Utilize your program resources, the internet or a local library to find three credible sources that are relevant to your speech and complete Part 2 of the template. Read through your sources to identify five pieces of evidence that support your thesis and complete Part 3 of the template. Be sure to use at least three different types of sources (example, statistic, analogy, definition, visual, story, testimony). Review the rubric to ensure that you understand how you will be evaluated.

SCENARIO: Imagine you represent your company at a service organization dealing with one of these two issues:

Facing Economic Change

Engaging Civil Rights

Your supervisor has asked you to research information related to the history of one of these issues for your organization to help new employees and volunteers understand it better. Eventually, you will make an oral presentation with slides that include your findings and recommendations. Your predecessor already started a list of sample primary and secondary sources and collections of sources. ASSIGNMENT: Youll use the critical thinking process to investigate an issue and craft the argument youll be presenting in Touchstone 3. The touchstone templates below will guide you through this process in five steps:

Knowledge: What are the focused questions that will help you investigate your research question?

Comprehension: What have you learned about your issue?

Application: How do your sources connect?

Analysis: How will you use your evidence?

Synthesis: What are the main points you will communicate?

For this touchstone, you will take the first step in creating your presentation to help new employees and volunteers understand how historical events can be applied to one of the issues currently affecting your organization. To do the research necessary for your presentation, you will need to choose four sources that are credible and relevant to the issue facing your organization. You will first select the specific issue and research question you want to address. Then, from a collection of sources, you will choose two primary and two secondary sources that have relevant information for the historical events you want to include in your presentation. Finally, you will evaluate the credibility of your chosen sources by answering a set of questions. To begin, download the touchstone template below and fill out the sections as you complete each step. When you have finished, you will submit this template to move onto the next unit. Touchstone 2 Template Touchstone 2 Sample

A. Directions

Step 1. Knowledge

Youll use the Knowledge step of the critical thinking process to figure out what information will help you answer your research question. Remember, in the Knowledge step, you ask yourself these questions:

What are some more focused questions I can use to guide my investigation?

What smaller pieces of information will I need to answer the bigger research question?

By breaking your research question down into smaller pieces and writing out what information youre looking for, youll be able to find the evidence you need from your sources and build your knowledge of the issue.

In this Knowledge step, you will:

select your issue

select your research question

identify key words

1a. Select Your Issue Select the issue youd like to focus on for your presentation. As you saw in the scenario above, your supervisor has asked you to present lessons learned from historical events related to one of two issues: Facing Economic Change or Engaging Civil Rights. You will choose only one of these issues to write about, so pick the one thats most interesting to you or most relevant to your work.

Read about each issue below and then select one to use for this touchstone.

Issue 1: Facing Economic Change The pace of economic and workplace change is faster than ever. How have people been affected by such changes in the past and how have they adapted? What lessons can we learn for success in the modern workplace to deal with the changes that might occur down the road?

Issue 1: Facing Economic Change If you choose to focus on this issue for your presentation, you will select one of the following questions.

What if the bottom falls out? How can you prepare and protect yourself for bad times based on lessons learned from the Great Recession of 2008 and the Great Depression?

What happens when the workplace changes? How can people adjust when the workplace changes and what lessons can we learn from the U.S. Industrial Revolution and the Information Age?