Topic suggestions for Argumentative Research
paper:
Much exists on
the web, in newspapers and magazines, and certainly on TV and radio that lends
itself to potential topic ideas. If you need help finding a topic, here are
a couple of websites to help get you started:
Cal State at Long
Beach
Hot Topics page
(check this one first--it has a large collection of links to other college
and university argument topics websites)
University Writing Center webpage from the
University of Central Florida
Otherwise, consider the
suggestions below. (Each has been proposed as a topic for this
assignment and I consider each a viable topic choice.)
- We should develop some sort
[what sort?] of internet censorship. Not all
free expression is protected by the First Amendment.
- The birth control pill is more dangerous than the medical
community has led us to believe and should be removed from general consumption.
- We should initiate a national health insurance
program in the United States and model the program on successful ones used in
Europe [or Canada].
- We should use death row inmates as subjects for medical
testing rather than animals.
- Drivers in the state of
Minnesota who are over 70 years old must pass an annual test for eyesight and
physical ability before they can renew their driver's license.
- All Minnesota K - 12 public schools should adopt a school uniform
policy.
- We should not allow novels that
include explicit mature content in high school libraries (examples include
The World According to Garp, Lady Chatterley's Lover,
and The Naked and the Dead).
- Physician-assisted suicide should be legal in cases where
death is certain and consent is from the dying (in writing).
- All animal experimentation (including cancer research) should
be outlawed as advances in technology have made animal testing unnecessary.
- Parents should consider plastic surgery to alter physical
features of a child born with a handicap (such as Downs Syndrome or other birth defect),
and insurance should pay for it.
- The classroom size of grades K through 5
statewide should be set at a
maximum of 20 students.
- We should not lower any
physical requirement guidelines
so that women may be admitted
in
the military [or fire and police departments].
- Fathers should be allowed the same treatment as mothers in
family court decisions. Too many times the mother is favored because of the
"nurturing" stereotype.
- Children should not be exposed to computer technology until
late in the education process [which year?] because computers often distract young
learners from learning the basics, or have the basics done for them by computers.
- We should legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Or
we should legalize marijuana completely as a legal recreational and therapeutic drug.
Or we should ban the use of marijuana for any purpose.
- We should encourage alternative medicinal solutions
to
diseases first [such as?] before attempting conventional treatments. Furthermore, alternative
medicine should be covered by conventional health insurance policies.
- Every state should enact a divorce counseling law that
requires married couples to go through counseling before being granted a divorce.
- We should outlaw
genetically modified foods until further research [how much?] can be done to
see if these foods affect the environment or us.
- Gay marriages should be legally recognized so that tax
and insurance benefits apply. Or, we should [or should
not] amend the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the U.S. military to allow
gays to serve in the armed forces.
- Casinos should be outlawed in the state of
Minnesota. Or: casinos should be completely run by the
state and not by the Native American community. Or: casinos should be allowed
to remain under the control of the Native American community, without
alterations.
- Cloning should be banned until necessary safeguards and
precautions can be established to allow the research to be conducted safely and prudently.
- Stem-cell research is medically sound but ethically questionable. We
should continue research but prohibit the actual use of
embryonic stem cells until a later
[how much later?] period. Or:
We should support the recent decision to allow embryonic stem-cell research and
federally fund the work to use these stem cells to cure diseases.
- The misdiagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
have caused doctors to over-prescribe Ritalin. We
should develop new diagnostic procedures [which
ones?] to curb this trend.
- Home schooling provides an exceptional education under
controlled circumstances. Nevertheless, I would advocate that every American child
should receive two years of public schooling before
graduating from high school.
- We should implement a
public school voucher system in Minnesota, similar to the model now in use in the
Milwaukee Public School system.
- There should be no drug testing in the workplace because this
violates our privacy rights.
- Immigration laws dont go far enough. Its time to
legislate who can and who cannot establish residency on our shores, using strict criteria
and punishing severely (including deportation) those who violate or ignore the guidelines.
[Careful with this one!]
Avoid topics of taste, fashion, and recreation:
- Rap music
is not real music
- Fad diets never work
- Professional sports' salaries are too high
- Baseball is harder to play
than basketball
- Dungeons and Dragons is not a satanic game
- The NFL should punish
excessive endzone celebrations
- Professional wrestling is
real wrestling
- Skateboarding
is not a crime
Avoid topics that simply cannot work:
- History of the Hungarian
Uprising of 1956: a matter of historical facts.
- Alternative versus rap: a matter of personal
music preference.
- We should punish drunk drivers: no controversy.
- Any religion-only topic,
such as
proving God exists or arguing for/against virtues of religion:
matter of faith
- Why I am a parent: a matter of personal
preference.
Resist topics that
are extremely volatile and perhaps have no neutral audience:
- Making abortion illegal (or
keeping abortion legal):
argument has been overworked.
- Iraq war was
justified/unjustified: too politically charged.
- George W. Bush/Bill
Clinton/(any political figure) is/was/or will be a great/horrible leader: too
politically charged.
- Gun control and capital
punishment are two other issues that have been really worked over. Avoid if
at all possible.
- Any issue about which you
can only see one side. Check loaded language in thesis.
Topics that havent been tried that might work:
- Drug testing should be required only for those in public
transportation sector jobs.
- Since minors cant vote, marry,
or drink, we should treat crimes
committed by minors with more leniency than adults (right now, Supreme Court says minors
can be tried as adults and receive the full penalty for crime).
- Minimum wage should be raised (by how much?)
every two years [or more or less]
by law.
- Students should not graduate from college until they pass a
comprehensive exam in their major.
- Compulsory national service is needed. People ages 17
25 would serve country for two year stint. This includes military service or public
service (6-week training course would count towards two-year time) such as forest ranger,
park ranger, Outreach volunteer, Headstart volunteer, daycare worker, national guard, Red
Cross, postal worker, food shelf and homeless shelter staffing, etc.
- Voting apathy wont change until we overhaul the entire
system: abolish the two-party system. Allow up to one dozen candidates and have the
election function like an Olympic city choice: various rounds of voting until one
candidate remains. And make voting compulsory.
As you word your potential thesis statements, I would
strongly recommend that you reconsider Rawlins' words from page 255 (and
following) about "examining your assumptions": "Thinking about a thesis comes
down to two tasks: understanding where the thesis comes from [assumptions] and
understanding where it leads [consequences]." Good argument papers are written
by students who have addressed these two tasks, and addressed them honestly. Be
courageous enough to do so yourself!