Instructions for Proposing Your Topic

You must choose one of the following statements as the main idea sentence for your paper. No other topics will be accepted.  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.

1. Same-sex marriages should be legally recognized.
2. Same-sex marriages should not be legally recognized.
3. The decline of the traditional family is a national crisis.
4. The decline of the traditional family is not a national crisis.
5. Increasing economic inequality is a serious problem
6. Increasing economic inequality is not a serious problem.
7. Affirmative action has outlived its usefulness.
8. Affirmative action has not outlived its usefulness.
9. Competition is the solution to the ills of public education.
10. Competition is not the solution to the ills of public education.
11. Doctor-assisted suicide should be legalized for the terminally ill.
12. Doctor-assisted suicide should not be legalized for the terminally ill.
13. Street crime is more harmful than white-collar crime.
14. Street crime is not more harmful than white-collar crime.
15. Drug use should be decriminalized.
16. Drug use should not be decriminalized.
17. The threat of terrorism warrants the curtailment of civil liberties.
18. The threat of terrorism does not warrant the curtailment of civil liberties.
19. Humans are dangerously harming the environment.
20. Although humans do some damage to the environment, the seriousness of the threat has been exaggerated.
21. American needs stronger gun control laws.
22. America does not need stronger gun control laws.
23. Embryonic stem cell research should be funded by the federal government.
24. Embryonic stem cell research should not be funded by the federal government.

Once you have chosen your topic, open the document in this module entitled “Research Paper Seminar” Write a short essay that does the following:

1. State the main idea sentence that will be proven true by your paper
2. Tell why you picked this topic
3. Very briefly state three reasons why you believe the main idea sentence is true
4. 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 very brief (two or three sentence) summary of each web site.

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 you must indicate the URL of the site.

The seminar on research topics will be graded using a rating scale somewhat similar to one used for 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 suggest websites for other students. 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.”