Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ideas Needed

Here in four short weeks, my Comp II classes will begin working on the persuasive unit of the class. I have been trying to come up with ideas for paper topics. One idea I had was to have the students research (for lack of a better term) Nanny Laws -- laws like seat belts laws where the government is trying to protect us from ourselves, not necessarily from other people. The problem with this idea is that when I tried to do some research on this topic on my own, I was having difficulty finding good, reliable sources. If I had trouble, then my students would most certainly have trouble.

So, I am wondering what ideas you might have. Do you have any suggestions for current topics that would be engaging for students to use to write an argument paper?

4 comments:

dksnyder said...

Well, a topic we've been researching is required immunizations for kids. Are they really beneficial? Are they ALL necessary? We've found alot of arguments for both sides. Might not be as intriguing for college students but the research we've found on the political/gov't agenda vs. the medical agenda vs. the parental agenda is enlightening.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Well, these are off the top of my head...they are quite possibly worthless, but I'll share them anyway!
1) you could do something on the subject of mac vs. pc...persuading the audience one way or the other.
2) Or how if people really listened to the lyrics of songs, they wouldn't classify them in the way that they do (i.e., Born in the USA isn't that patriotic, many of Sting/The Police songs aren't really romantic, but get used for first dances at weddings all the time, etc.)
3) Reading to children at a young age increases chances of literacy.
4) the foster system in the United States is broken.
5) The family unit is the basis of the development of culture and language.
6) Birth order does have an effect on personality.
7) Kristi wrote an interesting paper on handwriting analysis, and I think that's really interesting, too.
8) Physical activity has a correlation with emotional/mental wellbeing.
Ok, that's all the ideas I can come up with in these few minutes!
I hope you're able to come up with something that your students truly have interest in, so they'll give you some interesting reading, and learn a lot in the process!

Tracy said...

I would think you could find all kinds of reliable information on the safety belt issue from the National Highway Traffic Safety department (I have a friend who works for them). (NHTSA)

The other big question similar to that which comes up often in politics is helmet laws for motorcycle riders. ABATE is the name of the organization against it; an NHTSA is the organization for it http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/

lovemylife said...

Ok, at the risk of seeming like some kind of stalker, I've been thinking more about your request for ideas! So, I had this other idea. I'm not sure exactly what it would look like, but something about the so-called Walmart economy...what are the local, regional, national, and global implications of walmart/costco? Or any other major retailer, I guess. anyway, it was just a thought.
Also, as an add-on to Kristi's idea, you could take it the direction of whether or not the public school system has the right to require immunizations for enrollment of normal, tax-paying families. There are good arguments on both sides.
Ok, I hope you have a great day!