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Essay Prompt
Essay Prompt
An invention can change the course of human history. The Industrial Revolution that began in the early 19th century was a time period of unparalleled creativity in invention for the Western world.
In a five-paragraph essay, choose one invention from this time period, explore the positive and negative impacts, and argue whether the invention was an overall positive or negative contribution to the world. Once you’ve decided whether the invention is positive or negative, address a counter-argument to your perspective.
Step 1: Choose an invention
Step 1: Choose an invention
The list below contains some of the possible inventions you may choose to research. Inventions will be selected in an in-class lottery. Selecting 5 options will often make sure one of them is available if your first pick is chosen. Mr. Abbott has used bold font on options he feels are a good choice.
Airplane
Alternating current
Aluminum
Aspirin
Assembly line
Automobile
Barbed Wire
Batteries
Bicycle
Blight resistant potatoes
Blue jeans
Canals
Canned food
Carbonated drinks
Cement
Coffee pot
Conical bullets
Cotton Gin
Dishwasher
Dynamite
Elevator
Escalator
Factories
First electric motor
Hot dogs
Ice making machine
Incandescent light bulb
Industrial glass making
Kodak Camera
Machine-made paper
Matches
Mechanical reaper
Microphone
Movies
Nitrogen Fertilizer
Pasteurization
Phonograph
Plastics
Radio
Sewing machine
Steam engine
Steel
Steel plow (Tractor)
Telegraph
Telephone
Textile mills and factories
The Dynamo
Typewriter
Vaccines
X-ray
Step 2: Research
Step 2: Research
It is time to learn about your invention. You will be learning to use scholarly articles to get an idea of what your invention is and how it changed the world. Focus on 3 questions:
What was the world like before my invention?
What problem did my invention address?
How has my invention developed over time?
Step 3: Writing your claim
Step 3: Writing your claim
Now that you have researched your invention, it is time to determine what kind of impact your invention had on the world. You should begin by deciding whether your invention had a mostly positive or negative impact overall.
Claim sentence frame:
_________________ had a mostly (positive/negative) impact
Example:
Synthetic rubber had a mostly positive impact
In order to finish your claim, you will need to determine what aspects of our world were impacted most by your invention. To do this, you will want to consider the acronym: PERSIA
P.olitics - How people govern themselves
E.conomics - How money, goods, and services move between people
R.eligion - How people practice their sacred beliefs
S.ociety - How individuals interact with each other
I.ntellect - How knowledge is collected and transferred
A.rt - How people express their feelings
Bonus
E.nivronment - How the natural systems of the earth function
Think about your invention. Which two areas of PERSIA did your invention impact most strongly? Add those to your claim.
Claim sentence frame:
_________________ had a mostly (positive/negative) impact on 2 aspects of PERSIA.
Example:
Synthetic rubber had a mostly positive impact on society and the economy.
Step 4: Topic Sentences
Step 4: Topic Sentences
In an essay, you want to have a clear purpose for each of your paragraphs. To communicate with your reader what you are trying to say in each paragraph, you will want to state what you are trying to do with your paragraphs. This statement of purpose is your topic sentence. You have already decided on your paragraphs when you wrote your claim.
Example Claim:
Synthetic rubber had a mostly positive impact on society and the economy.
If this is your claim, then your first body paragraph would be proving that synthetic rubber had a positive impact on society, and your second body paragraph would be proving that synthetic rubber had a positive impact on the economy.
You can make these sentences into topic sentences with an additional statement starting with "by":
Topic Sentence Frame:
_________________ had a mostly (positive/negative) impact on PERSIA by...
Example Claim:
Synthetic rubber had a mostly positive impact on society by reducing the demand for natural rubber produced by exploitative rubber plantations.
By starting each paragraph with a topic sentence, your reader can prepare for your argument in that paragraph, and you can keep yourself focused on the topic while writing that paragraph.
Step 5: Using Evidence
Step 5: Using Evidence
You will need to use sources to help support your points. For each topic sentence, ask yourself: "How can I prove that this is true?"
MLA Formatting
MLA Formatting
Review this video to put your essay into MLA format.
Step 6: Finishing the Essay
Step 6: Finishing the Essay
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