jane

 

Austen.”  Journal of 18th Century Literature 26.2 (1999): 5-16.

 

Note:  Journals are always listed with the volume number followed by the date in parentheses.  A colon follows the date with the page numbers of the article then given.

 

Newspaper Article:

 

 “Pearl Harbor Lessons.”  New York Times  1 Feb. 1942, sec. 4:2.

 

Thompson, Tony. “Canoeing Everyday.” New York Times 6 May 2002, sec.3:2.

 

 

Note:  Newspapers are often divided into sections, with each section beginning with its own page 1.  Therefore, it is important to list the section as well as the page number.  If the newspaper publishes more than one edition each day, you must list the edition from which your article is cited.

 

Other Written Works

Well-known reference works:

 

“Kiosk.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 3rd ed. 1992.

 

Less familiar reference works:

 

“Anwar Sadat.” Middle Eastern Leaders. Twentieth-Century Political Biography 5. New York:Addison-Wesley, 1994.

 

Birnbaum, Samantha. “Dramatic Monologues.” Writer’s Guide and Index to English. 4th ed. Glenview: Scott, 1968.

 

Encyclopedia – Signed Article:

 

Current, Richard N. “Abraham Lincoln.”  Encyclopedia Britannica.   1975  ed.

 

Mason, Clara N. “Newts.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 1990 ed.

 

Encyclopedia – Unsigned Article:

 

“John Paul Jones.”  Encyclopedia Britannica.  1975 ed.

 

Pamphlet:

 

Lincoln-Douglas Society of Freeport.  Freeport’s Lincoln:  Unveiling at the 71st Anniversary Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

 

       Freeport, Illinois: Lincoln-DouglasSociety of Freeport,  1929.

 

Personal Letter:

 

Mendenhall, Corwin.  Letter to the author.  30 Oct. 1991.

 

Government Document:

 

United States Navy Department.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, D. C.:  GPO, 1959.

 

Note:  GPO stands for Government Printing Office, which is always listed as the publisher for any document published by any agency of the United States government.

 

Material from Other Sources

 

An Interview:

 

Beach, Edward L.  Personal interview.  9 Sept.  1991.

 

Beach, Edward L.  Telephone interview.  24 Oct.  1991.

 

 

Lecture:

 

Stillwell, Paul.  “Admiral Husband E. Kimmel:  Scapegoat.”  Lecture given at Naval History Symposium, University of

       

        Texas.  Austin, Texas, 10 May 1991.

 

Television Programs:

 

Sharks of Steel.  Writ.  Yogi Kaufman.  The Discovery Channel.  1 Nov. 1992.Radio Programs:

 

Welles, Orson, Dir.  War of the Worlds.  Writ. Hopward Koch.  Mercury Theatre of the Air.  CBS.  30 Oct.  1938.

 

Video Tape:

 

Wise, Robert, dir.  Run Silent,  Run Deep.  With Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, MGM.  1958.

 

Note:  If you wish to emphasize the contribution of a particular person who worked on the film, that person could be listed first, instead of the director

 

Sound Recording:

 

Jones, Spike, “Der Fuehrer’s Face.”  Spike Jones:  Cocktails for Two.  Originally Recorded 1942.  ProArte Digital,

 

        CDD 516, 1990.

 

Note:  The previous entry emphasizes a particular song on this album.  You may do the entry without such emphasis.  Also, please note that the form calls for the name of the company that produced the recording, the album number and the date.  If the album is a re-recording, as above, then both dates should be noted.

 

 

Electronic Sources

 

Include all the information your source provides. This will mean hunting the website carefully for information about authors, titles, access and publication dates, sponsoring organizations, etc., so that you can list the information accurately on your works cited page.

 

According to MLA style, Internet sources will include some combination of the following, to be listed in the order given:

1.       Author’s name

2.       Title of the document

3.       Full information about any previous or simultaneous publication in print form

4.       Title of the scholarly project, database, periodical, or professional or personal site

5.       Name of the editor of the scholarly project or database

6.       Date of electronic publication or last update

7.       Name of the institution or organization sponsoring or associated with the site

8.       Date when you accessed the source

9.       Network address, or URL

 

An entire web site:

 

Bruno, Maurice. Home page. 6 Nov. 2001. 16 Oct. 2002  http://www.geocities.com/ brunom

 

United States Environmental Protection Agency. Functions of Wetlands. 25 May 1999.

 

17 Mar. 2003   http:// www.epa.gov/

 

Wetlands of the United States. 2003. Ecology Dept., U of Florida. 4 Oct. 2003  http://www.ufl.edu/

 

Short work from a web site:

 

“Bears.” Wildlife Research Clearing House. 4 Apr. 2003. Nature Preserve Association. 14 May

 

2004   www.nonoise.org/htm   

 

Stutzman, Marion. “Bioethics: The Current Controversy.” Nativeweb 16 May 2004.   18 May 2004

 

   http://www.nativeweb.org/

 

 

Work from a service such as Infotrac:

 

Carlton, James. “Bosnia after World War II.” Eastern Europe Issues 14.3 (1999): 22+. Infotrac. Macomb HS Lib.,

 

Macomb, IL.  12 Sept. 2003   http://infotrac.thomsonlearning.com/

 

Article in an Online Periodical:

 

Last name, First name. “Article title.” Magazine title. 5 Nov. 2001. 25 Feb. 2003  

 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/lists.html

 

Last name, First name. “Article title.” Journal title. 14.6 (1996): 4 pp. 7 May 2003

 

http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/nj2/msg15157.html

 

CD-ROM:

 

Blackstone, Bob. “Golda Meir.” Discovering Biography. CD-ROM. Detroit, Mich.: Gale

 

Research, 1999.

 

 

 Below are sample listings for many of the types of sources you might use. You are also urged to check one of the following very helpful sites for more information on MLA style for in-text citations and lists of works cited.

 

http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/

 

http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/english.html

 

http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/cclib/Research_Tools/Citation_Style_Guides/mlacite.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helping the Homeless

 

Amy Downs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Language Arts 8

 

Mrs. Joanne Curtis

 

March 4, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helping the Homeless

 

I.                  Classification of the homeless

 

A.     Traditionally unemployed males

 

B.     More entire families

 

II.               Ineffective government programs

 

A.     Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Programs

 

1.      Lack of storage

 

2.      Lack of place to prepare food

 

B.     Voucher system

 

1.      “Rewards” homeless

 

2.      Requires more adequate housing supply

 

C.     Rent-Control System

 

1.      Creates “housing gridlock”

 

2.      Primary cause of homelessness in rent controlled cities

 

III.             Steps to alleviate homelessness

 

A.     Acceptance of responsibility by federal government

 

1.      Decrease in housing funds

 

2.      Drop in housing production

 

B.     Increase in proper housing

 

1.      Soup Kitchens

 

2.      Transitional housing

 

3.      Permanent housing

 

 

 

Helping the Homeless

 

        On a chilly February afternoon, an old man sits sleeping on the sidewalk outside a NewYork hotel while the lunchtime crowd shuffles by.  At the man’s feet is a sign which reads:  “Won’t you help me?  I’m cold and homeless and lonely.  God bless you”  (Chambers 11). Imagine, for a moment, the life this man leads.  He probably spends his days alone on the street begging for handouts and his nights searching for shelter from the cold.  He has no job, no friends, and nowhere to turn.  Although most Americans would like to believe that cases like this are rare, the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that as many as 3 million citizens of our country share this man’s lifestyle (Tucker 34).  Who are these people we call “the homeless,” and what factors have contributed to their plight?

            According to Pastor Walker, the director of the Gospel Missions Shelter in Sioux City, Iowa, most of the homeless are unemployed males, and from 30 to 40% have alcohol or drug-related problems.  Walker is quick to note, however, that the image of the “typical” homeless person is changing.  He says, for instance, that the average age of the homeless has dropped from 55 to 30 in the last ten years (Walker interview).  National studies have confirmed that the composition of America’s homeless population consists of families with small children, and 22% of the homeless have full-or part-time jobs (Mathews 57).  Statistics seem to show that more and more of the homeless are entire families who have simply become the victims of economic hardship.

Why are these people still on the streets, despite the billions of dollars that are spent on the homeless each year?  Some blame the national housing shortage, arguing the 2% vacancy rate is not great enough to fill the country’s need for shelter (Marcuse 426).  Further study of the problem, however, suggests that government programs and policies are more likely to blame.  These current programs fall into several categories.  Some are handout programs designed to provide food or clothing to all of the needy, not just the homeless. An example of this type of program is the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program, which was created by the federal government in 1981 in order to make surplus agricultural commodities available to those in need.  Other programs, such as the experimental voucher program and the rent-control system, are intended specifically to provide housing for low-income families that need shelter.  Despite the good intentions behind these programs, however, they have not provided sufficient help for the homeless.

< paragraphs deleted in this sample>

            The program that has had the worst results, however, is the rent-control system, which now covers approximately 12% of America’s housing.  Rent control is a program set up by local governments to limit the amount of rent that a landlord can charge his tenants.  Its existence dates back to the latter part of World War II, when New York tenants became worried about impending rent increases following the war.  In 1947, these tenants persuaded politicians to extend the rent limits into permanent housing regulations. Since that time, nine states and many major cities, such as Los Angeles and Washington, D. C., have adopted rent-control policies (Fleetwood 19).     

            <deleted paragraphs>

      Throughout the nation, rent control has had effects similar to those in New York.

 

 According to William Tucker, a writer who has done extensive research on rent control

 

and the homeless, the existence of rent control is the primary factor that determines that

 

 number of homeless a city will have, regardless of location.  For example, the extent of

 

homelessness in Santa Monica, California, is so great that the city has been dubbed “The

 

homeless capital of the West Coast.”  The only characteristic of this city that

 

distinguishes it from others in the same area is its extremely strict rent-control policy.

 

 Other cities in Tucker’s study that have rent-control programs also have a much higher

 

rate of homelessness than the national average.  In fact, Tucker asserts that where rent

 

control is practiced, homelessness is 250% greater than in cities without rent control (41).

 

            Since these government programs have not solved the problems of homelessness, what should be done instead?  There is no guaranteed answer to this question, but the most promising solution consists of three steps.  First of all, the federal government must accept responsibility for providing shelter for the homeless.  During the Reagan dministration, the federal government attempted to shift this burden to state and local governments by slashing federal funds for housing.  Between the years of 1981 and 1987, Reagan cut the housing budget from $30 billion to $7.3 billion, expecting local governments and private contributions to make up for the decrease in fund (Mathews 58).  Unfortunately, Reagan’s plan has not worked as well as he expected.  In New York City, for instance, only $450 million have been spent on the homeless since the cutbacks, while the need has been estimated at $12.5 billion (Chambers 11).

            The decrease in funds has been coupled with a recent drop in housing productions.  Only 60,000 new housing units have been created in New York during the past three years, compared to 265,000 between the years 1960 and 1963.  Many other cities have experienced similar cutbacks.  This decrease in new housing units has undoubtedly contributed to the nation’s housing shortage.  In addition, some existing subsidized federal housing units from the 1960’s will soon be free from the rent restrictions placed on them at that time.  The result will probably be a substantial rise in the amount of rent charged, which will put much of the current low-income housing out of the reach of the poor (Mathews 57-58).  In order to avoid the drastic effects that these decreases in low-rent housing could cause, more housing must be created immediately.  According to community groups, renewed federal support will be essential to accomplish this task (Hull 22).                 

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            When we discuss “ending” homelessness, however, we must remember that it is a problem that will probably never be truly eliminated.  There will always be those who refuse any help offered to the, the ones who prize their freedom of lifestyle above personal comfort.  While we must respect the rights of such people, we cannot use them as an excuse to do nothing about the homeless.  Most of those living on the streets are there, not by choice, but because they have no alternative.  It is these people that we must try to help immediately, with the support of the federal government.  If we begin now, we may be able to make homelessness simply a matter of choice.

 

 

Note:  Last name and page number should appear on upper right corner of each page of text.                                                               Downs 4

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Chambers, Rick.  “No Place to Lay Their Heads.”  The Church Herald                         

 

            16 Sept. 1988:  9-11.

 

Coulson, C.  “The $37,000 Slum.”  The New Republic 19 Jan. 1988: 15-16.

 

Fleetwood, Blake. “There’s Nothing Liberal about Rent Control.”  The

 

Washington Monthly  June 1986:  19-23.

 

Marcuse, Peter.  “Why Are They Homeless?”  The Nation 4 Apr. 1987:  426-29.

 

Mathews, Tom.  “What Can Be Done?”  Newsweek 21 Mar. 1988:  57-58.

 

“Then There’s Rent Control.”  The New Republic 11 Apr. 1988:  22.

 

Tucker, William.  “Where Do the Homeless Come From?”  National Review 25

 

 Sept.1987:  32-43.

 

Walker, Harry.  Personal interview.  20 Dec. 1988.

 

Whitman, David.  “Hope for the Homeless.”  U.S. News and World Report 29

 

Feb.1988:  26-35.

 

             York, Bob. “Poverty.” Discovering Life. CD-ROM. Detroit, Mich.: Gale

 

Research, 1999.

 

 

            

 

 

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