The document discusses both the positive and negative effects of the internet on society. It addresses how the internet has made information retrieval and communication easier but has also increased access to inappropriate content and cybercrimes. It explores how the internet has benefited business and education but may also encourage laziness and reduce productivity. The conclusion states that the negatives of the internet outweigh the positives and that it has not increased intelligence, but these claims are not fully supported by evidence cited in the paper.

1. Darweesh
9
Sarah Darweesh
English 1201
Professor Justin
July 31, 15
Is the Internet Increasing Oured Intelligence?
Internet is a short term for internetworking. Telecommunication
has evolved over ages. In the twenty first century, the internet
has emerged as a result of digital revolution. Internet has led to
limitless information sharing which has revolutionized our
society. There has been tremendous changes from individual
person’s lives to business operations. Internet has brought huge
benefits and evils into our lives. Internet has affected every
aspect of our lives from academic, social, and business. With
fast internet connections, communication has been made very
much easier than ever before. However as people rely more on
internet, negative effects are now being seen. These negative
effects brought by internet has affected individuals, societies,
cultures and economic development.
Positive effects of internet
Easy information retrieval
Internet search engines has made easy search of information. It
has replaced physical libraries and the old library system. In the
past, when one needed some crucial information, one would
visit a library building and , check the catalogue to direct him
to a certain book. After getting the book one would read
through numerous pages just to get some few information.
Getting another source of related information will would be
another difficult task. Nowadays when someone needs some
information he just needs to have a computer, tablet, internet

2. enabled phone or any other internet access device and internet
connection. By typing the information you need in the search
engine you will receive a million sources of the information.
These sources range from publications, research papers,
journals, e-books, articles, and posted opinions. The
information from internet range from old to new up to date
information, which would have otherwise be unavailable in
library.
Easy and fast communication
Internet is a result of advancement of telecommunication.
Telecommunication has come of age. In the past people used to
communicate on slow and unreliable telegrams. Later
advancement gave birth to the telephone booth system, which
uses electric cables to send signals. This system was also slower
and unreliable because communication is only done in the
telephone booth. Emails and cellphone systems later took the
telecommunication to the next level. Nowadays,
telecommunication has been made even easier. The emergence
of internet based social sites has made interactions of people
easier than one would have ever imagined. Facebook, Ttwitter,
Iinstagram, and more others are now being used to disseminate
information to huge a large number of people. Individual
interaction such as chatting, posting a comment or photos, is
now instantly possible. Businesses are also employing these
social sites for advertisement purposes.
Online business transaction
Internet has revolutionized business in many aspects. Business
transactions are can be done nowadays online. Customers from
all over the world can book a hotel online in their homes. Air
tickets can be booked online. Buying and selling, which has
always been known to be done in the physical market place, is
now possible through online. A seller posts the items he is
selling and the buyer on the other end selects and make pays
ment for the same onlineproduct online and the item will be
delivered to the buyer. Internet has transformed banking
industry a great deal, and transferring money transfer is now

3. easier than ever;, a client can transfer money from his account
to the another foreign or domestic via online banking systems
such as PayPal. Forex is currently thriving as an emerging
online businesses, clients are using online platforms to buy and
sell currencies with the view of making profits. Other
businesses such stock exchange is now becoming easier due to
up to date trends of various stockes. Some applications haves
been created which that monitors, buy and sell stockes,
eliminating human involvement (Weber & Weber, 2010).
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Wording. Comment by
Justin Mundhenk: Introduce your source. Also, this is the first
source mentioned in the paper.
Exchange of knowledge
Transfer of knowledge has been made easier with the use of
internet. Researchers, university professors, students and
scientists can exchange ideas and materials with the help of
internet. Availability of a wide range of research tools in the
internet such as books, journals, and articles has made it much
easier to undertake research nowadays. Teachers have access to
up- to- date materials to be used in teaching. They access
tutorials videos, charts, and documentaries, which aid in
delivering information content to the students. Unlike in the
past where teaching was only done in the classrooms, with the
help of internet, teaching can now be done online which is
normally called distant learning because students and teachers
are miles apart. The beauty of this is that a student can take his
lectures comfortably wherever he likes. He also submit his
assignments and tests online without meeting the lecturer
physically. This has made learning easier because one can take
classes offered abroad without having to be there.
Negative effects of internet
Access to inappropriate materials
Though internet has played a very good role in retrieving of
information, this has also made possible access to illegal and
inappropriate materials. In as much as younger members of the
society accesses information for their studies, they also get

4. access to inappropriate content. This has led to moral
degradation in the society. Young underage children now access
information and videos on explicit adult content. This kind of
information is much attractive to the young members of the
society than other information related to their academics. This
has resulted to wastage of useful time and resources to them.
More regrettably, it has resulted in young children engaging in
immoral behaviors. This immoral behaviors make our society
very chaotic. Unwanted pregnancies, rape cases, abortions,
spread of STIs, and breakages of marriages has been traced to
have resulted in exposure of inappropriate content at a younger
age. Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Proof or evidence of
supporting this claim? Comment by Justin Mundhenk: This is
a pretty big claim that goes unsubstantiated, especially since
these things all existed prior to the Internet as well.
Non profitability of entertainment industry
Though internet has made it easy to share information, it has
resulted in making other sectors less profitable. Entertainment
industry has suffered a lot since their music and other arts is
downloaded world over without earning them a reward. When
one has downloaded a material he shares it with his friends
leaving the artist without any pay. Recently there has been
numerous lawsuits on downloads of copyrighted materials.
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Evidence?
Reduced work efficiency
In the past when there was no internet access workers used to
perform better compared to current workers. Cases has been
reported that workers currently tend to login to social sites to
socialize with their friends during work time. An accountant
working on a computer having internet access meant for
research and other office work, would spent much of work time
on Facebook. An office clerk would stop to check the posted
photos on instagram instead of working. This has resulted on
lower productivity (Tamia, 2013). Comment by Justin
Mundhenk: Evidence? Studies have shown that, at least in
America, workers are more productive now than they ever have

5. been before. Comment by Justin Mundhenk: We’ll need to see
this evidence.
Cyber crimes
Internet has brought about cybercrimes. Criminals create
computer viruses and spread them on internet. Without the
updated anti-virus, these computer viruses have potential of
permanently damaging the computer. Hackers can access other
people’s accounts and get access to vital and confidential
information. Confidential information from government offices
has been leaked and made public with the help of internet.
Hackers have also been successful in getting access to bank
accounts and transfer huge sums of money to their accounts.
Internet is also being used to spread threatening messages to
some targeted group. Acts of terror is spread on internet to
cause fear to the intended group of people. Social sites has been
used to insult others. When one collided with another on some
issues, you will find insulting and disgusting messages or
photographs on social sites that harasses the intended person.
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Evidence?
Inactivity
Over reliance on internet has brought about inactivity. Instead
of engaging in physical activities during leisure time people
nowadays spent it playing online games. Since internet has
reduced a lot of travelling, people now spent much of their time
on internet socializing with friends and doing other activities
leaving out the physical activities. Studies has shown that lack
of body exercises is the root cause of many problems occurring
in the body. This state of inactivity has resulted in major harm
to their bodies. Current diseases such as obesity, inertia and
other health problems haves traced their roots from inactivity.
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Evidence that proves the
Internet is responsible?
Addiction
Research shows that after drugs and alcohol, internet comes as
the third addictive thing. Psychiatrist called this kind of disease
internet addiction disorder (AID). This is an out-of-control

6. disorder that overwhelms the normal life of the affected. This
comes after a long time exposure to internet tools such as
games, gambling, explicit content, social sites and others. Short
term effects of internet addiction includes; weight gain,
unfinished tasks and forgotten responsibilities. Internet
addiction has emotional effects such as depression and feeling
of isolation which result as long term effects.
Loss of human touch
Internet is a virtual world. Interaction on internet does not
involve face to face communication. Some people have become
friends through internet but have never met in person. Friends
interact on social sites as if they don’t know each other. This
has destroyed the real world interactions. People currently
engage more in social sites with virtual friends forgetting their
close real friends who might not be on social sites like parents
and grandparents. This has led to weak bonding between close
family members and or friends. The result of this is social and
cultural degradation since everyone now lives his/her own live
as an individual (Farivar & Cerf, 2011). Comment by Justin
Mundhenk: Can we see this evidence?
Laziness
Internet use encourages laziness. Whenever students are given
assignments they just jump direct to the internet and searches
them. From the search engines numerous related results are
found, they copy and paste them as their own. Answers of some
of the questions given by the lecturers are readily found on the
internet. Students would right away copy the answers as they
are. This makes the student not to take time to understand and
get to know how to approach the problem. On the other hand
internet make lecturers lazy. Content to be taught in class can
be easily found on internet. Some do rely on these internet
resources and failed to prepare lecture content of their own.
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Couldn’t this also be an
upside for lecturers as well? It does allow teachers from across
the world to share ideas and lessons.

7. Not all the information on internet are is accurate
Another big setback with internet is the nature of its
information. Results of search engines are numerous. Some of
this information are is not accurate. Search engines does not use
accuracy to rank websites containing the searched information.
Unlike academic publications, no one regulates the information
on internet. There is danger of a learner or researcher getting
inaccurate information in the cause of the research.
Time wastage Comment by Justin Mundhenk: This section
sounds similar to previous sections on laziness and lack of
worker productivity.
Internet is becoming popular day by day. Internet use is taking
over every aspects of our lives. People tend to take more time
on internet than doing other useful things. Students in schools
spent less time in their studies but more on the internet. Many
other people from all works of life tend to waste more time on
internet doing less meaningful things like socializing with their
friends. Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Will need evidence.
Wastage of money
With rise of online buying many people have been influenced to
buy things which that they may have not needed. Some cases of
theft have also been reported where a buyer transfers money to
some virtual person for buying of some items but the seller just
disappear after receiving the money. Also online based business
have been reported to be scammers. When they have
accumulated huge sums of money they just disappear. Forex and
stocrk market have gained huge popularity but many people
have lost their hard earned money. A person who is yet to
receive enough experience in forex and stoke market just pump
in a lot of money in to these online institutions only to blow up
their accounts. Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Needs evidence.
Conclusion
Internet is a very important tool in our current living. This very
important tool need to be utilized with caution. Internet user
who is unaware of the underlying setbacks of internet is more

8. likely to be overcame by these setbacks. From the internet
discussion above, it can be clearly seen that cons far outweigh
pros in number and degree of effects. It can be also seen that
internet is the root cause of most of the evils that we currently
face as the society. From corruption of morality, ever rising
internet crimes, loss of human touch, internet addiction, work
efficiency and wastage of time are all evils which came with
internet. It is clear that internet has not increased intelligence.
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Not at this moment.
Comment by Justin Mundhenk: This hasn’t been
established either.
Sarah,
A few suggestions:
Evidence: First and foremost, we need to see more evidence in
this paper. There are a few in-text citations, which suggest
paraphrasing, but there’s never really any use of sources to
support claims in this paper. That’s especially true when it
comes to sections focusing on the negative aspects of the
Internet. The conclusion makes the case that the Internet has
had a profound, negative impact on society as a whole;
however, there isn’t any actual evidence supporting this
conclusion.
Intro Sources: Furthermore, I’d like to see you introduce your
sources. Name the authors, tell us what they do, the title of the
article, and what the article is about. Give us direct quotes from
the source. This will go a long way in establishing credibility
for your sources and your argument.
Conclusion: Finally, I’d like to see you expand your
introduction. You claim that it’s clear to see that the Internet
has done more harm than good, and part of that is because you
include more negative examples than positives. Someone could
easily make a reverse argument in which they include more
positives than negatives. Also, some claims just don’t hold up,
such as the ones about deterioration of morality and economy.
One could easily argue that immorality has always existed, the
Internet just makes us more aware of such immorality. As for

9. the economy, one could argue that the Internet has simply
disrupted the current economy and, besides, economies are
constantly evolving with time (for example, the US was once
largely an agrarian society, but over time, with the growth of
manufacturing, steel, etc., the economy changed, just like it has
with the Internet).
I hope the comments help. Let me know if you have any
questions.
Justin Mundhenk
Reference Comment by Justin Mundhenk: Sources should be
arranged alphabetically and follow proper MLA citation style.
Much of these look like APA.
Farivar, C., & Cerf, V. (2011). The Internet of elsewhere. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Cakrani, E. (2013). Technology and Privacy, Internet Effects on
Privacy. MJSS. doi:10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n9p279.
Weber, R., & Weber, R. (2010). Internet of things. Berlin:
Springer.
Tamia, R. (2013). WELCOME TO BLOG~GUE: Top 10
Negative Effects of Internet on Students.
Retnotamia.blogspot.com. Retrieved 29 July 2015, from
http://retnotamia.blogspot.com/2013/04/top-10-negative-effects-
of-internet-on.html
Feenberg, A. (2012). (Re)Inventing the internet critical case
studies. Rotterdam: Sense.
MIT Technology Review,. (2014). The Impact of the Internet on
Society: A Global Perspective | MIT Technology Review.
Retrieved 29 July 2015, from
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/530566/the-impact-of-
the-internet-on-society-a-global-perspective/
Feenberg, A., & Friesen, N. (2012). (Re)Inventing the internet.
Rotterdam: SensePublishers.

10. Paper 5: Argumentative Research Paper
The research proposal should allow you to understand the
complexities of a topic that you feel is worth further
exploration. Now you’ll use that research to write a thoughtful
and persuasive final paper.
As the culminating paper of this course, the argumentative
research paper is your chance to pull together all of your
learning over the course of the semester. Now that you’ve
learned how to appreciate rhetorical strategies, summarize and
analyze others’ ideas, transfer concepts into new situations, and
write evidence-based paragraphs, this paper is your chance to
use all of those skills to persuade other people to take a stand
on the issue or to change their stand on that issue. You should
present a clearly arguable thesis, backed by credible, sufficient
and fully analyzed evidence.
Key Features of a Researched Argument
1. A clear and arguable position. At the heart of every
argument is a claim with which people may reasonably disagree.
Some claims are not arguable because they’re completely
subjective, matters of taste or opinion, because they are a matter
of fact, or because they are based on belief or faith. To be
arguable, a position must reflect one of at least two points of
view, making reasoned argument necessary.
2. Necessary background information. Sometimes we need to
provide some background on a topic we are arguing so that
readers can understand what is being argued.
3. Good reasons. By itself, a position does not make an
argument; the argument comes when a writer offers reasons to
back the position up.
4. Convincing evidence. It’s one thing to give reasons for your
position. You then need to offer evidence for your reasons.
The evidence you use to support your argument will come from

11. the sources you have selected through research.
5. A trustworthy tone. Arguments can stand or fall on the way
readers perceive the writer. Very simply, readers need to trust
the person who’s making the argument. One way of winning
this trust is by demonstrating that you know what you’re talking
about. There are numerous ways to establish tone. In this
paper you will establish tone through quality writing and
proving to your reader that you have done thorough research.
6. Careful consideration of other positions. No matter how
reasonable and careful we are in arguing positions, others may
disagree or offer counterarguments or hold other positions. We
need to consider those other views and to acknowledge and, if
possible, refute them in our written arguments.
Guidelines
The essay should
· be 7-10 pages.
· include an accurate MLA heading (student name, instructor
name, course, and date) and header (student last name and page
number).
· include a title that captures the spirit of its content.
· use 1” margins and Times New Roman 12-point font, with
double-spacing throughout.
· include an accurate MLA Works Cited entry.
Dates and Deadlines
Wed., July 29th: Rough draft is due. Bring a hard copy to class
for peer review. Submit to eLearn drop box by 11:55 pm.
Fri., August 7th: Final draft is due. Please turn in hard copies
only. Electronic copies will only be accepted under extreme
circumstances.
Here’s a possible organizing structure:
· Provide an overview of the topic. Basically, what is
happening? You might consider starting with a clear, concrete
image/event to help readers get a clear image of some aspect of
the issue.

12. · Explain what’s at stake. Why is this an issue that a reader
should care about?
· Identify your position. State your thesis.
· If you’ve discovered a framework that helps you understand
the issue, you may want to introduce it at the beginning of the
body of the essay.
· Explain the evidence that supports your position. This is the
bulk of the paper, where you work through the evidence to show
why your thesis is valid.
· Explain why evidence which contradicts your position is
inadequate/insufficient/ misunderstood/whatever. This is the
place where you’ll need to show that you understand WHY
people have different viewpoints but persuade them to accept
new evidence/analysis of evidence.
· Conclude. You might want to use a relevant quotation (or
recommend further action, or reflect on your own growth, or
return to an idea/image you used in your introduction) as a way
of creating a satisfying closing for the paper.