Expressing Your Ideas for an Academic Audience and Plan for Additional Research
Apply what you have learned about formal language and academic writing to write your own 2- 2 ½ pages draft of an essay that analyzes a relevant change in your field of study. Your paper must analyze either what caused this relevant change or analyze what effect this change has had. It will also create a research plan for further revision, research, and development.
This Unit 6 Assignment essay draft will then be revised to include source information and become your Unit 8 Assignment.
To identify a relevant change in your field of study, consider the following options:

Brainstorm a list of changes in your field of which you are already aware
Talk to others, including friends, family members, classmates, and professors
Do a quick Google search to create a list of changes in the field
Identify topic ideas by reading an article from this list of articles

For a more detailed description of each option, consult this document.
As you identify a change to discuss, be careful with your choice of topic to ensure that you are actually writing about a specific change. Diabetes itself, for example, is not a change. The skyrocketing number of children with diabetes in the last decade is a change. Technology is too broad a topic that includes countless changes and would not work for this Assignment; however, limiting the issue of technology to a specific technological change, like the increased use of cloud computing, will work for this Assignment. Be sure also that the change has occurred and that it is not a change you would like to see happen.
To help you succeed on this Assignment, you will post your prewriting work about the topic that you choose for your essay to the Unit 5 Discussion Board.
You will then use feedback you received on your topic idea to make necessary revisions and then post a rough draft of your essay to the Unit 6 Discussion Board. The feedback you receive on your rough draft will then help you to revise your draft for submission as the Unit 6 Assignment.
You must also include an additional 1 paragraph research plan paragraph at the end of your paper as part of the Unit 6 Assignment. This plan identifies what you specifically think you need to do in Units 7-8 to research your topic, support your ideas, and strengthen your draft.
Be sure your Unit 6 Assignment meets the following requirements:

Includes 4-5 fully developed paragraphs
Focuses on one specific, relevant change that has already occurred
Analyzes either cause or effect and does not take a position or make a recommendation
Develops the main point through your own thoughts and observations, not through research
Includes an additional research plan
Applies APA 6th Edition format
Avoids the use of outside sources at this point. However, if you use any source in any way in this draft, you must cite the source both in a references page and in text, whether you are quoting or paraphrasing

Utilize the following 5-minute video from the Writing Center to format the title page of your paper:
APA Formatting Video
Find out how your instructor will grade your Unit 6 Assignment by reviewing the rubric.
Review a sample student Assignment.