EN100W Fall 2014 Team!

DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY TOPICS

There is a categorized list of commonly chosen descriptive essay topics.

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating To Things:

Favorite flower                  Trees
Computer                          Food

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating Places:

Your house/school             Home town
A picnic spot

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating To Personality:

Your favorite teacher         A mega movie star              
Your friend                         A famous historical person   

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating To Events:

Housewarming party         Sports at school 
Wedding ceremony            An accident

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating To Scenes:

A rainy day                        A beautiful Sunset/Sunrise 
Lightening                         a morning view of jogging park  

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating To feelings:

A sad day in life                 Happy moments 
Falling in love                    Anger

Descriptive Essay Topics Relating To Activities:

Your current job                Study routine 
Swimming                          Learning a musical instrument

Source:  http://www.educationalwriting.net/resource_center/Essays/Topics/Descriptive_Essay_Topic.htm

NARRATIVE ESSAY TOPICS

At least one of the 50 topics below may remind you of a particular incident that you can relate in a clearly organized narrative essay.

1. A memorable wedding or funeral
2. One minute of a football game (or other sporting event)
3. Your first day at a new school or college
4. Your first day at a new job
5. Your last day on a job
6. A disastrous date
7. A moment of failure or success
8. An encounter that changed your life
9. An experience that led to renewed faith
10. A strange job interview
11. An experience that demonstrated how labor-saving devices can be more trouble than they're worth
12. An experience that left you disillusioned
13. An embarrassing experience
14. A frightening experience
15. A memorable journey
16. An encounter with someone or something you were afraid of
17. An occasion when you experienced rejection
18. Your first visit to the country (or to a large city)
19. The breakup of a friendship
20. An experience that showed how we should be careful of what we wish for
21. A significant misunderstanding
22. A dangerous experience
23. An experience that showed how appearances can be deceiving
24. An account of a difficult decision that you had to make
25. An event that marked a turning point in your life
26. A historic event
27. A memorable encounter with someone in authority
28. An act of heroism or cowardice
29. An imaginary encounter with a real person
30. A rebellious act
31. A brush with greatness
32. A brush with death
33. A time that you took a stand on an important issue
34. An experience that altered your view of someone
35. A trip that you would like to take
36. A vacation trip from your childhood
37. An account of a visit to a fictional place
38. Your first time away from home
39. Two different versions of the same event
40. A traffic accident
41. A day when everything went right (or wrong)
42. An experience that made you laugh until you cried
43. The day you decided to change your life
44. The experience of being lost
45. An unexpected encounter
46. Surviving a hurricane or a tornado (or other natural disaster)
47. An experience that taught you a lesson
48. An important discovery
49. An eyewitness account of an important event
50. An experience that helped you grow up


Source:  http://grammar.about.com/od/developingessays/a/topnarrative07.htm

EXPOSITORY ESSAY TOPICS

1. Explain why you admire a particular person.
   
2. Explain why someone you know should be regarded a leader.
   
3. Explain why parents are sometimes strict.
   
4. If you had to be an animal, which would you be and why?
   
5. Explain why you especially enjoyed a particular teacher.
   
6. Explain why some cities have curfews for teens.
   
7. Explain why some students forced to leave school once they are sixteen.
   
8. Explain how moving from place to place affects teens.
   
9. Explain why getting a drivers license is an important event in the lives of many teenagers.
   
10. Describe the major stressors in teens' lives.
    
11. Explain why you like (or do not like) to work in a team.
    
12. Describe some nonmaterial things that make you happy.
    
13. Explain why some teens commit suicide.
    
14. Explain the how music affects your life.
    
15. Explain the impact of different music genres on society.
    
16. Explain why students listen to a particular type of music.
    
17. Explain why some teens skip school.
    
18. Explain the likely consequences of skipping school.
    
19. Describe the likely consequences of doing poorly in school.
    
20. Explain why teens do drugs.
    
21. Describe the likely consequences of selling drugs.
    
22. Describe the likely consequences of taking drugs.
    
23. Explain why teens smoke cigarettes.
    
24. Explain the likely consequences of being kicked out of school.
    
25. Explain the likely consequences of skipping classes.
    
26. Explain the likely consequences of brothers and sisters constantly fighting.
    
27. Explain why teens wear makeup.
    
28. Explain the consequences of having alcohol on the school campus.
    
29. Explain the likely consequences of being sexually active without using protection.
    
30. Explain why some teens parents do not like to be alone with their child's boyfriend or girlfriend.
    
31. Explain the likely consequences of increasing the passing time between classes from five to fifteen minutes.
    
32. Explain why some teens join gangs.
    
33. Explain the difficulties some teens have once they are in gangs.
    
34. Explain how life for a teenager changes once she has a baby.
    
35. Describe what you feel a boy should do if he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant.
    
36. Explain why you should laughing at an embarrassing moments.
37. Describe the effects of marijuana.
    
38. Explain the likely consequences of teens becoming sexually active.
    
39. Explain why it is helpful to organize your materials and activities.
    
40. Explain why your school work is important.
    
41. Describe the ways you help out at home.
    
42. Explain the likely consequences of abolishing capital punishment.
    
43. Explain the consequences of adopting a pass/fail grading system.
    
44. Explain the likely consequences of enforcing an 11:00 p.m. curfew.
    
45. Explain the likely consequences of ending forced busing.
    
46. Explain why some teenagers dislike saying the pledge to the flag.
    
47. Explain why some schools don't have open lunch policies.
    
48. Explain why most teenagers are materialistic.
    
49. Explain why some teens get jobs.
    
50. Explain the consequences of having a job while in high school.
    
51. Explain the likely consequences of dropping out of school.
    
52. Describe some productive ways students can spend their leisure time.
    
53. Explain why dealing with their parents' divorce can be difficult for many teens.
    
54. Explain why teens love their parents even when family situations are difficult.
    
55. Describe the things that bring you greatest happiness.
    
56. Describe three things you would like to change about the world and explain why you would change them.
    
57. Explain why you prefer living in an apartment (or house).
    
58. Describe the likely consequences of requiring a childbearing license.
    
59. Select three objects that symbolize our culture and explain why you selected them.
    
60. Explain why you are interested in a particular career.
    
61. Explain the likely consequences of requiring students to wear school uniforms.

Source:  http://712educators.about.com/od/essaysparagraphspapers/a/gen_expository.htm

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY TOPICS

• We should develop some sort [what sort?] of internet censorship. Not all free expression is protected by the First Amendment.

• The birth control pill is more dangerous than the medical community has led us to believe and should be removed [or restricted] from general consumption.

• We should initiate a single-payer health insurance program in the United States and model the program on successful ones used in Europe [or Canada]. Or we should implement a voucher-based system of health insurance nationwide.

• We should use death row inmates as subjects for medical testing rather than animals.
   
• Drivers in the state of Minnesota who are over 70 years old must pass an annual test for eyesight and physical ability before they can renew their driver's license.

• All Minnesota K - 12 public schools should adopt a school uniform policy.
   
• We should not allow novels that include explicit or mature content in high school libraries (examples include Lady Chatterley's Lover or Huck Finn).

• Physician-assisted suicide should be legal in cases where death is certain and consent is from the dying (in writing).

• All animal experimentation (including cancer research) should be outlawed as advances in technology have made animal testing unnecessary.

• Parents should consider plastic surgery to alter physical features of a child born with a handicap (such as Downs Syndrome or other birth defect), and insurance should pay for it.

• The classroom size of grades K through 5 statewide should be set at a maximum of 20 students.
• Drivers in MN [or nationwide] should not be permitted to use cell phones while driving (talking and/or texting).

• We should not lower any physical requirement guidelines so that women may be admitted in the military [or fire or police departments].

• Fathers should be allowed the same treatment as mothers in family court decisions. Too many times the mother is favored because of the "nurturing" stereotype.

• Children should not be exposed to computer technology until late in the education process [which year?] because computers often distract young learners from learning the basics, or have the basics done for them by computers.

• We should legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.  Or we should legalize marijuana completely as a legal recreational and therapeutic drug. Or we should ban the use of marijuana for any purpose.

• We should encourage alternative medicinal solutions to diseases first [such as?] before attempting conventional treatments. Furthermore, alternative medicine should be covered by conventional health insurance policies.

• Every state should enact a divorce counseling law that requires married couples to go through counseling before being granted a divorce.
   
• We should outlaw genetically modified foods until further research [how much?] can be done to see if these foods affect the environment or us.

• Gay marriage should be legally recognized nationwide so that tax and insurance benefits apply equally among all states.

• Cloning should be banned until necessary safeguards and precautions can be established to allow the research to be conducted safely and prudently.
   
• Stem-cell research is medically sound but ethically questionable. We should continue research but prohibit the actual use of embryonic stem cells until a later [how much later?] period. Or: We should support the recent decision to allow embryonic stem-cell research and federally fund the work to use these stem cells to cure diseases.
   
• The misdiagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have caused doctors to over-prescribe Ritalin.  We should develop new diagnostic procedures [which ones?] to curb this trend.

• Home schooling provides an exceptional education under controlled circumstances.  Nevertheless, I would advocate that every American child should receive at least two years of public schooling before graduating from high school.
   
• We should implement a public school voucher system in Minnesota, similar to the model now in use in the Milwaukee Public School system.

• There should be no drug testing in the workplace because this violates our privacy rights.
• We should implement immigration reform to provide those immigrants already here but not yet legal with a path to citizenship.

Avoid topics of taste, fashion, and recreation:

• Rap music is not real music
• Fad diets never work
• Professional sports' salaries are too high
• Baseball is harder to play than basketball
• The NFL should punish excessive endzone celebrations
• Professional wrestling is real wrestling
• Skateboarding is not a crime

Avoid topics that simply cannot work:

1. History of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956: a matter of historical facts.
2. Alternative versus rap:  a matter of personal music preference.
3. We should punish drunk drivers: no controversy.
4. Any religion-only topic, such as proving God exists or arguing for/against virtues of religion: matter of faith
5. Why I am a parent: a matter of personal preference.

Resist topics that are extremely volatile and perhaps have no neutral audience:

1. Making abortion illegal (or keeping abortion legal): argument has been overworked.
2. Policy regarding illegal immigration: lately, students have used rants instead of arguments. Be careful if you choose this one.
3. Gun control and capital punishment are two other issues that have been really worked over. Avoid if you cannot treat rationally.
4. Any issue about which you can only see one side. Check loaded language in thesis.

Topics that haven’t been tried that might work:

1. Drug testing should be required only for those in public transportation sector jobs.
    
2. Since minors can’t vote, marry, or drink, we should treat crimes committed by minors with more leniency than adults (right now, Supreme Court says minors can be tried as adults and receive the full penalty for crime).
3. Students should not graduate from college until they pass a comprehensive exam in their major.
4. Compulsory national service is needed. People ages 17 – 25 would serve country for two year stint. This includes military service or public service (6-week training course would count towards two-year time) such as forest ranger, park ranger, Outreach volunteer, Headstart volunteer, daycare worker, national guard, Red Cross, postal worker, food shelf and homeless shelter staffing, etc.
5. Voting apathy won’t change until we overhaul the entire system: abolish the winner-take-all system. Allow up to one dozen candidates and use "ranked choice voting." And make voting compulsory.

Source: http://www.ar.cc.mn.us/beste/english1121/research/topic_suggestions.htm