What struck you in particular as you explored the course materials this week?
Discussion One
Select a topic that you are particularly interested in. Examples would be “the benefits of red wine,” “how genes influence disease,” “school lunches contribute to obesity,” “legalizing drugs will lead to lower crime,” etc.
Using the Internet, find an article on the topic you have chosen and carefully read it, taking time to notice the images included with article, how much detailed information is provided, what kind of evidence the author used, how the article is arranged and similar characteristics.
Step 3: Find a Scholarly Source from the Ashford University Library
Next, you will find a scholarly source related to the same topic in the Ashford University Library.
Watch the Findit@AU (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. tutorial and take note of the strategies from the GEN103 Ashford University Library: Keywords are Critical (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. tutorial to help you find a scholarly source related to your chosen topic from the Ashford University Library.
Using the FindIt@AU search box on the library home page, locate a scholarly research article on the same topic as the website that you found. Make sure you put a check in the box for scholarly/peer reviewed before clicking search when using the databases. Scholarly articles are often more challenging to read than popular articles. Take a few minutes to watch the Strategic Ways to Read Scholarly Articles (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. video (written transcriptPreview the document) and then examine and read the scholarly article, noticing how it is different from the popular article that you found online.
Reflect: Think about the differences between the popular source and the scholarly source that you found. Specifically consider the ways that the information was presented.
Write: Engage in this discussion by answering the questions below:
Summarize the topic you chose to research. Did you find that both article provided the same information on the topic?
What specific similarities and differences did you notice in the ways that the popular source you found on the Internet and the scholarly source you found in the Ashford University Library presented information?
Based on what you learned this week, when is a scholarly source more appropriate to use? When is a popular source, such as a news article, more appropriate?
What insights did you gain about the use of scholarly sources in an academic environment?
Be sure to include the correctly formatted APA references for both articles—the scholarly article from the Ashford University Library and the popular article that you found online–at the end of your discussion.
Discussion two
Write: This discussion forum is an opportunity for you to explore topics that interest you, share critical insights and questions that you are working with, share your struggles and triumphs, and discuss difficulties that may have arisen this week, hopefully finding solutions. Your initial post should describe your experiences in the course this past week, prompting further discussion. You should address at least two of the following questions:
What struck you in particular as you explored the course materials this week?
What insights have you had?
What have you been struggling with?
What questions have come up for you at this point?
Do you have any helpful tips that you’ve picked up in this course or in a past course?
Do you have questions about the assignment that your classmates might be able to help with? (If you have a question for the instructor, be sure to contact your instructor through email or in the Ask Your Instructor Forum).