Vanity: Need Ideas for English Paper

FreeRepublic ^ | July 16, 2014 | beaversmom

[beaversmom]

For my English 121 class I have to do a research/argumentative paper.

I don't want it to necessarily be about something like guns or abortion. I want something a little creative. It has to be something I can research. Something I feel passionate about (I know you all don't know what I'm passionate about, but I am passionate about conservatism). It doesn't have to be politically related/controversial, but those are the terms I generally think in. It can be something from the past or present. Also, I have to give the opposition's side.

Any serious/creative ideas, please post.

BTW, shockers of all shockers, my teacher is liberal. I don't think he will grade me harshly, though, for coming down on a conservative side of an issue. I think he will be fair.

[beaversmom]

Hello FRIends:

I hope I got everyone that responded. I just wanted to give all of you that were very kind to respond to my thread last month an update on the research/argumentative paper I did if anyone is interested.

I had a hard time deciding on a topic. Everyone had such great ideas...quite a few that I would like to know more about! And some of them made me think of other topics.

I considered quite a few topics...some that I came up with on my own, a couple from this thread, and others that were inspired by this thread. These are some that I considered:

GMOs

ANWR

DDT’s elimination and consequences

The left’s domination of education

Foreign aid to Africa—I was going to rely on Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid, for bulk of it

Police tactics and civilian deaths at the hands of police

And these two others are the ones I considered the most:

The feasibility of recycling

And the war on masculinity

I looked into recycling, but it is so complex...it depends on MANY factors and it has evolved. It would have been hard for my brain to write a distilled and coherent paper.

So I chose the war on masculinity as I see it. I relied on articles by Christina Hoff Sommers, Camille Paglia, Dennis Prager, and Mark Steyn to support my own opinion.

Thankfully, the teacher had rough drafts that were due for all of our papers so that kept me on the ball. Without that, I would have procrastinated to the last minute like I always do, and I don’t think my finished products would have gotten the grades they did.

I checked my email at the school website today, and I found out I got an A on this last paper...96.67%. This from a teacher that is VERY much on the left. He was very fair, though, with opinions that he doesn’t agree with so I respect that.

Because of my grades on all my other papers and discussion board assignments, I have a solid A for the class, I do believe. I’m very happy it’s over, and I feel like I learned a lot about writing and myself just by doing the writing and talking things over in class. Last semester and this semester were very good experiences for me.

Thank you all again very much. I think this was a good thread for me, and, in general, for people that wish to delve into issues more.

stand watch listen; south40; lowoil; vince ferrer; pastorbooks; usnbandit; fella; graceg; cynwoody; ray76; donna; bradyls; jemian; razz barry; lee martell; jacquerie; zencycler; pepsionice; mountainbunny; wardaddy; aquila48; bullish; smokin’ joe; ray76; domangart; gen.blather; nifster; tax-chick; trebb; exDemMom; mistfree; jocon307; huldah1776; libertarian27; gspurlock; downinflames; silverleaf; tbw2; grammy; sumprovita; cyclotic; goodnesswins; usnbandit; conservatism is compassion; zeneta; pelham; combat_boots; progressingamerica;

[untenured]

Some ideas, phrased as questions:

1. Can a society without individual morals/self-discipline remain a free society?

2. Has the expansion of government made self-government impossible?

3. Is the Constitution still relevant for our times?

4. Is today's immigration like the immigration of yore?

[beaversmom]

Very good topics. I did my paper, but I like your ideas! I also considered immigration, specifically illegal immigration, for a time, but a student from Central America did that topic, and I didn’t want to delve into the controversy. I think I could have come up with a very good paper, though, had I done that as I have very strong feelings on it.

[untenured]

Sorry, with any luck that will teach me to read the thread before posting. But probably not. :( The topic you chose was an interesting one though.

[beaversmom]

It’s quite alright! The thread was too long to read. I like your ideas. I enjoyed all the topics that people came up with on this thread. :)

[Ray76]

Congratulations on your grade!

[dfwgator]

I have a topic:

Is Nancy Pelosi Really an Alien?

[beaversmom]

Is Nancy Pelosi Really an Alien?

Yeah, but there's no controversy there. It would have been hard to squeeze a minimum of five pages out of it. ;)

[jocon307]

That is great, congrats! I’m glad your teacher is fair minded also, that’s so important.

[combat_boots]

Bloody outstanding!

Aced it!

[beaversmom]

Thank u cb! Love your English sounding congrats. :)

[beaversmom]

Thank you jocon and ray. :)

[Jemian]

Yay! Good job. Gives you a great feeling to have a well-earned A.

Most teachers, not all, do accept ideas that aren’t consistent with their own thoughts provided there is evidence to back up the positions. I’m glad this was that sort of teacher. And, you got your idea out there and into his brain for cogitation.

Proud of you!

[lee martell]

Yay! You got an “A”! I’m so glad I could be a part of your brainstorming. T’was fun.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I chose the war on masculinity as I see it. I relied on articles by Christina Hoff Sommers, Camille Paglia, Dennis Prager, and Mark Steyn to support my own opinion.

Excellent topic, you had a strong opinion to defend, and plenty of support from those opinion leaders.

Congrats on the A!

[BradyLS]

Well done, beaversmom! Glad to hear you got an A!

The War on Masculinity sounds like a great topic—and an interesting counterpoint to the Left’s oft-stated “War on Women” that they say the Right is conducting!

Any chance you could post your paper as a vanity or make it available in some way so FReepers everywhere can enjoy what you wrote? Links to the articles you cited would be a nice alternative if you can’t post your paper. I would enjoy reading what Hoff Sommers, Paglia, Prager, and Steyn have to share on the subject.

[beaversmom]

I would love to share it. To be honest, even though I got an A on it, I’m a little inhibited to post it, but I could send it by FR mail to you and anyone else that might be interested. I’ll also include links so you can read the related articles.
I just awoke from a nap so I will send it in a bit when I go downstairs

[meadsjn]

I'd recommend choosing topics similar to what you expect to encounter in future classes, unless you foresee having globs of free time in future semesters (highly unlikely unless your field of study is squishy).

What is the field?

[beaversmom]

I don’t have a field of study yet. I’m just a late comer taking some general courses right now.

[BradyLS]

Thanks, beaversmom! Links you could share to the sources would be great. Reading your paper would be a bonus, but I understand your inhibitions. Just asking! :-)