Assignment: General Education Capstone

Prepare: To help with the preparation of your annotated bibliography, review the following tutorials and resources from the Ashford Writing Center:

• Introduction Paragraph Guide
• Thesis Statement tutorial
• Annotated Bibliography tutorial
• Sample Annotated Bibliography
• Evaluating Sources

Reflect: Reflect back on the Week Two Discussion in which you shared with the class the global societal issue that you would like to further address. Explore critical insights that were shared by your peers and/or your instructor on the topic chosen and begin your search for scholarly sources with those insights in mind.

Write: For this assignment, review the Annotated Bibliography Formatting Guidelines and address the following prompts:

• Introductory Paragraph to Topic: Refer to the Final Argumentative Essay guidelines for your topic selection. Write an introductory paragraph with at least 150 words, which clearly explains the topic, the importance of further research, and ethical implications.

• Thesis statement: Write a direct and concise thesis statement, which will become the solution to the problem that you will argue or prove in the Week Five Final Argumentative Essay. A thesis statement should be a declarative statement that makes one point in 25 words or less. The thesis statement must appear at the end of the introductory paragraph.

• Annotated Bibliography: Develop an annotated bibliography to indicate the quality of the sources you have read. For each annotation, you need to summarize in your own words how the source contributes to the solution of the global societal issue. Your annotation should be one to two paragraphs long (150 words or more) and fully address the purpose, content, evidence, and relation to other sources you found on this topic. The annotated bibliography must include no less than five scholarly sources that will be used to support the major points of the Final Argumentative Essay. Critical thinking skills need to be demonstrated by accurately interpreting evidence used to support various positions of the topic.

The Introduction, Thesis Statement, and Annotated Bibliography Assignment

• Must be 1,000 - 1,250 words in length (excluding the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

• 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

• Must use at least five scholarly sources.

• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.