Fifty Topic Ideas for an Argumentative Essay
So, you have spent many hours working hard to write argumentative essays for your English (and perhaps other) classes. It is even likely you have become quite effective at writing essays on topics assigned by your instructors. However, when you are asked to choose topics by yourself for different argumentative essays, it may be that you get stuck.
The problem is not a lack of great topics that you can select from, but rather than you are prone to over-thinking topics. For instance, you may find yourself wondering if one topic has been written about too often, if another is too much of a cliché, or that some other one is not sufficiently good. Yet, there is every chance that all you need to do is identify some topic you feel passionately about - and one that can be debated of course!
Why Choose a Debatable Topic for Your Argumentative Essay?
The term “argumentative essay” says everything you need to know. It is often much easier to write about a topic that the majority of people are in agreement about, but that misses the point of this type of essay.
It is quite crucial to select a topic that is debatable for an argumentative essay because part of your task will be to counter opposing views with your own viewpoint. Therefore, you need a topic that has opposing viewpoints. A lot of things in the world are not clear-cut because many issues are “gray” in some respects. This is good since it means you have a great choice of topics available to you.
Below is a list of fifty possible topics for an argumentative essay. As a way of helping you get started, these are phrased in the form of questions and are separated into five logical groupings, e.g., in groups that relate to family, legal, media, moral and social issues.
You are welcome to use any of these topics when you have an essay to write or they may provide inspiration to help you develop an original and unique topic of your own.
Ten Topic Suggestions for an Argumentative Essay on the Family and Related Issues
There are numerous topics that concern the family, e.g., topics that deal with the establishment of families, life within families, the values upheld by families, and so on. The reason for this is that there are many types of family and each one is somewhat different. The rules and values practiced by the different families can vary greatly from one situation to another, regardless of the laws that pertain to any particular nation or state.
Since every family is very different, too much generalization hardly seems possible and should be avoided in essays of this type. If, however, you research a topic such as child psychology and development, relationship psychology, or listen to various stories from children and their parents, it is likely you will get sufficient information to develop a good argument on any one of the following topics or on a topic you develop yourself.
- Should parents be permitted to smack their kids?
- Should classes on parenting be made compulsory?
- Does a child need or deserve a weekly or monthly allowance?
- Is breastfeeding in public an acceptable practice?
- Who does the room a child occupies belong to – the child or their parents?
- What is the right (or best) age for parents to discuss sex with their offspring?
- Should parents monitor how much their teenage children use the Internet?
- Is it right for parents to pay for their children to get better grades?
- Should it be as easy for a single person to adopt a child as it is for a couple?
- Is it right for parents to push their children into participating in out-of-school activities e.g. in sports, music, etc.?
Ten Topic Suggestions for an Argumentative Essay on a Variety of Legal Issues
Legal type topics are popular for argumentative essays. These topics are wide-ranging and may include any law you might like to see changed, created, or abolished altogether. Subjects like these can also be used to discuss the positive and/or negative sides of any laws that are already in place.
An argumentative essay on a particular area of law does not neces