PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW. RESPOND TO PEER 1 THEN TO PEER 2 ON A SEPARATE PAGE.

Respond to Peers: Review your classmates' posts, and respond to your peers.

· In each response, provide comments on your classmate's topic idea and ask a question that prompts your classmate to think more critically about how to explore the research topic in more detail.

· Each participation post should be a minimum of 75 words.

PEER 1

The two global societal issues I would like to consider for further research is minimum wage and universal statement of human rights.

The way I narrowed the topics down are pretty simple. I chose the two that I think interest me the most. I have written multiple papers on human rights and I really enjoy learning all that I can about that topic. As for the minimum wage I have some very strong opinions on it and I am interested to see how things are changing in that area and what states have already been affected.

1. Determine who published it and whether they are a credited publisher.

2. Who is the author and what are their credentials?

3. Is the work full of cited material and secondary resources?

· For one of the topics chosen, summarize information from at least two peer-reviewed journal articles from the Ashford University Library that will support your claims.

Humans rights are a standard on how people should be treated and the rights that every person should have. The first article that I read was about the creation of the Declaration of Independence "In 1776 Thomas JeffersonLinks to an external site. wrote in the Declaration of IndependenceLinks to an external site. that all men are created equal. While the Founding Fathers were far from endorsing that concept in the way that it has come to be understood, those words articulated a commitment to basic "unalienable" rights such as life, liberty, and the right to own property.

As the United States Constitution was shaped over time, guaranteed human rights were expanded to include minorities, including African Americans, women, Native Americans, and immigrantLinks to an external site. populations. By the late twentieth century, the idea that individuals had an inviolable human right to be treated with dignity was widely accepted in the United States and around the world." (Purdy 2013) Although these words were in the Declaration the actions were not seen for many years to come. Although things have changed for the better there are still plenty of people in the United States as well as around the world that do not have basic human rights.

"Throughout US history, the concept of human rights has generated considerable debate because it encompasses such controversial topics as abortion, hate speech, and rights of the accused. Historically, the US Supreme Court has upheld the precedence of First Amendment protections. Thus, cases involving hate speech have resulted in hot debates on the court, in the media, and with the public. Since Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the court has banned hate speech only when it is likely to result in violence." (Purdy 2013)

The second article speaks more on where today's human rights come from and presents the study of historical human rights as well.

There is so much information on the internet today it is very important to make sure that your sources are credible. If the sources are scholarly and have been peer reviewed they are more likely to be correct.

PEER 2

For this discussion, I will identify my potential final paper prompts as minimum wage and overcoming the digital divide. In looking at those two prompts and determining which would be a better final paper topic, I need to consider a few areas of the topic. First, I would need to measure my interest in each of those topics, which I have in both and is why I chose those two. Next, I would need to look at my prior knowledge of these two topics.

I feel that I have a good understanding of minimum wages and how they are looked at from many aspects. I also feel that I have substantial knowledge of technology and how it is used and the benefits of it and how the divide that certain groups experience by not having access to technology can negatively affect them. Using interest and prior knowledge can help determine and narrow down topics to create a more focused paper (Charles W. Chestnutt Library, n.d)

To assure that the sources that I use are accurate and credible, there are a few things that must be assessed. First, you must look at the author that is someone that is distinguished with education and credentials in the field that they are writing about. Secondly, you must look for articles in a reputable source such as a school library data base that collect credible and accurate research from many areas of education. Lastly, the sources that will be used should be peer-reviewed by other experts in the same field that act as an accuracy check before a journal article is finished.

The first article I researched was investigating the digital divide, specifically internet usage in the United States. The author looked to various racial groups to see if the divide was evident between races and also looked into possible gender divides for internet access and usage. Ultimately, the author determined that overall, females are more likely to have internet access than male and that African Americans and Latinos are both equally likely to have less internet access than Whites (Campos-Castillo, 2015).

The second article that I researched was regarding "zeroing the divide" which means to fix the problems that are creating this issue. The author gives many specific examples of areas of the country that do not have broadband internet access and gives options to help create opportunities such as investing in broadband infrastructure for projects delivering broadband Internet to underserved areas, creating more public computer centers, and creating public awareness groups that would invest in public education of the benefits of internet access (McGrath, 2011).

There are many reasons why scholarly sources should be used when writing a paper, the most important is that you want to make sure that the information that you are using is accurate. We live in a time where there is false information all over the internet, some placed intentionally, some is misinformed. To achieve academic success, you have to be able to decipher between what is real and what is false. This is why a scholarly source is beneficial to students.