Assignment:
Prepare: Prior to beginning work on this assignment, please review this Sample Final Paper GEN499Preview the document for additional guidance on the expectations of this assignment.
The topic of your essay needs to be a global societal problem from the following list:
- Food and water security (Flint Michigan Water Crisis)
Reflect: Based on the topic that you have chosen, you will need to use critical thinking skills to thoroughly understand how this topic can be a global societal problem and determine some logical solutions to the problem.
Write: This Final Paper, an argumentative essay, will present research relating the critical thinker to the modern, globalized world. In this assignment, you need to address the items below in separate sections with new headings for each.
In your paper,
1. Identify the global societal problem within the introductory paragraph.
- Conclude with a thesis statement that states your proposed solutions to the problem. (For guidance on how to construct a good introduction paragraph, please review the Introductions & Conclusions from the Ashford Writing Center.
2. Describe background information on how that problem developed or came into existence.
- Show why this is a societal problem.
- Provide perspectives from multiple disciplines or populations so that you fully represent what different parts of society have to say about this issue.
3. Construct an argument supporting your proposed solutions, considering multiple disciplines or populations so that your solution shows that multiple parts of society will benefit from this solution.
- Provide evidence from multiple scholarly sources as evidence that your proposed solution is viable.
4. Interpret statistical data from at least three peer-reviewed scholarly sources within your argument.
- Discuss the validity, reliability, and any biases.
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of these sources, pointing out limitations of current research and attempting to indicate areas for future research. (You may even use visual representations such as graphs or charts to explain statistics from sources.)
5. Evaluate the ethical outcomes that result from your solution.
- Provide at least one positive ethical outcome as well as at least one negative ethical outcome that could result from your solution.
- Explain at least two ethical issues related to each of those outcomes. (It is important to consider all of society.)
6. Develop a conclusion for the last paragraphs of the essay, starting with rephrasing your thesis statement and then presenting the major points of the topic and how they support your argument. (For guidance on how to write a good conclusion paragraph, please review the Introductions & Conclusions from the Ashford Writing Center.
The Global Societal Problem, Argument, and Solution Paper
Must be 1,750 to 2,250 words in length (approximately between seven and nine pages; not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center's APA Style resource.
Readings:
1. Characterizing Rural Food Access in Remote Areas
By Chris J. Bardenhagen
2. The Paradox of Water and the Flint Crisis
By Bhawani Venkataraman
3. Learning from the Flint Water Crisis: Restoring and Improving Public Health Practice, Accountability, and Trust
By Colleen Healy Boufides
4. A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes
By Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller
5. From the Editor-in-Chief Remember Flint
By HOWARD MARKEL