Discussion
Describe effective methods you used in identifying and narrowing down to just one of the two topics to further research for your final essay.
There were two topics that spoke to me, and of those two I went to the Ashford University Library and did some research to see which had more accessible information between the two.
I ended up choosing modern species extinctions because when I searched the two in broad terms, ocean desertification had 380 scholarly results with 315 of them in the last ten years; while oceans desertification yielded 166 with 119 being in the last ten years.
I feel that I will be able to produce a well rounded argumentative essay with the topic I chose because it is something that has meaning to me personally and there is a plethora of sources for me to use for my paper.
Explain three ways you can critically analyze sources to determine if they are scholarly and credible. Ensuring that the source is peer reviewed is a way to guarantee that the source is both scholarly and credible.
Looking at how recent the source is can help determine the credibility, especially for the two global societal issues I have chosen, the information will need to be up-to-date. Looking for sources that reach an academic audience can help one avoid sources that exist purely for entertainment (which would not be considered scholarly or credible).
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. Olivier, P. I., Aarde, R. J., Lombard, A. T., & Bradley, B. (2013).
The use of habitat suitability models and species-area relationships to predict extinction debts in coastal forests, South Africa. Diversity and Distributions, (11), 1353.
The topic is species extinction alongside extinction debt, which is the expected future loss due to the loss of habitat. Habitat loss is a huge contributor to extinction because without the properly place to live that provides what the species needs, it cannot survive. The source speaks on forest loss and uses data from a survey to build credibility to the paper.
I will be able o use this in my essay to help showcase that there have been studies conducted that are showing not only the need for less deforestation, but also what the repercussions will inevitably be. Jebari, K. (2016). Should Extinction Be Forever?.
Philosophy & Technology, 29(3), 211. doi:10.1007/s13347-015-0208-9 This paper utilizes the importance of the preservation of species saying that the general principle of understanding is that there should be respect for species as opposed to rights-based duty.
Morals are brought into question alongside the scientific repercussions of species extinction and brings into question if the re-creation of extinct animals is ethical.
This article shows a new side to the extinction argument that I find to be enlightening and will prove to be a helpful source for my essay. Explain why scholarly sources should be used to support your writing on the selected topic.
A lack of scholarly sources would make my own argumentative paper not credible and would make it more difficult to argue that what it is happening it truly a global societal issue.
According to the Ashford University Writing Center, a high-quality research comes from having strong, reliable, scholarly sources to back up the information you provide.