Kelly 1 Taylor Kelly Professor Gonsior Writing 1010, Section 30 24 October 2013

Poverty: A Worldwide Crisis The issue of poverty has been around for centuries. This unsettling circumstance leaves many people unable to support themselves, leaving them hungry and ill. Today over half the world is affected by this dreadful situation. Poverty is inevitable and because of this many websites were created to address this issue and inform the people about this situation. A few examples of these websites are www.poverties.org, www.world-poverty.org, and www.povertyusa.org. Some may not be sure where to get reliable information about this subject because in todays society people can create websites and base it on opinion rather than facts. In the first website, www.poverties.org, they take a very direct approach on the situation. The main purpose of the webpage is to inform the people about what poverty is and how it affects people on a daily basis. It also contains several different options on the webpage that allows you to discover information such as the causes of poverty, child labor, which leads to poverty, as well as health issues that eventually lead to poverty. These links make the information easier to access. Being that the website has a direct approach; it would be considered appropriate for the intended audience. It is user friendly and could be easily navigated by young children as well as elders because the layout that they decided to use is clear cut and easy to follow. It is stated within the website that there is more than one type of poverty. The webpage focuses on a variety of issues that occur for different types of the poverty rather than just one.

Kelly 2 Each type of poverty has its own links that are set up in the same way to make finding the information easier for which type of poverty you would like to access. Graphics such as graphs and pictures are used to create a deeper understanding of the affects that poverty has and give insight on a specific type of poverty they may be talking about. Giving specific pictures that relate to the information being provided make the statics easier to understand. Every graphic shown on the webpage is relevant to a certain aspect of the issue that they are addressing. After thoroughly evaluating the website it has been concluded that the information provided is reliable because there is one man, Dario Berrebi, which researches the topic and operates the website. Berrebi confirms that there is little to no perspective when writing the articles on the website, which makes the website non-biased. Berrebi founded poverties.org in 2011 and is actively involved in many issues around the globe. He lives in the UK and has always lived in a multicultural environment, which is an advantage for him because he has experienced different types of poverties. All information provided is current because all seem to be written about modern poverty instead of poverty that has existed over the decades. The second webpage, www.world-poverty.org, along with many of the other websites that are about poverty, was created to inform the public of the issues that poverty causes around the world. The elements of the website are successfully used to help expand on the purpose of the website because all elements are related to the topic. The main focus is to explain that there are many factors that contribute to poverty and is not caused by one single factor. The website would be considered appropriate for the audience that it is intended for, which is the general public. All of the elements were designed to further the purpose of the website because they are directly related to the main topic of the webpage. Each element contributes to the final design of the webpage. The design for the webpage makes it easily navigational and allows the readers to

Kelly 3 get a vast amount of information because of the easy access to the information. The graphics on the webpage are placed where they are relevant to the articles. All information given on this website seems to be accurate because of the examples they use, but might not be able to be used as a reliable source. This website could potentially be biased to what their beliefs are when it comes to the subject of poverty. The webpage could be considered biased when they state that they try to provide people with information other websites might not. This could be considered bias because it is possible that the information that they are using is incorrect. Although this website may be bias, majority of the information given is current because they use issues of poverty that are major issues today. The third webpage, www.povertyusa.org, was created to inform their audience of the effects of poverty and tries to convince them that they will be able to end poverty. There are several links within the webpage that talk about what they think poverty really is, who is affected by it, and how we can help to overcome poverty. The information that the website has given is accurate because they have confirmed their statistics with the US census bureau. Although they state that we will be able to overcome poverty it is very hard to believe because poverty has always been a part of history. Overall, the website is easy to follow and can be used by all ages. There are little to no graphics used within the website. This approach could be both helpful and hurtful. Having no graphics makes the audience focus on the information that the website is giving so this could be beneficial. However, this could also cause the audience to lose interest and find a different webpage to go to for the information. The website gives examples of 5 different situation in the United States that can be affected by poverty. One of the situations shows a single elder woman that is unable to drive, go to the store to get food, and has health issues. Poverty has affected her because she could starve and eventually die if she is unable to

Kelly 4 pay for these necessities that she requires. This website could be considered a very reliable source for information because they confirm a majority of the information provided with the US Census Bureau that only states legitimate facts. Overall, the websites that have been evaluated try to inform people about the effects that poverty can have and what can cause it. In todays society, it is crucial to evaluate the webpages before counting on them for specific information because they may not be reliable. When investigating the issue of poverty the website that was most reliable and gave the most accurate and up-to-date information was www.world-poverty.org.

Kelly 5 Works Cited Berrebi, Dario, ed. What is Poverty- Definition of a Worldwide Plague. N.p. n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Povertyusa.org. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. N.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Wilmot, Vincent, ed. World Poverty. A Look at Causes and Solutions. N.p. Jan. 2007. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.