: General Education Capstone
Global Digital Divide Problem, Argument and Solution

Prepare: The topic of your essay needs to be a global societal problem about overcoming the digital divide. Review the attached GEN499 Sample Final Paper Guide for additional guidance on the expectations of this assignment.Reflect: Based on the topic, you will need to use critical thinking skills to thoroughly understand how this topic can be a global societal problem and determine some logical solution(s) to the problem.Write: This Final Argumentative Essay will present research relating the critical thinker to the modern, globalized world. In this assignment, you need to address the following items in separate sections with new headings for each:

· Identify the global societal problem within the introductory paragraph and conclude with a thesis statement that states your proposed solution(s) to the problem.

· Describe background information on how that problem developed or came into existence. Show why this is a societal problem, and 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 solution(s). Be sure to consider 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. Do this by discussing the validity, reliability, and any biases; identifying the strengths and weaknesses of these sources; and 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. Be sure to provide at least one positive ethical outcome as well as at least one negative ethical outcome that could result from your solution, and explain at least two ethical issues related to each of those outcomes. It’s important to consider all of society.

· Develop a conclusion as the last paragraph(s) of the essay, starting with rephrasing your thesis statement and then presenting the major points of the topic and how they support your argument..

The Final Argumentative Essay

· Must be 3,300 – 3,900 words in length (approximately between 10 – 12 pages; excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style.

Assignment: General Education Capstone

Assignment: General Education Capstone

· Must include a separate title page with the following:

o Title of paper

o Student’s name

o Course name and number

o Instructor’s name

o Date submitted

o Running header with page numbers

· Must include in-text citations from at least 10 scholarly sources. Be sure to integrate your research. rather than simply inserting it.

· Must document all sources in APA style.

· Must have no more than 15% quoted material in the body of your essay based on the Turnitin report. Reference list will be excluded from the Turnitin originality score.

· Must include a separate reference pagethat is formatted according to APA style.

· Source Document Requirements:

o 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.

o 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, etc. These websites can be used to make a stronger point about your proposed solution within the argument.

o 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.) must not be used. Materials from advocacy groups (e.g., Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, National Organization for Women, etc.) must not be used.

o Sites such as ProCon.org and Wikipedia must not be used.

o Religious texts must not be used.

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.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

 

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.