Adventures in Research!

Howdy folks. I am sure while I am writing this, you are most likely out enjoying a beautiful early autumn evening while I am in a computer lab, with a printer with no toner (but hey, it is free when it works!) looking at the history of welfare legislation in the United States. Remember that paper on microfinance as a part of a solution to poverty in America? Well, after receiving my paper back from my professor and realizing that I am trying to frame the issue around the solution, I am now in the throws of framing the issue of poverty itself and, specifically, the feminization of poverty in the US. So, here is what I have to write an 8 page paper on by Tuesday:

Often policy issues have a long history that includes perspectives and critical choices that, although made in the past, continue to influence current policy development. This paper requires you to understand the historical evolution of the issue and related policies.

When did this issue first emerge as a public concern?

For each major era in which policy choices were made document
oHow was the issue defined?
oWhat social values were threatened by the issue?
oWhat were the definitions of the problem?
oWhat policy strategy was selected?
oWhat assumptions and values were reflected in the choices?
oHow did social, economic and political factors influence the choices?

Contemporary view
oHow is the issue framed today?
oWhat factors in the current environment influence how this issue is viewed?
oWhat are the major controversies today?

How am I going to do this in only EIGHT pages, including sources???? Ok, so you want to hear about the adventure, not my plight regarding the short length of the paper. Being the amazingly nerdy individual I am, I thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth and take a look at H.R. 3734 Personal Responsiblity and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which was the most recent federal social welfare overhaul. Guess how many pages the Bill is. 251 pages. Take a guess at how long the Budget Report for that act is. Guess. If you guessed 2056 pages, you are correct! This is about a year after the Paperwork Reduction Act, I believe. Anyhow, we have not even TOUCHED JFK/LBJ's Great Society nor the mother of them all, Social Security and all the other FDR stuff. I think I am going to have get real general on this one. The feminization lens may not even be applied to this paper. We'll see how it goes. So, for those of you following my microeconomics paper, this has replaced it. But microeconomics will come in the end, not to worry. Homefry-I appreciate your comment and book suggestions! I will definitely look into that once I am back on the topic.