Thursday, November 19, 2009

What is a good topic for an argumentative research paper?

I have to write an eight page argumentative research paper for an online english course and I have no idea what to write it about. I also have to write a research paper proposal. I have never had to write a proposal before so I have no idea how to do that either. If anyone out there has a good topic and any help or advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

What is a good topic for an argumentative research paper?
Before we look at topic, let's look at proposals. They have to be quite informative and you need a structure to help you write one. Here is an idea:


*Title of Project:


Give your project a working title, which may or may not become the title of your paper


*Statement of purpose:


Explain what you hope your research will find or show. State your question or series of questions before you begin your research. Give your hypothesis and null hypothesis.


* Background:


Explain your interest in and experience with this topic. If you have personal experience that has led you to want to do more research, describe that here too.


* Significance:


Explain why this topic is worth considering, or this question or series of questions is worth answering. Answer the following questions: why should your instructor let you select this topic? what do you hope to learn from it? what will this new knowledge add to the field of knowledge that already exists on this topic? what new perspective will you bring to the topic? what use might your final research paper have for others in this field or in the general public? who might you decide to share your findings with once the project is complete?


*Description:


Describe the kind of research you will conduct to complete this project (library research, internet research, interviews, observations,)


*. Methodology:


Explain how you will conduct your research in as much detail as possible. If you plan to involve arearchwer or a librarian, explain what role they will serve and how you hope they will enhance your development of an appropriate methodology for this project. Discuss the kinds of sources you hope to consult and the methods you will use to extract and process the information you gather in as much detail as is possible at this stage.


* Problems:


Describe the problems you expect to encounter and how you hope to solve them. For example, texts might be unavailable, necessitating travel to other libraries or use of inter-library loan facilities; people you had hoped to interview might be unavailable or unwilling to participate, necessitating that you select other interviewees or change the focus; internet sites might be down or no longer available, etc.





Your hypothesis statement is what you hope to prove with your arguments. A typical one would be:





Women should not be allowed to have abortions any later the four months into their pregnancy.





A null hypothesis is what you hope not to prove:





Women should be allowed to have abortions after four months of pregnancy.





This kind of good if you find you cannot prove your hypothesis, the original hypothesis becomes the null hypothesis.





The world is full of problems to solve, not to mention just here in the USA. I would pick one that interests you. Here are some hot topics:


*Allowing Alaskans to hunt wolves from airplanes.


*Pulling out of Iraq


*abortion rights


*Stem cell research


*Global warming


*Solving the energy crisis


*The government should offer universal health care.


*Population control


*Hydrogen is or is not a valuable energy source for cars.


*Cloning humans is a good idea or not.


*Illegal immigrants should be granted visas or not.


*The Patriot Act interferes with personal freedoms or not.


*The huge budget deficit will impact our children's future or not.





These are just a few of the topics that are important in the world. I tried to give you stuff that has enough information you can find and is significant to people.
Reply:First go to the writing resource center from Purdue University or the University of NC Chapel Hill and look up research papers and research proposal. A good topic is one that has two points of view that you can research and analyze. It should not be too broad. Instead of Capital Punishment, think in terms of Capital Punishment for teenagers. Instead of Abortion think of Late Term Abortion, Instead of Alternate forms of energy, research ONE such as windpower. A really good paper writing program is StyleEase. If you are just starting college it would be worth the money many times over.
Reply:Well, there are lots, abortion, plastic surgery, adoption, weight issues, corporal punishment, smoking, child discipline, george bush...etc.....
Reply:One that I did was on health care cost in America vs free health care in other places in the world. I got an A+ :)

BIRD

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