How to Figure Out a Good Argumentative Topic to Write Your Essay About

A good argumentative essay may be a tricky task for lots of students, especially when the topic isn’t provided by the teacher. Many topics have already become cheesy and it seems that all the pros and cons had been already stated and all the arguments had been finished even before you started this course. So, what can you do to find a really great topic for your argumentative essay? Let’s see.

1. If you are choosing a well-known topic, try to find new facts about it

Some topics are always loud and popular: unsolved social issues, morally grey literature characters, the cultural differences that lead to misunderstanding or just psychology essays on age difference, etc… what else can be said about them? The good side of such topics is that there are always some new pieces of evidence that may bring the old theme to a new life. You just need to do research and find something, take a particular case or a new theory, and make it your theme of an argumentative essay.

You may get an idea while watching or reading the news. What makes a good essay topic also makes a good news report. Or you may deliberately google the related stories that happened, say, last month - then you’ll be sure that the audience and the teacher will be interested in what they hear because the information will be really new and still not explored and discussed by anyone in the class.

2. Do research amongst your classmates

One of the greatest ways to get the right topic is to learn what your audience wants to hear from you. The advertising and news agencies make social studies before launching the new show or showing the new product to the world - why don’t you make the same? Of course, you don’t need a full-fledged study, but a few questions about what bothers or, on the contrary, excites the class right now will come in handy.

It will be a truly argumentative essay, with real arguments, real research, pros, cons, and facts. No factor helps it more than an engaged audience. Be it a problem of video games, skipping classes or a new character in the popular series - it will draw all the attention and interest of the class, if they want to hear about it. Don’t be afraid of an inconvenient approach - your teacher had heard dozens of “classical” essays long before you started your course. Give him or her a break!

3. Invent a good topic from a bad one

This way is kinda risky, but you may try to use the opposite method. Instead of searching the right topic for the essay, start from discarding the wrong ones. What was used a hundred times? What won’t get anyone involved? What will just piss your teacher and audience off? List a number of such topics. Now you can be sure that no one will take them. And then try to invert them or subvert them in a whole new way.

Showing the bad sides of the good guy of the book, advocating something that was condemned for years, or finding new facets of an old, old topic can be interesting and provocative. Nowadays, it is called “hype” but it had always been a literary tool that could bring fame and fortune to the author… or get them burnt on the stake for heresy. We’re glad that no one ends like that in the twenty-first century, but you still can get not the mark you deserved. You have been warned.

Conclusion

An argumentative essay is a task you’ll have to complete. But you may make it interesting for yourself, your teacher and your audience. Don’t stick to the traditional topics, or write the boring textbook pieces where everything is according to the thoughts of some other (presumably long dead) people. Make your own arguments, be bold, be creative, and turn an average task into something that may be later put into your CV with pride.

Of course, if your teacher is too conservative and you know it well, don’t risk too much. There are teachers who prefer to be completely detached from the life of the class and your non-standard essay may be considered as a provocation. But if you have a chance to choose between an interesting or proper theme for your argumentative essay - choose the interesting one! At least you won’t regret the time spent on that task.

Good luck!