Topic suggestions for Argumentative Research paper:

• 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 don’t go far enough. It’s 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:

1. History of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956: a matter of historical facts.
2. Alternative versus rap:  a matter of personal music preference.
3. We should punish drunk drivers: no controversy.
4. Any religion-only topic, such as proving God exists or arguing for/against virtues of religion: matter of faith
5. Why I am a parent: a matter of personal preference.

Resist topics that are extremely volatile and perhaps have no neutral audience:

1. Making abortion illegal (or keeping abortion legal): argument has been overworked.
2. Iraq war was justified/unjustified: too politically charged.
3. George W. Bush/Bill Clinton/(any political figure) is/was/or will be a great/horrible leader: too politically charged.
4. Gun control and capital punishment are two other issues that have been really worked over. Avoid if at all possible.
5. Any issue about which you can only see one side. Check loaded language in thesis.

Topics that haven’t been tried that might work:

1. Drug testing should be required only for those in public transportation sector jobs.
    
2. Since minors can’t 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).
   
   
3. Minimum wage should be raised (by how much?) every two years [or more or less] by law.
   
   
4. Students should not graduate from college until they pass a comprehensive exam in their major.
   
   
5. 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.
   
   
6. Voting apathy won’t 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!