Paper in XXXXXXXXXX Background for Paper Final Research Report Topic: Hydrogen Energy.docx This course examines some of the relationships among science, technology and society, as well as the global...

Paper in XXXXXXXXXX Background for Paper

Final Research Report

This course examines some of the relationships among science, technology and society, as well as the global impact of these on populations. Have you wondered where a particular product, process or service would be in 50 years? Your final report in this course will hopefully provide you with some way to help determine that. Through examples and online discussion, we’ll learn how to arrive at the answer together. However, it is important that you begin to think early on about a product, process or service and identify it as your topic for the final report. It should be something current so that you can easily obtain reference material. The process of researching where your product, process or service will be in the next 50 years will require you to examine some of the current research literature in scientific journals. Your topic for your paper will be selected in consultation with your instructor, but up to 3 students can have the same topic. Each person will submit their own paper, even though 3 students will have the same topic, and in collecting information for it. This allows a comparison to be made among papers on a single topic.

Purpose

The purpose of the final report in this course is to examine the current research literature XXXXXXXXXXin an attempt to determine where a particular item, process, product or service will be in the year 2060. You may have a predetermined notion of the direction of a particular product, process, etc., and you might even think to guess at an answer by simply providing that opinion. PLEASE DON'T. Your prediction will have to be based only on the information that you have identified in the literature and from reference material that you have gathered. In other words, the research that is now ongoing should provide some of the (properly-referenced) detail for your prediction, and the collection of articles gathered during your search (maybe only 4 or 5 articles in total) should provide or convince you with such credibility that you feel confident that you have correctly predicted the future.

Selecting a Topic & Choosing Sources

Each student will be asked to select a topic and up to three (3) students can select a similar topic. Once approved by the instructor, the technology topic associated with a product, process or service that involves that topic will become the focus of your paper topic. You will be asked to select a web site that relates in some way to your topic to help show that your topic is a current one, and you will be relating some aspect of the environment into your topic aspects. The topic could be almost anything as long as it in some way relates to a process, application or product that is being currently researched, as some of the details you use will come from refereed "scientific" journals. Eventually, you will be asked to post your topic and the reference for the web site in the Forum Topic room of CLEW for approval. Grading your topic, means that it is approved. Comments on it from the instructor or TA means that it is not approved and you will need to clarify or refine your selection and repost for the approval (marks).

Each scientific journal has an editorial board that all articles must pass through, with external reviews by selected experts associated with discipline of interest before publication. This is the peer review process that science goes through prior to publishing results, and it is necessary to ensure the integrity of research and the method that science uses to report information. If you are unsure of the suitability of your references, check for an "Information to Contributors" section, or “Instructions to Authors” section and see if the above review process applies to articles appearing in the publication.

Most commercial magazines DO NOT follow appropriate scientific format and the information presented is often the author’s opinion, rather than based on facts collected using the scientific method. The “grocery store” variety of reading materials are usually not scientific journals. Books are often 2 to 3 years behind the current research literature because of the publication time associated with their production and might be good for the limited historical information that you require, but they will not often give you the most up-to-date scientific research information because of the lag times in writing, editing and printing a textbook.

Content of Final Paper

You are writing to the instructor, so you do not have to go into a lengthy historical detail. Please attempt to limit description about the "past" associated with your topic to about 3 quarters of a page. Focus on the present (current research) and the future (where you think the item, process, etc. will be based on what you have identified is happening in the literature now and the articles you referenced). Note that this does not mean that you cannot express your opinion related to your subject, but that the opinion should be influenced by the literature that you have found, and properly referenced. In other words, you are referencing the current research literature to support the opinion that you are writing about (i.e., something to back up or confirm your ideas). Papers are often 3 to 5 pages (double-spaced) depending on your writing style and how concisely you can convince the reader of the outcome.

There is no need to footnote or endnote directly from the source of your information; simply paraphrase the material and reference according to the APA format used by one of the scientific journal articles that you have found on your topic. The format will be marked as part of the grade for the paper.

The last sentence of your paper should be "In summary, in the year 2060 based on the information that I have collected, I believe that XXXXXXXXXXwill be ....................”

References

All final reports must have a separate "references" section which clearly identifies all sources of materials cited directly or indirectly in your paper. The references must be presented in a list of correct form, in alphabetical order, not numbered, on the last page of your submission. The 3-5 page total pages in your report does not have to count the references list (i.e., this could be page 6 if you wish).The specific sentences (or paragraphs, if applicable) in your paper where you have paraphrased material must be referenced properly. The journal articles that you have selected may be able to be used as examples for how to reference materials in your final report (if they are APA format). Within the text of your report, you should cite each source that you allude to or quote from directly. After each citation, insert the authors’ names in parentheses (don’t use numbers). Again, the journal articles you have selected should provide examples of how they reference the work of others. We’ll be using APA format for this paper. Examples are available in CLEW in the Resources section.

In addition, your report will include a copy of the front page of a web page that helps identify your topic (or technology). This inclusion assists the instructor and TAs from a marking perspective, which is why it needs to be included for full marks.

Marking Scheme for Final Paper

The paper is worth 15% of your final grade in XXXXXXXXXX.

Example: A Final Paper is Born...

You are sitting down on Saturday night reading the paper, and you come across an article on tooth decay in local school children. Each child received a new toothbrush from the health nurse and dentist who volunteered to examine the children’s teeth. Your mind tells you that predicting what the toothbrush might be like in 50 years could be an interesting topic for your final report. So, you go to your computer and search for a web site that focuses on tooth decay, prevention of decay, “teeth as we know them”, etc., and write down the web site URL (http://www......) so that you can include it in the References section of your report. (By the way, since I’m using the

Page 16 of 18 toothbrush for this example,you won’t be able to use toothbrushes as your final report topic.The

“Technology” aspect identified is the “toothbrush”....it took technology to manufacture it, and science to help refine it. It also took society to adopt its use for it to provide a important part of all our lives. You must also select a different technology from that of any other classmate – but more about that later.)

The objective of your final report is to determine where the toothbrush will be in the year 2060. Where do you begin?

Some of that beginning can involve researching the past. The toothbrush, like any other product, process or service, has a history of development. However, I don’t want you to describe that history in much detail. In other words, please remember that the history of the product, process or service is NOT the main purpose of the final report. Your first page, or even only the first few paragraphs of the report, should be all that you need to discuss the history of your topic. Please limit your presentation of historical material to 250 words or less. You can probably find the historical information you need in textbooks, documentaries, encyclopedias, etc. The first activity will be to pick the topic, get it approved, and find a full copy of a research article that will be accessible in CLEW so that other students can view it on-line.

There is a requirement to integrate science, technology and society as components, and you will need to search out research articles on the science behind the technology, with the idea of trying to determine something that references where the technology may be heading. This contribution helps determine how science may be influencing the technology that was approved. During your search for information on the toothbrush, you learn that toothbrushes have been made out of various materials over the years. You find that science has indeed played a role in the production of this product, with studies completed on the effectiveness and longevity of the product, as well as in its packaging. The science led to improvements in the toothbrush. The historical research also shows that toothbrushes have been manufactured with specially shaped bristles and with coloured plastic bristles that have internal indicators. These internal indicators lose their colour over time, telling the user that they need a new toothbrush.

You will also be responsible for finding a research article that has some relationship to society’s role in “toothbrushes”. Again, providing the reference in CLEW, so that the other members of the class that might have the same topic can review the resources. In providing the information this way, each student will obtain resources that identify the technology, some aspect of the involvement of science will be demonstrated and the impact or influence on society in the process, service or application will be able to be considered.

Each student then writes and submits their own paper (due at the final exam) and the topic is the same topic as up to two other students that may have helped gather information. Each paper is to

Page 17 of 18 be completed independently, and should be different writing styles, because the interpretation and

referencing of the material will be from 3 different individual perspectives. No papers should be the same, although the final outcome may be the same for where the product, process or service may be predicated to be in 2060, but that indeed may not be the case. There isn’t a right or wrong answer, as its only the evidence that you present and how your reference it that is used to convince your reader of your final conclusion.

If you limited your research to the toothbrush, you might conclude that in 50 years, the toothbrush will have little lights attached to it so that we can see our teeth better when brushing them. Or, since the electric toothbrush and WaterPikTM have been developed, you might conclude that other types of cleaning methods will be used to enhance the toothbrush. The question that you need to ask yourself after you come to this conclusion is: Does contemporary science tell me anything about where the toothbrush may be in the future?

In this course, science, or the research component of science, helps determine the fate of particular products, processes and services. Remember, the early work on the toothbrush in the study of tooth decay really led to the development of the product using technology, and you probably wouldn’t deny the impact that the toothbrush has had on society as a result. However, where does science today tell us the toothbrush will be in 2060? How can it help you predict the future of this product?

Since the toothbrush is involved in preventing tooth decay, your search for current research should likely lead you to dental scientific journals or recent medical journals. For example, you discover that the Canadian Dental Society publishes a scientific journal monthly. In that monthly journal, you find considerable research and testing on dental films and prevention of tooth decay. You take notes and reference your readings as you learn more about how science uses journals to report information to others. During this process, your thoughts about the toothbrush’s future change from what they were when you reviewed the historical information. Scientific information is more associated with accepting or rejecting a hypothesis concerning a particular issue involving dental care, than it is in marketing or improving the use, development, or marketing of toothbrushes as a product. If you had limited your research on your topic to only information in newspapers or magazines, you may have concluded that toothbrushes would still be advancing in the year 2060, maybe to find better plastics for manufacturing, or better grips on the handle for holding toothbrushes with wet hands. On the other hand, your study of science in the area of dental care should lead you to an entirely different conclusion. The work on dental films is progressing to the level that when performed at the first emergence of permanent teeth, the dental film will prevent cavities entirely. You may only have to go and have your teeth coated and re- coated at selected intervals to completely prevent cavities. A similar regime for teeth cleaning would prevent plaque build-up, gum disease, etc.

In the end, your conclusion could be that in the year 2060, there would not be any more toothbrushes!