Is modern technology improving human lives or making them less healthy and happy?
Purpose: In this essay, you will continue to work on controlling ideas, development, and MLA standards. In addition, you will focus on sentence variety and style. You also will respond to readings and use citations in your text. This essay also asks that you consult, evaluate, and cite sources outside the textbooks or other readings.
Minimum Words: 1000 (3.5-4 pages)
We have read essays about modern food production and healthy eating. Each has presented alternative perspectives. Some essays recommend that we avoid food made with modern technology. Others say the technology can cure problems like the obesity epidemic. 
You may choose a different type of technology other than food, which will require more reading on your part (there are many essays in They Say / I Say about this). Form a thesis that compares and contrasts different approaches, answering the question:
Is modern technology improving human lives or making them less healthy and happy?
Using the sources we have already read and covered in class (including videos like Food, Inc. and the “Soda Girl”) as well as They Say/I Say texts and additional readings, ensure that your essay includes a strong introductory paragraph that concludes with a thesis statement reflecting your opinion. Support your opinion with paraphrases and quotations from your selected texts. Include one or more reliable outside readings or sources (not assigned reading – may include one of the videos or another of your choosing). Keep in mind that for any tech-related topic, dozens of reliable articles and videos are published every day as these topics are constantly evolving.
Your thesis is your own opinion and the sources you have read are what will back up your opinion. Remember – do not try to cover all types of technology and also food. Select either one type of technology or continue to expand on what you have learned about modern, commercial food. In the paper, you should include the opposing point of view to your own, and offer a response to it. This paper isn’t a formal Toulmin Model paper but it should be well-rounded, including a different perspective to your own, to which you will respond (approx. 1 paragraph – plus a mention in the introduction and conclusion).