The Impact of Technology on Society .You will research and write on an assigned topic related to technology and its impact(s) on society.

You will research and write on an assigned topic related to technology and its impact(s) on society. You submission, on URCourses-turnitin, will be a short paper (6-8 pages in length, not counting 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 HYPERLINK "http://www.greatachievements.org/"(HYPERLINK "http://www.greatachievements.org/"www.greatachievements.org HYPERLINK "http://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

Students whose family names begin with the letter F, G, H, I, or J:

Airplane

Computers

Potable Water Supply, Treatment, or Distribution

High-performance Materials

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.

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.

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 or 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 MUST state your objective(s) AND scope (methodological statement). These items, however, do not need their own separate sections for this length of paper. They should be discussed/stated in the Introduction section. Following the Introduction, use relevant content sections as well as a Conclusion section and Reference section.

In this paper, you are NOT required to include a title page or table of contents (or list of tables, figures or appendices). You are, however, required to include an Abstract and Reference section. The Abstract and Reference section do not count towards your 6-8 pages.

Content of your paper

The following list of ideas and questions should be considered when researching for your report. Due to the limited number of pages allowed in 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. It is recommended that you support your analysis with examples, in order to justify your statements. The specific ideas you choose to expand on will depend on which ones you can get detailed information about and which you feel will make the strongest examples to support your points.

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 thefacts 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.