This research question is of interest due to the fact that the minimum legal drinking age has been of great discussion and controversy throughout the world, especially in the United States. This specific research question is highly debatable and can be thought of through numerous perspectives. Personally, this research question does affect my values in the sense that I do not condone underage drinking as a result of the law. However, I do believe that being eighteen years of age and considered an adult, should grant the right to choose to consume alcohol or not. Being a college student, underage drinking is extremely common and a serious concern. I have experienced situations in which alcohol consumption has led to serious consequences, qualifying me to write about this significant topic in today's society. Also, I have read multiple sources about underage drinking and how this issue continues to rise.

The first article, "Alcohol Use among Adolescent Youth: The Role of Friendship Networks and Family Factors in Multiple School Studies," claims that friends and family both have an effect on alcohol use of adolescents. A study was organized that included 1,284 adolescent students from twelve small schools and 976 adolescents from one large school to determine the peer influence on underage drinking (Wang). The article presents the idea that parental guidance is a significant factor in the act of underage drinking and that adolescents are more willing to consume alcohol underage if they are surrounded by alcohol (Wang). Also, the article's call to action is that parents should more closely monitor who their children are associating themselves with and enforce how dangerous underage drinking seriously is (Wang). This article is at interest in answering the presented research topic because it is persuasively written and against underage drinking. This source is credible and the author gains their credibility for being published on a government scientific website. Although this is a primary source, there is some bias presented in this article. The fact that the author includes personal opinion in this article about parents and their relationship with their adolescent children allows for bias. I can use this article to argue that friends and family need to strictly enforce the dangerous of underage drinking. In addition, I can predict how the information in this article would differ if peer influence of underage drinking on adolescents simultaneously altered. 

The second article, "Heavy Episodic Drinking on College Campuses: Does Changing the Legal Drinking Age Make a Difference," questions whether or not changing the legal drinking age will make a difference in the number of students who consume alcohol on college campuses. Colleges, specifically the 32 college campuses studied for the development of this article are attempting to decrease the number of students that are consuming alcohol on their campuses (Rasul). In addition, these college campuses believe that changing the minimum legal drinking age will not alter the number of students that are choosing to consume alcohol underage, and possibly lead to an even larger increase (Rasul). This article is of great interest in answering the research question because it specifically pertains to college students, the extent of underage drinking, and the consequences that are associated with underage drinking. This article is another example of a primary source with a credible author. The authors of this article designed and executed this study efficiently and to the best of their ability, concluding with helpful information. The only bias in this article is the fact that they only studied and focused on 32 college campuses. I can use this article to argue from a college perspective and emphasize the idea that changing the legal minimum drinking age will not alter too much.

The third article, "Societal Costs of Underage Drinking," claims that underage drinking has numerous societal costs. These societal costs include traffic accidents, violence, and crimes (Miller). The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between underage drinking and each societal cost (Miller). Fatal and non-fatal cases were estimated and resulted to create further correlations (Miller). This article also presents statistical information that can be useful for understanding and gaging the severity of this topic. For example, underage drinking accounted for more than 16% of alcohol sales (Miller). Overall, this article is useful in answering the research topic because it suggests that lowering the minimum legal drinking age would result in more cases of societal costs (Miller). This source is credible because it has been written and published by a well-known university, Rutgers University. In this article there is no bias presented. I can use this article to my advantage because I do not believe the minimum legal drinking age should be lowered and that is exactly what this article is stating.

The research question presented is arguable for multiple reasons. Most people believe that the minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 solely because an individual is considered an adult at this age. On the other hand, some people believe that the minimum legal drinking age should remain at 21 because 18 year olds have not fully developed yet and have a higher accident rate. Between the articles I have read thus far I have not heard of anyone support that the minimum legal drinking age should be raised from 21, but with further research I am sure I can find an article presenting this claim. There are certainly agreements and disagreements between the sources that I have found and closely examined to answer my research question. For example, most articles agree that the minimum legal drinking age should not be lowered from 21, but disagree on why they are making this claim. The different perspectives throughout these articles definitely had an impact on my perspective and I now agree that the minimum legal drinking age should remain at 21 and not be lowered to 18. Finally, I did decide to change my research question from, "Should the minimum legal drinking age in the United States be lowered, remain the same, or be raised?" to "Is underage drinking a serious issue in society and should it result in the minimum legal drinking age in the United States to be raised?" because I believe it is more specific and appropriate for the sources I have chosen and read.

