ENGG 123 – Impact of Technology on Society – Assignment #5

You will research and write on an assigned topic related to technology and its impact(s) on society. Your submission, on URCourses-Turnitin, will be a short paper (6-8 pages in length, not including references, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, one inch margins).
Your objective is to illustrate and discuss, in your own words, how a single technology, or type of technology, can have a significant impact on society and transform the way society functions economically, socially, and/or politically. Additionally, these significant impacts may be related to the health and welfare of the society or the environment. The impacts should be far-reaching, and not local in nature. Examples of significant achievements can be found on the National Academy of Engineering website (www.greatachievements.org). You may use this website as a starting point for your assigned topic, but you must incorporate at least two other reputable (credible) sources (references) in your report.
You must choose a topic from the list below, based on your LAST (family) NAME. Please select one (1) topic that is within your category. You may not ‘trade’ topics with another student. You must select one of the topics in your category.
1. Students whose family names begin with the letter A, B, C, D, or E:
– Automobile
– Telephone
– Electrification (Electricity)
– Household Appliances

2. Students whose family names begin with the letter F, G, H, I, or J:
– Airplanes
– Computers
– Potable Water Supply, Treatment, or Distribution
– High-performance Materials

3. Students whose family names begin with the letter K, L, M, N, or O:
– Highways
– Electronics
– Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
– Imaging

4. Students whose family names begin with the letter P, Q, R, S, or T:
– Spacecraft
– Internet
– Nuclear Technologies
– Laser and Fibre Optics

5. Students whose family names begin with the letter U, V, W, X, Y, or Z:
– Agricultural Mechanization
– Radio and Television
– Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies
– Health Technologies

Sources
Use appropriate academic sources. This is a research paper, and not an opinion-based paper. Thus, you must use references to support your points, and the references must be properly incorporated into the body of your paper. You are required to employ the APA citation and referencing system prescribed for this class as presented on the Purdue Owl Writing Lab website.
Instructions
The result of this assignment, which you will submit through the Turnitin system on URCourses, will be a short but formal research paper. It is expected that you will use the tools you have learned in class that are related to: proofreading, referencing, writing style, organization, and academic writing expectations.
This is an argumentative paper – not simply an expository presentation of information. You are making a case – how and why a particular technological development has been significant. You are expected to demonstrate your ability to critically think when analyzing the technology as it relates to society. Therefore, you MUST provide a problem statement in the form of a research question(s) or probationary hypothesis early in your introduction.
The body of the paper should be 6-8 pages in length, double-spaced. This length is for the content (from Introduction to Conclusion) and does not include the abstract and references. The font should be 12 point, Times New Roman. The margins should be one inch (or 2.54 cm) on the top, bottom and both sides.

In this paper, you are required to include a title page, abstract, table of contents, references page, and, if required, lists of tables, figures and appendices. The Abstract and Reference sections do not count towards your 6-8 pages.
Content of your paper
Your paper should be structured according to the formal paper model presented in this class.
The list of ideas and questions provided below should be considered when planning and researching for your report. Due to the limited nature of this assignment, there may not be enough room to cover all the topics listed below. Thus, you might choose only to briefly mention some topics, while going into more detail in other areas. You need to support the various points you make in your analysis with examples and/or evidence.
Some of the ideas and questions you consider will form the basis of your overarching research question(s). For example, you might write, “This paper will explore the following research question: What are the significant social and economic impacts of asphalt road paving technology?” This sample question would require you to provide some conceptual clarification. For example, what do you mean by technology and what do you mean by significant impacts? Effectively answering the sample question will require you to pose a number of subsidiary questions when doing your research. Answers to those subsidiary questions can form the basis of the argument points you make.
Remember, your introduction should include your research question(s) or probationary hypothesis, any required conceptual clarification, and a methodological statement. Your analysis and discussion (in the body of the paper) should begin with a background section, followed by your point by point evidence-based analysis. And your conclusion must refer back to your original hypothesis or research questions as presented in the introduction.
The specific ideas you choose to expand upon as argument points will depend on which ones you can get detailed information about and which you feel will make the strongest examples to support your case or answer your research question.
List of ideas and questions
1) What is the technology? How does it work? (This should be only a brief description due to the limited number of pages allowed in this report)
2) How did society function prior to the wide-spread use of the technology or its first use or introduction of it?
You may consider how society functioned politically, socially, and economically
You may consider people’s health and welfare, as well as the state of the environment
3) How did society function after the wide-spread implementation of the technology?
Again, you may consider what changed regarding how society functioned politically, socially, and economically
4) Consider the impacts on people’s health and welfare
You should try to provide a balanced discussion
Include both positive and negative impacts
5) Following your analysis of the technology’s impact on people’s health and welfare, you may wish to evaluate the balance of positive and negative impacts
Do the positive impacts outweigh the negative ones (or vice versa)? How did you arrive at that conclusion?
Be sure that you have carefully considered the impacts on society if the technology were no longer available, Briefly discuss alternatives
Be sure to explain your reasons for your opinion – they should be based on the facts that you have already presented
6) Consider the impacts on the environment
You should try to provide a balanced discussion
Include both positive and negative impacts
7) Following your analysis of the technology’s impact on the environment, you may wish to evaluate the balance of positive and negative impacts.
Do the positive impacts outweigh the negative ones (or vice versa)? How did you arrive at that conclusion?
Be sure that you have carefully considered the impacts on society if the technology were no longer available
Briefly discuss alternatives
Be sure to explain your reasons for your opinion – they should be based on the facts that you have already presented
8) What does this example of the impact of technology on society suggest about how engineering should be practiced?
Demonstrate your critical thinking skills in assessing and evaluating the technology’s impact. You will often find evidence in the literature to support both the negative and positive impacts, so it is likely that through your analysis, you will choose to support and emphasize one side. Be sure that you include evidence to support your claims.
Grading
You will be graded based on the University of Regina’s grading criteria which are briefly described below. These criteria will be applied to the three thematic areas used to assess written work for this course
1) Outstanding performance (90-100%)
2) Very Good performance (80-89%)
3) Above Average performance (70-79%)
4) Satisfactory and Adequate performance (60-69%)
5) Barely Acceptable performance (50-59%)
6) Unacceptable performance (0-49%)

The three thematic areas are posted on URCourses. In brief, they are as follows:

30% structure and format
30% critical thinking
40% writing

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