Spencer_m

ENGG 123

Impact of Technology on Society

Assignment #4 Due Dates

Section 1: Nov. 17 at 6AM

Section 2: Nov. 18 at 6AM

Please note: this document is only a guideline. It contains suggestions and ideas for how to organize your report. It is not mandatory to follow this outline. It is expected that you will personalize your report and create your own unique section headings, and organize it in a manner that best suits your project.

You must choose from a specific list

• You must choose a topic from the list provided, 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.

Topics

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

- 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

e.g. Internet

• what have been the benefits of the Internet?

• what negative impacts have resulted from the widespread use of the Internet?

Instructions • You will research and report on an assigned topic

related to technology and its impacts on society. • You submission, on turnitin, will be a short paper (6-

8 pages in length, not counting references, double- spaced, 12-point TNR font, one inch margins).

• 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 sources (references) in your report.

• MUST have at LEAST TWO references (excluding the website mentioned above)

Instructions • 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.

You pick ONE topic

• ...from the group of topics assigned to your last name

• just ONE topic

• not TWO topics, not ALL topics

• the topic you choose must be from the LIST based on your LAST (Family) NAME

• do a little research to determine which one you find most appealing and has sufficient information on it to use in your paper

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 MUST support your points

– to do this, you include evidence that backs up your statements or claims

Your Deliverable • The result of this assignment, which you will submit

through www.turnitin.com, 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: outlining, referencing, writing style, organization, and academic writing expectations.

• This paper is a research report, and not an essay. You are expected to demonstrate your ability to critically think when analyzing the technology as it relates to society.

Why some marks are low • Your writing style is an important component in this

deliverable – even if your analysis is thorough, you must clearly

communicate your analysis and conclusions in your writing

– are their grammatical errors?

– is it poorly organized?

– is each paragraph about ONE topic (which is introduced in the first sentence)?

– do some paragraphs have only two sentences? is that really a paragraph?

• news articles often have two lines in a ‘paragraph’ but that is not the case for academic writing

– if you anticipate needing help – PLAN AHEAD!

Objective & Scope

• In this paper, you MUST state your objective(s) AND scope.

• 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.

Inclusions and Omissions

• 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 full set of Instructions are posted on UR Courses

What to write about • A list in the Instructions is provided. It includes ideas and

questions that you should consider 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.

Consider the following • What is the technology? How does it work?

– this should be a BRIEF description that correlates to the LIMITED number of pages allowed for this report

• 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

• 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

Impacts on: 1) People’s health and welfare & 2) the Environment

• Consider the impacts on people’s health and welfare, and the environment – You should try to provide a balanced discussion

• include both positive and negative impacts

• Following your analysis of the technology’s impact, 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

Additional Considerations • 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.

/20 COMMUNICATION & USE OF LANGUAGE

• grammar and spelling

• appropriate for the target audience

• clarity

• writing style

• (does it make sense? is it awkward? are there several spelling or grammatical errors?)

/5 FORMATTING

• Reference list properly formatted

• Section headings (and subsections) appropriately named and numbered

/10 ABSTRACT

• can the reader understand what the entire report is about from the abstract?

• is it the appropriate length, in the appropriate location?

/15 INTRODUCTION

• is the technology adequately described with sufficient detail (background information)? (5 marks)

• is the objective(s) of the paper explicitly stated? (5 marks)

• is the scope of the paper explicitly stated? (5 marks)

• Total of 15 marks: instructions clearly state that you MUST include your scope and objective(s) for this paper – they do not need their own section – it should be in the Introduction section

/40 ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNOLOGY’S IMPACT

• demonstration of analytical skills and critical thinking skills

• depth and breadth of analysis: was just one aspect of the technology considered, or several aspects? were the impacts on just one component of society examined, or several component? were both positive and negative impacts analyzed?

• demonstration of the ability to support the claims made by the author

• ability to identify key issues regarding the impact of the technology on society

/10 APPROPRIATE USE OF REFERENCES

• correct in-text citations with corresponding full reference in reference list

• use of credible sources

• marks lost for: – having a table or figure and not referring to it in the

body

– not referencing a table or figure you copied

– using quotation marks

– plagiarism = 0 for entire report

Example

• The Revolutionary Impact of Wastewater Treatment on Society

• Abstract • Introduction

– Definition – Objective – Scope

• Relevant Content Sections • Conclusion • References • (no Table of Contents, or Lists of Tables and/or Figures –

although you are certainly allowed to include a table or figure in the body of your report)

1.0 Introduction • Wastewater treatment refers to the proper

collection, treatment and disposal of liquid waste generated from the residential and commercial sectors.

• The primary objective of this paper is to analyse the most significant impacts wastewater treatment has had on society. The secondary objective of this report is to determine whether there are more positive or negative impacts that resulted from the implementation of this technology and to discuss how innovative engineering techniques, such as wastewater treatment, can change the course of an entire society.

Intro cont’d: Scope

• Wastewater treatment encompasses a number of treatment methodologies for various wastewater streams. The focus of this paper will be limited to examining the impacts of domestic wastewater treatment. An analysis of treatment techniques that pertain to industrial or toxic wastewater streams is beyond the scope of this paper.

2.0 Background • 2.1 Wastewater Treatment

– Wastewater treatment is the means by which harmful substances in liquid waste are removed. Domestic wastewater can be categorized into grey water and black water (discuss).

– Common contaminants that are removed from domestic wastewater are pathogenic, or disease-causing, bacteria, chemicals found in personal care products, organic material, and nutrients that cause bacterial overgrowth.

– The primary purpose of wastewater treatment is to protect human health and the environment.

– Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) vary in degree of size and type of technology. Some WWTPS are simply lagoons, which allow wastewater to.... while others involve several processes to remove contaminants prior to releasing the effluent into the environment.

2.0 Background • 2.2 The Evolution of Wastewater Treatment

– The management of wastewater has been around for thousands of years (REFERENCE, since I am claiming some fact). In Roman times....

– Early in history, wastewater treatment was done through....

– As societies became more advanced, wastewater treatment....

– For example, Paris implemented her first treatment system in 1370, which consisted of .... (Reference)

– In areas that do not have any formal or organized wastewater treatment, liquid waste is usually disposed of by....

– This causes.....

2.0 Background • 2.3 Fundamental Methods of Wastewater

Treatment

– The heart of wastewater treatment is relocating waste that is comprised of harmful substances to a safe place for treatment and/or storage

– Once relocated, the liquid waste is treated by....

– The effects of this treatment are.....

– This treatment technology was developed by...

– and paid for by.....

– and is commonly implemented in....

3.0 Impact on Society • 3.1 Society prior to or without wastewater treatment

– Wastewater treatment has had a significant impact on society (THIS SENTENCE IS NOT SUPPORTED IF LEFT LIKE THIS!)

– Wastewater treatment has had a positive significant impact on society through removing contaminants that cause disease among humans (reference). There is an intrinsic relationship between safe drinking water, which is required by all humans, and the proper treatment of wastewater. Contaminants from wastewater can easily migrate to drinking water sources if not properly managed.

– Examples of areas without sufficient wastewater treatment are typically found in rural areas of developing countries. In these cases, intestinal diseases are common, and death among children under the age of 5 is .... (references)

– What are the economic and social impacts in areas without wastewater treatment? • is it physically safe? do kids go to school if they can’t go to the bathroom? • what are the impacts on females? who carries the burden for caring for sick

family members? • are wages lost when family members are too sick to go to work due to gastro-

intestinal illnesses?

3.0 Impact on Society • 3.2 Societies with wastewater treatment

– Do all societies have treatment? is it universal? – Who mandated the treatment? – What happens on private land (such as farms, cottages)?

(compared to municipal land, such as cities or towns) – Did anything else occur when wastewater treatment was

implemented? – What were the economic impacts?

• wastewater treatment is obviously not free, so are the economic impacts good or bad?

• who pays for it? is it worth it if I pay (through taxes) for neighbour’s wastewater treatment when they don’t pay?

– Are there any social impacts? • safety when going to the bathroom, privacy, respect, health

4.0 Impact Analysis • 4.1 Benefits of wastewater treatment

– The introduction of wastewater treatment has significantly benefited society (HOW???) through saving lives by preventing the spread of disease. While many diseases transmitted through improper wastewater treatment can be readily treated with proper medical attention, vulnerable segments of society (such as young children, infants, the elderly) can still easily succumb to the devastating effects of illnesses caused by pathogenic bacteria found in wastewater.

4.0 Impact Analysis

• 4.2 Negative impacts of wastewater treatment

– are there any??????

– is cost?

5.0 The relationship between wastewater treatment and engineering

• Scientists and engineers play a significant role in the development of new technologies to improve the quality of wastewater effluent while reducing the cost. For example....

• Through engineering innovations in wastewater treatment such as .... the impacts in developing countries are....

6.0 Conclusion

• Wastewater treatment has had far reaching impacts on both society and the environment. In fact, the impact is so broad that one can conclude that wastewater treatment correlates with a regions wealth, standard of living, level of education and literacy, and human mortality and morbidity rates. Perhaps the single largest impact is ......

7.0 References

• WHO (World Health Organization).....

• ............

• need at least two references