248 Instructions for Proposing Your Topic
You must choose one of the following questions as the topic for your paper. No other topics will be accepted. Your main idea sentence must answer the question. The purpose of the paper is to persuade the reader that the main idea sentence is true. Your paper must be a completely original one that you do for this course. It may not be a paper that you have already submitted in another course either at HCCC or another college nor may it be a revised or modified version of such a paper.
- Should the electoral college be discarded in favor of a simple popular vote in presidential elections? (Presidential Election Process)
- Is campaign finance reform good for democracy? (Campaign Finance Reform)
- Should the Health Care Reform Law signed by President Obama be repealed? (Heath Care Reform)
- Is electronic voting better than using paper ballot? (Electronic Voting)
- Should the government have the right to impose the death penalty? (Capital Punishment)
- Should the government ban abortion? (Abortion)
- Is the federal budget deficit a big problem for America? (Federal Budget Deficit)
- Should the government ban doctor-assisted suicide? (Doctor Assisted Suicide)
- Does the threat of terrorism justify the powers given to the government by the Patriot Act? (Patriot Act)
- Should affirmative action be used to give special help to traditionally disadvantaged groups in order to make up for past discrimination? (Affirmative Action)
- Should the government ban the building of a mosque near ground zero? (Ground Zero Mosque)
- Should the government do more to prevent illegal immigration? (Illegal Immigration)
- Should stronger gun control laws be passed? (Gun Control)
- Should marijuana be legalized? (Marijuana)?
- Who should be elected president?
Most of the topics were followed by an issue in parentheses that is covered by Opposing Viewpoints in Context, a database that may be accessed online through the HCCC Library. If you go to the database and type the issue in the search box, you will find many articles that are relevant to your topic. Here is how to access the database:
- Go to the main HCCC website.
- Click on Library.
- Click on By Program/Topic on the left side of the page.
- Scroll down.
- Click on Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
- Type the issue in the search box.
Once you have chosen your topic, open the document in this module entitled “Research Paper Seminar” Write a short essay that does the following:
- State the main idea sentence that will be proven true by your paper
- Tell why you picked this topic
- Very briefly state three reasons why you believe the main idea sentence is true
- For each of the three reasons, give the name and URL of a web site that provides supporting information for the reason. This means that you must present three different sites. Also, give a summary of each web site. The summary of each site must be at least four sentences long.
In addition to posting your own research topic, you must post a response to the topics that have been proposed by at least three other students.Your response must suggest a website that will help the student write a good paper. You must provide a summary of the site that is at least four sentences long and give the URL of the site.
The seminar on research topics will be graded using the same rating scale as the textbook seminars. However, unlike the textbook seminars, in the seminar on research topics, you are only required to make four posts (not six). Your first post will be the one in which you introduce your topic. The other three posts will be the ones in which you provide help for other students. Also, unlike the seminars about the textbook chapters, in the seminar on research topics you do not have to express an opinion or use the phrases “In my opinion” and “My evidence is.” You merely have to suggest sources that other students can use in their papers. The purpose of your response to another student is not to give your opinion about her topic; it is merely help her find information for her paper.
When you are ready to propose your topic, click on the next document entitled “Research Paper Seminar.”
