The
topic of your project needs to be a contemporary societal problem, such as
healthcare reform, immigration reform, privacy rights, euthanasia, First
Amendment Rights, stem cell research, capital punishment, corporate prisons,
legalizing drugs, ageism, animal rights, cloning, prayer in schools, racial
profiling, recycling/conservation, sexism, outsourcing jobs, workplace
bullying, etc. The topic must focus on a single aspect, as in “How far do
corporations intrude into the private lives of their employers?” or “The social
costs of financing the distribution of custom-designed drugs.” You may suggest
another topic to use, but the instructor must approve the topic during the Week
Two Discussion.
The
Final Research Project will present research relating the responsibilities of a
critical thinker to contemporary society. In this assignment, you will do the
following:
·
Research one aspect of a
contemporary social problem.
·
Define the problem.
·
Propose a possible solution for
the problem.
·
Create an argument that
supports your thesis position. You should take on the perspective of a
critically thinking researcher. The argument must present a thesis statement
and evidence to support the thesis statement.
·
Evaluate the ethical outcomes
that result from the position you take on the issue and explain how those
outcomes would influence society and culture.
·
Interpret statistical data from
at least two peer-reviewed scholarly sources.
·
Evaluate evidence using the
following standards: validity, reliability, and bias related to the chosen
topic and accurately identify strengths and weaknesses.
Research
and Define the Problem
You must take on the perspective of your major field of study and explain in
your paper what that perspective is and how it informs your view of the topic.
The topics listed above are far too broad to write about in 10–12 pages
(3,300–3,900 words). Instead, you must choose a narrowly defined thesis and
approach it from the perspective of your field.
Example:If
you are an economics major, and you are interested in immigration reform, you
should approach a very specific aspect of immigration reform through the lens
of economic theory and practice. A specific thesis question would not be, “How
does illegal immigration influence the U.S. economy?” One could write thousands
of pages on such a topic. Instead, a better question would be, “How do illegal
immigrant hotel workers in Chicago impact the economy of Northern Illinois?”
You would then want to do the research and determine the positive and negative
impacts they have, ultimately trying to conclude how illegal immigration in
this area should be approached ethically.
How
to Hone Your Thesis:It
is important that you start your research early in this course. Try to find the
most important contemporary questions and theories in your field of study and
then align the most important questions with a very specific aspect of the
general topics above. For example, if you are a psychology major, you might want
to start thinking within the realm of healthcare reform or aspects of mental
health and criminality in the prison system.
Your
Argument
You must present a complete argument, including a major claim with at least
five points of evidence, information, or data that will prove the claim.
·
The thesis statement must be
o A
clear, simple declarative sentence as the first or last sentence in the opening
paragraph of the essay.
o Of
such a nature that it can be substantiated, corroborated, verified, and proved
through appeal to primary or secondary academic research source materials.
·
The introductory paragraph must
o Present
the thesis statement, an explanation for the importance of the topic, and its
relation to the student’s field of study.
·
Beliefs, opinions, and personal
opinions must not be introduced at any point in the essay.
·
All beliefs and opinions should
be supported with academic evidence. Sweeping generalizations with no
supporting academicevidence do not reflect adequate critical thinking skills.
·
Do not include rhetorical
questions in your essays. All the questions that are pertinent to your project
need to be answered in your essay and your answers again need to be supported
with evidence from peer-reviewed journal articles and academically published books.
Attributes
of Good Critical Thinking in Papers
·
Your paper should include
academic sources that explain multiple sides of the issue.
·
The evidence that you use
should come from high-level researchers engaged in your field of study.
·
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.
Ethical
Outcomes of the Position You Take
After you have defined the problem and created an argument about how one ought
to respond to the issue, you need to explain the ethical outcomes of the
position you have taken. This should again be in relation to the field of study
in which you are working. There might be different ethical outcomes that result
from your analysis. For example, going back to the example issue above, from an
economic standpoint, illegal immigrants might contribute positively to the
economy of Northern Illinois in a specific number of ways. Thus, an economist
who believes that positive impact to the economy is the greatest good would say
that one should promote the use of illegal immigrants. However, because these
workers are often paid less than others and eliminate jobs that could be done
by residents of Chicago, there could be other negative ethical outcomes that
would outweigh the positive impacts to the economy. It is your goal to draw out
the ethical implications of your thesis and explain the underlying rationale
that is the foundation for your claim that one action is better than another.
·
Critical thinkers are those who
can outline the positive and negative ethical impacts of their positions. In
addition, they are able to provide a rationale for why they believe a specific
position is the right position, even when it leads to negative outcomes.
·
Critical thinkers are also able
to be honest and objective about the limitations and gray areas that pertain to
their theses.
Final
Research Project Requirements
The Final Research Project may be presented as a formal research paper (essay
format), a PowerPoint presentation, a video, or a podcast equivalent to a
minimum of 10 – 12 pages in APA format (approximately 3,300 – 3,900 typewritten
words, excluding title page and reference pages). Written essays must adhere to
all APA formatting standards and requirements, as outlined in theAshford Writing Center.
PowerPoint
presentations must include the full text (at least 3,300 words) in the speaker
notes portion of the slides, with appropriate citations, and full reference
pages. PowerPoint presentations must adhere to the basic principles ofPowerPoint presentation designand must
include citations and references according to APA standards and requirements.
Videos
and podcasts must include a full transcript, in APA format, including
appropriate in-text citations and a references page.
Quotations:
There must be no more than 15% quoted content in the body of your essay. All
quoted material must bear quotation marks and a full quotation citation.
Source
Documents:
·
There must be 10 or more source
documents used, cited, and referenced.
·
Multimedia sources (such as
videos) may be used, but no more than two such sources may be used. If
multimedia sources are used, then 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.
·
Where print 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.) may not be used. Materials from
advocacy groups (e.g., Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, National Organization
for Women, etc.) may not be used.
·
Two of the peer-reviewed
scholarly sources used must include statistical evidence, which must be
accurately interpreted.
·
Sites such as ProCon.org and
Wikipedia should not be used.
·
Religious texts are neither
peer-reviewed nor scholarly and so may not be used in any way.
Summary
Conclusion:
You must have a summary conclusion as the last paragraph(s) of the project,
presenting the major point of the essay and the evidence supporting that point.
Word
Count:
The content body of the project must be 3,300 words or more. The word count
does not include anything in the title page, running header, or reference list.
It is expected that you meet all logistical requirements of this paper.
Reference
List:
·
The list of references must
include only those source documents that are cited within the body of the
project.
·
The project must fully comply
with APA formatting standards and requirements as outlined in theAshford
Writing Center: title page, running header
with page numbers, font face and size, line spacing, citations, and reference
page(s).
