The Impact of Technology on Society

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ENGG 123 – The Impact of Technology on Society – Assignment 4

Due Date

Friday November 10, 7:00 am on Turnitin

Introduction

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 (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:

- Airplane

- 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

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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 cited in your paper (APA

Style).

Instructions

The result of this assignment, which you will submit through the Turnitin system on URCourses will be a

short but formal research paper.

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 main 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

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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.

Below is a list of some 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

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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 gradin 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