Prepare: Prior to beginning work on this assignment, please review this Sample Final Paper GEN499 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:

• Climate change
• Pollution
• Religious conflict and violence
• Rise of artificial intelligence
• Lack of education
• Unemployment and lack of economic opportunity
• Government accountability and corruption
• Food and water security
• International drug trafficking
• Poverty and income inequality

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,

• 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 (Links to an external site.) from the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).)
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.)
• 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.)

• 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 (Links to an external site.) from the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).)

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 (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least eight scholarly sources.
  • Source Document Requirements:
    • Multimedia sources (such as videos) may be used, but no more than two such sources may be used. If multimedia sources are used, they must be authored and distributed by credible sources, such as universities, law schools, medical schools, or professors, or found in the Ashford University Library.
    • Government sources may be used, but no more than two such sources may be used. Examples include whitehouse.gov, state.gov, usa.gov, cdc.gov, and so forth. These websites can be used to make a stronger point about your proposed solution within the argument.
    • Where documents are used for source materials, those must be peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles, and academically published books. Popular media sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, television and radio shows, etc.) must not be used. Materials from advocacy groups (e.g., Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, National Organization for Women, etc.) must not be used.
    • Sites such as ProCon.org and Wikipedia must not be used.
    • Religious texts must not be used.
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for an assignment. The Integrating Research (Links to an external site.) tutorial will offer further assistance with including supporting information and reasoning.
  • Must document in APA style any information used from sources, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.).
  • Must have no more than 15% quoted material in the body of your essay based on the Turnitin report. References list will be excluded from the Turnitin originality score.
  • Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Good Critical Thinking Tips:

• Your paper should include academic sources that explain multiple sides of the issue.
• Your interpretations of the evidence should be objective and state the conclusions and theses presented in the evidence clearly and fairly.
• Your paper should place the various forms of evidence in relation to one another and demonstrate why one form or perspective is stronger than the other positions that one could take on the issue.
• Your paper should point out the limitations of current evidence and attempt to indicate areas for future research.