Should Minimum Wage Be Raised

At the semester's beginning, we were assigned with formulating a research argument which would serve as the hallmark assignment for the course. During the selection period, the class was provided various controversial topics to choose from, and then formulate a research argument. After scanning through the allotted paper topics, one stood out the most to me: Should the minimum wage be raised? I ultimately came to the decision to write about this topic because I knew it had been increasingly in the realm of discussion in the months preceding -- especially due to our most recent 2016 presidential election. Here, I outline my approach to the research paper, some challenges I have faced, and the overall impact the paper has had on myself.

The position I decided to take on my topic "Should the minimum wage be raise" is that it should not in fact be raised. I took the path of resistance, the

least popular course on this issue, as many believe that it should be raised. Being so, I found it in myself to be necessary to provide only factual, non-biased case studies and research throughout my paper as to why raising the federal minimum wage is more harmful than good. My approach for the paper was to outline potential problems with raising the wage minimum, and then tackle them in each respective body paragraph, using a point-by-point scheme.

Not much was all too new to me when conducting the initial research during the research process, as I have written a great handful of research papers in my time.

If anything, the most revealing facet of this particular research assignment was that I had to tackle the research from both the concurrent side and the opposing side of the argument. Due to the complex nature of the topics provided for this assignment, it required deeper analysis and quantity of research to pull an unwavering argument together. Being so, I had to be sure to gathering information from many different source types, with many different directions in tackling my chosen topic in order for me to provide a multifaceted argument. After collecting the necessary resources (i.e. reaching the source minimum for this assignment), I found myself needing to gather more information because as I started to write the original draft, I realized that I had too many patches that needed to be filled within my argument. It took more digging and precise investigating to find more resources to each claim I looked to

fill.

The most difficult portion of the research process had to be the part of finding distinctive research that actually helped to back up the initial points I was seeking to present. Sometimes the key points and topic sentences can shift simply because there was not enough provided sources or information that would allow to make a strong paragraph or a solid reference that would help in the overall argument.

Writing this research argument has shown how I have grown as a student researcher. It not also provided me a clear depiction of growth, but it has also furthered my ability in gathering ample, quality research and formulating a well-rounded paper to follow. As previously discussed, I was even able to see that my argument had some holes that needed to be filled and that I needed to apply more research in order to fix those same inconsistencies. Writing this paper has really developed my comprehension of information and has sharpened my writing abilities. Also in continuing in higher education, these writing skills can be applied to many other courses, even in math because writing not only develops abilities to solely write papers, but it also cultivates the ability to communicate different concepts. These skills and abilities are indispensable and to be used in my continuing professional life.