Need a topic for a paper.
 

Didn't know where to put this, and i'm sitting in the school library right now trying to figure out what im going to write about for this essay. The assignment is to write an argumentative paper about something that pisses ya off, and plenty of things piss me off, but I need to be able to find actual, factual research on the topic to site in the paper.

Sooooooo help me think of a topic peeps.

There's quite a few things that i CANT do, the teacher specifically pointed them out: abortion, legalization of marijuana, death penalty, gun control, evolution v. creation, and cloning. although versions of those subjects can be used.

HELP!

banning of smoking in public places, especially in open air arenas

Senior citizen drivers -- or really anyone that is behind the wheel of a car that their driving skills are so bad they should be on the bus instead.

Censorship in schools, from banned books to teachers who say abortion, evolution, gun control, and other such subjects are off limits.

People who talk on cell phones in public places

Political correctness/regulations on permissible speach

Opposition to gay marriage

Rising costs of college education

Increasing divorce rates and rampant illegitimacy

The internet's role in creating a larger market for porn, thereby objectifying more women

The popularity of non-musical music such as rap and hip hop

Rise of obesity in nations around the world

Banned books would be good, but often in high school and even occasionally in college certain topics would be off limits not because you shouldn't talk about them, but because they have been beaten to death over and over through the last few years. The arguments have been rehashed so many times and are generally known by everyone, so students that use these topics tend not to do very good research and as a result, write terrible paper on an otherwise acceptable topic.

I'd be sorely tempted to write my paper on "educators who tell me to write an essay on what makes me angry and then proceed to tell me what I'm not allowed to be angry about" ;)

US foreign economic policy

check out this site for some big ideas
http://www.cfr.org/

Reminds me of my final speech for my Public Speaking class in college. All my previous speeches had been on everyday "real" issues that I never cared too much for. So my topic for my last speech was "Nicholas Cage should not play Superman" and it turned out to be my best speech ever. I took it seriously enough to back up all my arguments with facts and figures but I was still able to have a lot of fun with it.
So does your topic have to be seriously serious, or can you have a little fun with it by making a non-issue into a debatable topic?

Haven't we all? Some teachers give out the weirdest assignments that just scream 'Mock me!'

I'd go for an extremely local issue, like the outrageous price of coffee at the cafeteria, or how the toilets are always out of soap. Or how the ugly library carpet offends your sense of aesthetics.

Hm. Went through your old posts on TFP. you don't get involved in arguments at all! The closest thing i found to something that pisses you off is the fact that you don't have enough money to buy a playstation, a quad, and a streetbike all at once:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=85334

Why not go over to tilted politics/general discussion and find something that drawing heat, and see if you have some reaction?

Wally Cox should not play Superman but Don Knotts should.

so.... what'd you do your paper on?

Throughout school I've been given so amny assignements that would really scream "mock me" and there were a couple that I couldn't leave alone. One of the most memorable ones was actually completely opposite to the subject you are writing on right now. The topic was "everyday life brings joy". At the time I wasn't feeling so happy about life, and really didnt feel any joy in any circumstances. I decided to write about eating and sleeping =D, and then continued a lengthy rant about how happy I was to complete the assignment by writing about how I happy I was by writing. My closing point was how joyous I was to make the teacher read my endless dribble and to remember the ear to ear grin across my face when I handed it in. Since I proved that my everyday life experience brought forth such great joy my content and the grammar could not be argued, and I recieved an A.

I honestly suggest writing about how angry it makes you to write about this topic and then maybe burn a copy of it just to prove your point. Not knowing how long your paper has to be but I was able to rant on past eating and sleeping literally for 700 words; maybe you can do the same =D.

Nasty things that you might find research topics on? How about:

People talking on cell phone while driving. You ever seen a woman driving with her knees because she's babbling into a cell phone with one hand and swigging her latte from the other? In an SUV? Such people should be flogged. You should be able to find facts about increased risk of car wrecks and such. Hell probably even on the Internet.

People who litter. People who are too damned lazy to carry a wrapper 20 feet to the nearest trash can, _even when they're walking in that direction anyway._ You could dig up figures on street and highway litter, easily, and probably find out how much money your state or city spends on picking up road and sidewalk litter.

Inequality of educational funding and opportunities in the American public school system.

If you need some sources I can point you towards a fair amount.

Or, flaws in the concept and execution of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Again, I can point you to a few sources if you'd like.