Description
Global Societal Problem, Argument and Solution
Prepare: The topic of your essay needs to be a global societal problem from the following list: adult illiteracy, funding for General Education vs STEM in primary and secondary schools, minimum wage, oceans desertification, overcoming the digital divide, refugee (escaping persecution, war, or death) crises, species extinctions (modern), tax havens, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), universal statement of human rights (pick one), airport security, or wealth disparity. Review this GEN499 Sample Final Paper Guide for additional guidance on the expectations of this assignment.
Reflect: Based on the topic that you have chosen, you will need to use critical thinking skills to thoroughly understand how this topic can be a global societal problem and determine some logical solution(s) to the problem.
Write: This Final Argumentative Essay will present research relating the critical thinker to the modern, globalized world. In this assignment, you need to address the following items in separate sections with new headings for each:
- Identify the global societal problem within the introductory paragraph and conclude with a thesis statement that states your proposed solution(s) to the problem. For guidance on how to construct a good introduction paragraph, please review the Introduction Paragraph Guideline (Links to an external site.) from the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
- Describe background information on how that problem developed or came into existence. Show why this is a societal problem, and provide perspectives from multiple disciplines or populations so that you fully represent what different parts of society have to say about this issue.
- Construct an argument supporting your proposed solution(s). Be sure to consider multiple disciplines or populations so that your solution shows that multiple parts of society will benefit from this solution. Provide evidence from multiple scholarly sources as evidence that your proposed solution is viable.
- Interpret statistical data from at least three, peer-reviewed scholarly sources. Do this by discussing the validity, reliability, and any biases; identifying the strengths and weaknesses of these sources; and pointing out limitations of current research and attempting to indicate areas for future research. You may even use visual representations such as graphs or charts to explain statistics from sources. Evaluate the ethical outcomes that result from your solution. Be sure to provide at least one positive ethical outcome as well as at least one negative ethical outcome that could result from your solution, and explain at least two ethical issues related to each of those outcomes. It’s important to consider all of society.
- Develop a conclusion as the last paragraph(s) of the essay, starting with rephrasing your thesis statement and then presenting the major points of the topic and how they support your argument. For guidance on how to write a good conclusion paragraph, please review the Conclusion Paragraph Guideline (Links to an external site.) from the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
The Final Argumentative Essay
- Must be 3,300 – 3,900 words in length (approximately between 10 – 12 pages; excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
- Must include a separate title page (Links to an external site.) with the following:
- Title of paper
- Student’s name
- Course name and number
- Instructor’s name
- Date submitted
- Running header with page numbers
- Must include in-text citations (Links to an external site.) from at least 10 scholarly sources. Be sure to integrate your research (Links to an external site.) rather than simply inserting it.
- Must document all sources in APA style as outlined here (Links to an external site.) and here (Links to an external site.).
- Must have no more than 15% quoted material in the body of your essay based on the Turnitin report. Reference list will be excluded from the Turnitin originality score.
- Must include a separate reference page (Links to an external site.) that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
- Source Document Requirements:
- Multimedia sources (such as videos) may be used, but no more than two such sources may be used. If multimedia sources are used, they must be authored and distributed by credible sources, such as universities, law schools, medical schools, or professors, or found in the Ashford University Library.
- Government sources may be used, but no more than two such sources may be used. Examples include whitehouse.gov, state.gov, usa.gov, cdc.gov, etc. These websites can be used to make a stronger point about your proposed soluation within the argument.
- Where print documents are used for source materials, those must be peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles, and academically published books. Popular media sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, television and radio shows, etc.) must not be used. Materials from advocacy groups (e.g., Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, National Organization for Women, etc.) must not be used.
- Sites such as ProCon.org and Wikipedia must not be used.
- Religious texts must not be used.
Good Critical Thinking Tips:
- Your paper should include academic sources that explain multiple sides of the issue.
- Your interpretations of the evidence should be objective and state the conclusions and theses presented in the evidence clearly and fairly.
- Your paper should place the various forms of evidence in relation to one another and demonstrate why one form or perspective is stronger than the other positions that one could take on the issue.
- Your paper should point out the limitations of current evidence and attempt to indicate areas for future research.
- Writing Tools:
- Before you submit your written assignment, you are encouraged to review the The Grammarly Guide: How to Set Up & Use Grammarly tutorial (Links to an external site.), set up a Grammarly account (if you have not already done so), and use Grammarly to review a rough draft of your assignment. Then carefully review all issues identified by Grammarly and revise your work as needed.

Explanation & Answer

Attached.
Running Head: OCEAN DESERTIFICATION
Ocean Desertification
Student’s Name
Course Name and Number
Instructor’s Name
Date
1
OCEAN DESERTIFICATION
2
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3
2.0 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 4
2.1 Background Information on Oceanic Desertification ........................................................... 4
2.1.1 Ocean Acidification due to Changing Climatic Conditions ........................................... 4
2.1.2 Poor and destructive fishing methods ............................................................................. 5
2.1.3 Damping of hazardous and non-decomposing waste into the oceans or rivers and
streams that drain into the oceans ............................................................................................ 6
2.1.4 Coastal areas development ............................................................................................. 7
2.1.4 Ocean Currents ............................................................................................................... 7
2.1.5 Other human activities .................................................................................................... 8
3.0 Solution to Ocean Desertification ............................................................................................. 9
4.0 Existing Statistical Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 11
5.0 Ethical Outcomes and Issues of the Proposed Solution .......................................................... 15
6.0 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 16
OCEAN DESERTIFICATION
3
Ocean Desertification
1.0 Introduction
The oceans cover a high percentage of the earth’s surface, that is, about 71%. Just like
dry land, the seas and the oceans harbor plants and animals generally known as marine life. The
marine life, particularly plants, play a major role in regulating atmospheric oxygen while on the
other hand, marine animals or creatures play a vital survival hood role to both the marine plants
and human beings. Ocean desertification results from severe and unfavorable oceanic conditions
that make it impossible for marine life to grow or survive in particular zones. There are various
causes of changing oceanic conditions but most of them are attributable to human activities.
Worth a note, it is not possible to localize the oceans or the long-term effects of human activities,
hence, attempts to improve oceanic conditions and reduce and ultimately eradicate Oceanic
desertification will be more successful if done globally. According to Paine (2017), ‘ a 2008
study found more than 400 dead zones worldwide, including in South America, China, Japan,
southeast Australia and elsewhere.’ This paper describes a possible solution for addressing
Oceanic desertification, that is, a global convention that will identify all issues that cause oceanic
desertification and establish rules and regulations for the destructive activities. Additionally, the
convention will recommend alternative environmentally friendly methods of production and
development and provide educational material to all nations that will create awareness of the
problem and proposed solutions to citizens.
OCEAN DESERTIFICATION
4
2.0 Discussion
2.1 Background Information on Oceanic Desertification
Oceanic desertification mainly results from changing oceanic conditions that occur
naturally or because of human activities. An ocean desert, just like a dry land desert, lacks
essential conditions for the survival of plants and animal life. Unlike marine animals, which can
migrate to other regions, marine plants are immobile hence suffer harsh oceanic conditions and
wither, die or sometimes change color for example coral bleaching. Therefore, to address ocean
desertification, it is important to understand the main causes of ocean desertification, which
include:
2.1.1 Ocean Acidification due to Changing Climatic Conditions
Unlike weather changes, the change in climatic conditions are gradual, measured over a
long period of time such as 30 years and are not easy to identify. Although different continent
experience different climatic conditions, there are factors that combine the various continents to
make up a global climate, which depicts climate conditions worldwide. Worth a note, recent
research indicates a rapid rise in the earth’s temperature. Rising global temperature results to
distinguishable changes in the global climate, sea water levels, water and land temperatures etc.
The major cause of increasing global temperature is the excessive presence of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere. Naturally, greenhouse gases exist in the atmosphere but at safe considerable
amounts. Excessive presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere results from heavy
compound gases released into the atmosphere as by-products of a production process or
operation without being processed. The most common greenhouse gas is Carbon dioxide, CO2.
These gases comprise of complex compounds that do not break down and when they reach the
atmosphere, they form a layer of the ozone layer that prevents heat from the earth to escape from
OCEAN DESERTIFICATION
5
the atmosphere. This means that, although solar heat can penetrate the layer ...
