Argumentative Essay Topics
Argumentative essay topics should be interesting and compelling to earn you extra points and improve your academic grade. An argumentative essay refers to a writing genre in which a topic is investigated, evidence generated, collected and evaluated after which a position regarding the topic is concisely established.
Without an interesting topic, you will find writing process of your argumentative essay boring and tiring. Since you are required to establish your position on the topic at the end, you may not have adequate information or evidence to support your stand if you do not choose or generate your argumentative essay topic wisely.
Ideas for generating argumentative essay topics
Thinking of a topic after receiving your argumentative essay assignment is not enough. You need inspiration from different sources in order to create or generate a good topic for your argumentative essay.
Such inspiration can come from:
News
Being familiar with topical issues will enable you to generate or create a topic that will appeal to the interests of the public and this will motivate more people to read the essay. News is a good source of inspiration because they present information in a specific angle. As such, arguing statements in an essay becomes easy and it also helps you in picking a certain position that you can support with sufficient evidence. If you present arguments that clash with public opinions, you will alienate your readers. Therefore, study news to get a topic that will enable you to write an argumentative essay that has ironclad evidence for supporting your points.
Social networks’ threads
People are spending a lot of time on the social networks and this creates several debates online. By following popular threads on different social networks, you will get great argumentative essay topics because most social networks’ debates are based on controversial topics. Additionally, studying such debates will give you open sources that you can use as the references of your essay.
Social gatherings
Attending public meetings, gathering and participating in public discussions will give you interesting topics’ ideas. By doing this, you will determine the potential reaction of the public to the topic that you choose or generate for your essay. If you cannot convince or capture the attention of the people with your argumentative topic in a conversation, you will not do so in an essay.
Reading
Reading will always give you ideas for argumentative essay topics. There are different sources that address topics that other scholars have argued about in the past. Such sources give you ideas on topics that the scholars have explored thoroughly. Using them, you can generate an original and interesting variation of the argument that will draw the attention of your reader as you address a timeless question.
How to create argumentative essay topics
Choosing or creating an interesting topic is always the hardest part of the argumentative essay writing process. However, the right topic plays a vital role in determining the success level of your essay. To create or generate a great topic for an argumentative essay, you need to follow certain steps as follows.
- Brainstorm
Brainstorming different themes that relate to the essay that you want to write should be the first step in choosing or creating your essay topic. The themes that you generate are potential topics for the essay. After brainstorming and listing the themes down, choose one that you find interesting the most. Make sure that using the theme that you choose, you can formulate strong, valid arguments. Also choose a theme or topic that you can easily find supporting evidence as well as examples for.
- Make the topic concise and clear
Narrowing down the topic so that the reader can concisely and clearly relate to it is the next step in developing your argumentative essay topic. You should choose a particular aspect of your topic and focus on it in the essay. This will enable you to present focused arguments. It will also enable you to come up with specific examples for backing up your essay. A more concise and clear topic will enable you to easily craft a focused essay.
- Find sources
After choosing or creating your essay topic, ascertain that it is the right topic for you. As such, conduct preliminary research to ensure that it is possible to find academic sources that are relevant to your topic. Conduct research both in your school library and on various academic databases. If you cannot find credible sources for the topic, you might have to change it or re-adjust its focus.
- Decide on the main points
Before finalizing the topic, ensure that you have adequate points for supporting your argument. To do this, write down your main points to ensure that they are enough for the essay. If you do not have adequate points for your essay, re-think the argument or research more on the topic.
Important tips
You must very careful when choosing argumentative essay topics. This is because you may find choosing or creating a topic flexible but there are many pitfalls that can hinder you from creating a decent topic. However, there are tips that can help you in creating or choosing an outstanding argumentative essay topic.
They include:
- Writing on what you have background knowledge about
Choosing a topic that you have some background information or knowledge about can help in refining it. This also makes finding sources for the topic easier and it saves you time and energy that you would spend on research. Additionally, writing on what you have some knowledge about enables you to determine the appropriate starting point of your research.
- Writing on what interests you
You should care about the topic more than the audience. When you are interested in the topic that you choose or generate, even the audience will find it interesting because you will present your arguments in a passionate manner.
- Make your topic specific
Avoid a super broad topic. For instance, you may have a topic like ‘Are school uniforms necessary?’ You can narrow it down into ‘Why students should wear uniforms.’ Your topic should not depict a stance that can easily be answered with a ‘no’ or ‘yes’. A broad topic will require you to write a lot. Therefore, have a specific and clear topic to argue about.
- Ensure that the topic has a position that you can defend
If you are unable to think about defenses of counterarguments from the opponents about the topic that you think about, choose or create, you should re-think it. Again, if there are no counterarguments that can be raised about the topic, your topic is not an argumentative essay topic but an exposition essay topic.
- Appeal to the emotions
Argumentative essay topics that appeal to emotions enable readers to easily connect with your arguments. People do not engage in rational arguments more often. The best way to attract them into your arguments is by appealing to their emotions. Therefore, make sure that your topic presents solid rational arguments that arouse the feelings of your readers.
Sample argumentative essay topics
A topic for an argumentative essay should be controversial. Your topic should be divisive. Additionally, the topic should be unique. For instance, some institutions do not accept essays on abortion because this topic has been written on by many scholars. However, this topic is divisive. Basically, your topic should raise divided opinions so that you can easily argue one viewpoint.
Here are examples of good topics for argumentative essays:
- Should handguns be banned?
- Bankruptcy should be made difficult as a way of discouraging overspending
- Patent and copyright assist in solving innovation and invention theft cases
Generally, your topic should be unusual and the subject should be thorough. This might sound like a contradiction because you want a topic that you can easily find sources for. An unusual topic also makes finding sources difficult. However, you can have an unusual topic but still find sources for it. If that is possible, do not hesitate to pick an unusual topic.
Be confident
Although the topic can allow you to debate from a side that you do not believe in, it should enable you to depict confidence in your arguments. This will convince readers to agree or to accept your viewpoints.
Stick to logical conclusions
Argumentative essay topics should have two different and conflicting perspectives or angles. A topic that has either denial or acceptance makes a good essay subject. Strong curiosity regarding the topic is important. However, this alone might not be enough. You have to depict proper reasoning and provide evidence to support your stand.
There are many topics with two stands but not all of them have adequate examples or evidences to support your views. With such topics, you can use logical and strong arguments to make readers concur with you. Alternatively, you can avoid the topic. Nevertheless, it is always advisable that you stick to logical conclusions instead of emotionally influenced conclusions.
Basically, everybody has to craft an argumentative essay in high school, college or university at some point. If you have difficulties in creating or choosing a topic for your argumentative essay, talk to us now. We will offer you all the help that you need to choose or create the right argumentative essay topics. Visit our homepage to see the diverse nature of academic writing services we offer and how you can get assistance. You can also go through this blog for samples of academic papers.
Sources
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasive_writing
http://www.bestessayservices.com/blog/should-handguns-be-banned/
http://www.globalcompose.com/should-bankruptcy-be-made-more-difficult-%20in-order-to-discourage-overspending.php
http://www.bestessayservices.com/blog/software-patents-and-copyright/