The Increase in Anti-LGBTQIA+ Legislation in US States and the Increase in Domestic Violence

Reviewing the Unit 8 Assignment instructions.

Brainstorming, talking to others, and doing a quick Google search to identify two to three recent and relevant changes or trends in your field of study that interest you and that you might like to choose as the subject for your formal academic Cause or Effect Essay

Using the following downloadable Brainstorming Chart to help you to generate relevant ideas about these two or three possible topics

SAMPLE BRAINSTORMING CHART

What changes in your field of study interest you? Identify 2-3 (e.g., the increase in domestic violence, the increase in anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in U.S. states, the increase in a diverse and inclusive workforce, the increase in first-generation college students, the increase in heart disease among women, etc.)

Why is this change relevant and worth researching? (Example: The increase in a diverse and inclusive workforce is relevant because it impacts companies and can help companies be more productive.)

What question does your informed, educated audience need to know about either the CAUSE OR EFFECT of this change? (Example: How has the increase in a diverse and inclusive workforce affected US companies?)

What do you currently know and think about this topic, and what caused it or what its effects? (Example: I know more companies are changing their hiring policies and this is a result of a change in US population. It can impact companies in many ways, including helping with recruitment and retention.)

I. Your Initial Post should:

Identify and discuss the two or three possible topics

Explain why you might like to write about these topics and why they are relevant changes or trends that your academic audience might need to better understand

Identify a possible research question about each possible topic that focuses on causes or effects of the changes or trends

Consider which one of the topics you discussed might be your best choice for the Formal Academic Cause or Effect Essay assignment and why

Be developed in at least two paragraphs and be at least 200 words

Include an open-ended question about the draft you have written, perhaps about a concern you have about the possible topics you are proposing.

Unit 8 Assignment

Your Unit 8 Assignment will allow you to apply all you have learned in the course so far about the writing process, reading comprehension skills, and the research process. You will also learn about a relevant change in your field of study and communicate relevant information about that change to your educated, academic audience.

Your Unit 8 Assignment should be a formal, academic essay of 5-6 paragraphs, between two and 1⁄2 and three pages long, double spaced (excluding title page and References page). The paper should inform your audience about a specific, recent, and researchable change, either positive or negative, in your field of study. Your goal is to explain to your audience either what caused this change to occur or to analyze the effects this change has had on the field, without taking a position, arguing for a change, or offering solutions.

As the final draft version of the paper you began in Unit 5, your Unit 8 Assignment should demonstrate your ability to do the following:

1. Focus on a single, specific, relevant, recent, and researchable change, either positive or negative, in your general field of study. Please note that technology is too broad as a topic, but a specific technological change like the increased use of cloud computing is a change; obesity is not a change, but the increase in obesity rates among children is a change.

2. Establish a clear thesis about this topic that focuses on either what caused the change or what effect this change has had on the field. You may not analyze both cause and effect.

3. Develop your thesis with specific observations, details, analysis, and research information

4. Avoid taking a position, making recommendations, or addressing solutions-the paper must be an objective, analytical essay that instead only analyzes the causes or effects of this change.

5. Organize your information logically, using clear transitions

6. Use appropriate formal third person language, avoiding first and second person language

7. Integrate 3-4 relevant and reliable, peer reviewed secondary sources and demonstrate the ability to summarize and paraphrase source information rather than relying on quotes

8. Apply current APA citations format to credit any and all uses of source information, both when you use the source information within the paragraphs (in text citations) and in an alphabetically listed References page

9. Apply revision, editing, and proofreading strategies to substantially revise your final draft, demonstrating substantial revision of your Unit 6 Assignment and Unit 8 Discussion

Board post.

10. Apply current APA formatting expectations (title page, double spaced paragraphs, regular one-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, for example)