1. Writing a Research Report Example:

2. Introduction As Ann Marie Low recalls in her book Dust Bowl Diary “Dirt had blown into the house all week and lay inches deep on everything. Every towel and curtain was just black.” (Marrin 68). That was an inconvenience that Dust Bowl survivors had grown accustomed to: living in dirt. The Dust Bowl affected millions of Americans between 1931-1939. This natural disaster was a “perfect storm” of calamities: poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought along with the nationwide economic crisis known as the Great Depression (“About the Dust Bowl”). By the time the Dust Bowl had ended, life in those parts would never be the same.

3. From 1925 to 1930, farmers experienced abundant yields from their wheat crops in the southern plains. In order to capitalize on this good fortune, farmers began what one writer termed “the great plow-up. With the aid of the newly introduced gasoline powered tractors, farmers were able to plow under the vegetation on millions of acres—nearly seven times the size of Rhode Island (“Dust Bowl”). As the drought started in the early 1930’s, these farmers kept plowing and planting trying to stave off the Great Depression. Unfortunately, the drought continued, but the ground cover that held the soil in place was gone. As the winds picked up across the prairies, the soil was picked up with them. Billowing clouds of dust were formed and would rage for hours upon hours (“About the Dust Bowl”). Thus became the period in American history known as The Dust Bowl.

4. Works Cited “About the Dust Bowl”. Modern American Poetry. November 19, 2012. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.html Marin, Albert, Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl, New York: Scholastic, 2009.