Engineering & Applied Science

Materials in Engineering Systems
EASC 2213 2014

TO: EASC 2213 Students
FROM:
Subject: Research Paper on Materials
Date: November 4, 2014

One of the required course outcomes for EASC2213 is that “on successful completion of this course students will have an appreciation for social, economic, and environmental considerations related to material selection”. To better achieve this outcome, students will perform some independent research and submit a 4-5 pages technical memo following the EAS112 format (same as this memo).

Students will research a specific material (gas, liquid, solid) and determine:
• the primary locations where the material or the materials used to produce this material are mined or produced.
• the environmental concerns tied to the mining or production of this material.
• the labor or machinery and infrastructure tied to the production and distribution of the material.
• the cost relative to other similar materials or alternative materials on the market.
• the environmental concerns for recycling or reuse of the materials.
• the environmental concerns for using the material (health, safety, byproducts).

A technical memo is written by the student using the EAS112 Tech Memo format. Papers will be returned without grading if they do not follow the format and all papers must use: Times New Roman, 12 pt font, 1.0 line spacing, 1 inch margins to be accepted. ALL references are attached to the memo with an index of appendixes on a separate page that can be used for citations. Facts referenced outside of the introductory of conclusion paragraph must have citations. The body of the paper must reference the appendixes.
The paper will present the results of your research and provide a discussion where the topics above are combined into the following three topics in the body of the paper and discussed in sequence.

• Technical Memo header/format, to-from-data-re.
• INTRODUCTION: 1 paragraph overview of the results of your research
• BODY
• Discussion of societal issues tied to production, distribution and use of the material (jobs, general safety of workers, politics/government a concern at production site) based on your research and NOT OPINION.
• Discussion of economic issues: How does the cost compare to other similar materials, is cheap labor used for production compared to where the material is used? Are there any concerns over limited supply and expected cost increases?
• Discussion of environmental issues: toxic, dangerous, flammable, non-recyclable, reusable, by products of production or use are a concern.
• CONCLUSION : Review of your research, similar to introduction.
• APPENDIXES
• Citations: a numbered list of references

Grading Policy

Grades are based on a simple A-B-C-D-F scale.

A. Well written and researched, easy reading with good examples for each of the 3 content areas. Follows the required format.
B. A reasonable discussion of the 3 content areas but contains a few errors in formatting, citations, logic, appendixes, etc..
C. A reasonable discussion of the 3 content areas but contains a numerous errors in formatting, citations, logic, appendixes, etc..
D. Poor research and discussion, insufficient resources/references, errors in formatting.
F. Paper does not follow the format required, return without grading
DUE DATE: Saturday, DECEMBER 6
You must submit the paper via Turnitin on BLACKBOARD!