Write two, 7-page research papers. You will submit an outline for peer review and a draft for peer review. An outline template will be provided, and peer review sheets will also be provided. The peer reviews will be completed through discussion forums.
Controversial Topics for Argumentative Papers
Abortion
Drugs
Legalization of the abortion pill
Medical marijuana (legalization of marijuana)
Right to life
Performance enhancing drugs
Adoption
Economics
Interracial adoption
Government bailouts of private business/industry
Open adoption records
Credit cards and young people
Airlines
Education
Airline strikes
see also:
Schools
Airline safety
Bilingual education
Airline regulation
College entrance exams
Arming airline pilots
On-line education
Alcohol
Emphasis on college admissions tests
Lowering the Legal Drinking Age
Retention of students due to failing grades
Drunk Driving
Year-round schooling
Animals
Value of homework
Animal experimentation
School vouchers
Should certain breeds of dogs,
Testing to hold schools accountable for
like pit bulls be banned?
student achievement
Spaying and neutering of pets
Mainstreaming disabled children
Exotic animals as pets
Inflation of grades in high school & college
Animal euthanasia
Necessity of teacher certification
Bioethics
Inclusion of pre-schools in public education
Genetic engineering
College for everyone
Cloning
Early decision programs for college admission
Stem cell research
Bilingual education
Birth Control
Too much emphasis on computers in schools
Celebrity Privacy
Concentration on academics rather than ports
Censorship
Electoral Reform
Wartime censorship
Eminent Domain
Charitable Contributions
Energy
Celebrities raising money
Development of alternate forms of energy
Accountability of charities
Fuel efficiency in automobiles
Creation vs. Evolution
Environmental Protection
Crime
Wetlands regulation
see also:
Law and Crime
Ethics
“Three strikes” crime laws
Presidential ethics
Hate crimes (hate crime laws)
Medical ethics
Death
Extraterrestrial Life
Death penalty (capitol punishment)
Family
Televised executions
Unmarried mothers keeping their babies
Right to Die (Euthanasia, assisted suicide)
Unmarried couples living together
Detention Facilities
Visitation rights for grandparents
Tactics used at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib
Same-sex marriages
Discrimination
Postponing parenthood
Age discrimination
Spanking children
Race discrimination
Kids too busy to be kids
Divorce
Taking children out of abusive homes
DNA
Parent staying home with the children
Database controversy
Requiring a license before you can have children
Driving
Men sharing birth control burden
Driving age for teens
Living together replacing marriage
Drug Testing
Food Industry
In the workplace
Meat industry’s use of antibiotics
Mandatory drug testing for athletes
Safety of genetically engineered foods
Freedom
Media
Freedom of speech (
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st amendment)
Sex on TV
Gambling
Video game violence causing violence in children
Dangers of Gambling
Violence on television causing increase in violence
Global Warming
among children/teens
Guns
Medical
Right to own guns (Gun control)
Managed Health Care
Zero Tolerance policies in schools
Medical treatment refusal rights
Harassment
Medical malpractice
Sexual Harassment
Public access to personal health records
Health
On-line purchase of prescription drugs
see:
Medical
Smokers with lung cancer collecting damages
Homelessness
Pregnancy in post-menopausal women
Homosexuality
Donating blood
Immigration
Human cloning
Illegal immigrants
Liposuction health risks
Restricting immigration into the U.S.
Military
Insanity Plea
Conscientious objectors
Internet
Women in military combat assignments
Downloading music from the Internet
Women in military schools
Internet regulation
Homosexuals in the military
Children’s Internet Protection Act
Use of military tribunals
Plagiarism and the Internet
Morals
On-line purchasing hurts brick-and-mortar
Decline of morality in America
businesses
Mysteries/Unexplained phenomena
Internet filters
Paranormal phenomena
Gambling on the Internet
Bermuda Triangle
Ivory Trade
Big foot…fact or fiction
Labor
Loch Ness Monster
Child Labor
Myths and Misconceptions/Paranormal Phenomena
Labor Unions
Paranormal phenomena
Language
Bermuda triangle
Making English the “official” language of the U.S.
Big foot, fact or fiction?
Loch Ness Monster
Execution of the mentally retarded
Existence of ghosts
Death penalty for teens
UFO’s
Prison boot camps for young offenders
Real-life vampires
Battered woman syndrome as a defense
National Deficit
Sex-offender registries
Nuclear Arms Control
Criminals getting off too easily
Nuclear Test Ban
Voting rights for prisoners
Organ and Body Donation
DNA testing of criminals
Parenting
Children prosecuted as adults
Surrogate parenting
Media publicity for serial killers increases/
Homosexual parenting
decreases threat to society
Police Corruption
Voting rights for ex-prisoners
Politics
Abusing the right to sue
Campaign finance reform
Motorcycle helmet laws
Presidential ethics
Seat-belt laws
Pornography
Legal driving age
Harm to society
Toleration of “hate speech”
On the Internet
Lotteries
Stronger child pornography laws
Eliminating the lottery
Pregnancy
Marriage
Fetal Abuse
Same-sex marriages
Prisons
Prisoner’s Rights
Rehabilitation as a job of the prisons
Privacy
Surveillance Operations
Right to privacy
Legal concerns
Racial Profiling
Will public surveillance technology make your
Racism
city safer or just invade your privacy?
Rainforest Destruction
Sweatshops
Recording Industry
Tattoo/Body Piercing
Ethics of the recording industry
Dangers of tattooing
Recycling
Teen curfews
Personal responsibility
Tobacco
Reproduction
Tobacco regulation
Reproductive Rights
Smoking bans
Reproductive Technologies (Ethics)
Transplants
Organ transplants
see also: Education
Vaccinations
Drug testing in schools
Violence
Corporal punishment in schools
Teen gangs/Youth violence
Harassment in schools
Violence on TV
School uniforms
Flag desecration
Dress codes for students
Domestic violence
Home schooling
War
School prayer
U.S. intervention in Iraq
Religion in the school curriculum
Gulf War Syndrome
Violence in schools
War on terrorism
Hazing
U.S. war crimes
Later start to school day
Powers of the government during war
Four-day school week
Weapons of mass destruction
Out-of-school suspension
Welfare reform
Video camera surveillance in schools
Nutritional content of school lunches
Longer school day/year
Home-schooled students taking part in public
school activities
Corporate presence in public school (like Pepsi
having rights to all drink machines in return
for giving the school some of the profit)
Single-sex schools
Value of pre-schools
Fund raising in schools
Banning book bags in school
Being a “school snitch” (reporting classmates
and being rewarded for doing so)
Problem of plagiarism in American schools
Sex-offender notification
Social Security
Changes in laws to start benefits later due to
increased life span
Sports
Professional sports salaries
Competitive sports being unhealthy for children
Gender inequities in school sports
Team sports create leaders
Subsidies
Farm subsidies
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