Social Mobility Argumentative Research Paper (Eidson & McKnight)

Assignment Resources

• • Assignment Overview (Eidson & McKnight)

  • Slides from Library Workshop (Eidson)

  • Day Two Resources (Eidson):

    • Socrative (Room Number 795231)

  • Sample Synthesis Essays

  • Sample AP Research Paper

Recommended Sources

These sources have been curated by your teachers and the school librarian as a great place to start.

Tip: As you browse, consider the strengths and weaknesses of original research versus journalistic coverage for different phases of your investigation. Secondary sources can also lead you to original research. If we don't have it, we can get it: contact the librarian for an interlibrary loan request.

• • Equality of Opportunity Project (Harvard University)

  • Two major studies on economic mobility in the United States; the first focuses on the effects of geographic location on intergenerational mobility, and the second on trends over time.

  • Economic Mobility Project (PEW)

  • Be sure to check out the research reports as well as cool interactive data visualizations.

  • "In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters" (NYT)

  • Newspaper coverage of the Equality of Opportunity location study with an interactive map of the United States.

  • "Economic Mobility Has Not Declined, Study Says" (NYT) and "New Data Muddle Debate on Economic Mobility" (WSJ)

  • Newspaper coverage of the new Equality of Opportunity study on trends over time.

  • "Upward Mobility in America" (NPR)

  • Radio coverage of the Equality of Opportunity location study.

  • "Researchers Examine Gap Between Rich And Poor" (NPR)

  • Audio and transcript of an interview with Nathan Hendren, one of the researchers on the Equality of Opportunity Project.

  • "Economic Mobility and the American Dream" (PEW)

  • Short PEW video on the difference between absolute and relative economic mobility. Re-watch to remind yourself of possible keywords and browse for related content.

  • "Angela Whitaker's Climb" and "A Success Story That's Hard to Duplicate" (NYT)

  • In-depth profile of one single mother who pulled herself into the middle class and what it might take for others to do the same.

  • "Mobility Myth" (NYT)

  • Op-ed by Bob Herbert.

  • "American Dream For Middle Class: Just A Dream?" (NPR)

  • Radio excerpt on PEW report with transcript.

  • "The Great Divergence" (Slate)

  • Ten-part series on economic inequality.

  • "What is the Great Gatsby Curve?" (White House)

  • It's a term coined by Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, for the relationship between the concentration of wealth in one generation and economic mobility in the next.

  • Bait and Switch and Nickel and Dimed (Barbara Ehrenreich)

  • In-depth investigative journalism; in the library or coming soon.

Tip: Some of the newspaper sites like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal limit access for non-subscribers. You can read these articles by finding them in our databases or, often, by searching Google for the article and clicking through.

Recommended Resources for Further Research

Depending on your research question and focused topic, you will require additional sources of evidence.

Tip: Say it with me now: "Databases are not websites." Save the static address (and citation, to save time!) at the bottom of a database article, not the URL from the top, to get back to your results.

Tip: Need a password? Get a bookmark from your friendly school librarian, or download the passwords from this website.

• Opposing Viewpoints in Context (Gale)

• Great for "hot button" topics in the news today, and particularly useful for exploring both sides of an issue or controversy to develop a more nuanced ("qualified") point of view. Highly recommended!

  • Academic OneFile (Gale)

  • Your source for peer-reviewed, full-text academic journal articles from leading journals in a wide variety of subjects, from science and technology to the arts and theology, as well as news and magazine coverage.

  • Issues and Controversies (Facts on File)

  • Similar to Opposing Viewpoints but with longer, original articles on single topics.

• CQ Researcher Online (via Robbins Library so library card and PIN required)

• In-depth reports on single issues such as "health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy." Worth a shot.

State of the Union

Smart Research Tip: Remember that databases provide citations at the bottom of each article that can be copied and pasted into EasyBib with only minor modifications.

Additional resources for academic integrity and citation:

• Arlington High School Guide to Student Research Projects

  • Includes our school-specific criteria for academic integrity, a review of paraphrasing, and more.

  • Research and Documentation Online (Diana Hacker)

  • Detailed explanation of in-text citations and works cited entries in perfect MLA format for a wide variety of sources.

Search Tips and Strategies

Combine keywords to get articles that match each of your important concepts. For example, if you are researching the effects of education on social mobility, you would need to search for:

economic mobility AND education

Try different synonyms for key terms. For example, economic mobility, social mobility, and upward (or downward) mobility are often used interchangeably.

economic mobility OR social mobility

Use quotation marks to find complete phrases, especially proper names and titles. For example:

"birth lottery" or "stickiness at the ends"

Truncation uses a symbol, typically an asterisk, to tell the search engine to look for the root of the word with all possible suffixes. It's a great way to find all forms of a word, increasing your results. For example, searching for econom* will find economy, economics, economist, etc.

Check your spelling. If you aren't finding anything for your topic, sloppy spelling may be to blame!

Sample Boolean Search

Combine search terms using AND and OR to create a more powerful search:

Then you may choose to filter by documents with full text, sort by relevance, set a publication date range, or refine your subject headings to further narrow the field.

President Obama in the 2014 State of the Union address said:

Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by; let alone to get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all.

Do you agree?