Term Paper Tips

Research Resources

Hints on how to find controversial research papers topics

When you are tasked with writing a research paper, you might be intrigued at the idea of writing something controversial. When picking a controversial topic, you want to select something that is often debated. Look for two things that are related such as the ethics of or use of something. Try and relate your topic to the here and now. Consider the examples below:

Write about the moral or ethical components to abortion
Discuss abstinence programs and their relation to AIDS
Write about addiction. Are some considered more severe than others? Is this socially acceptable?
Write about advertising in schools
Discuss our agricultural industry
Write about alternative energy sources
Discuss binge drinking and alcohol advertising
Write about animal experimentation and animal cloning
Discuss assisted suicide
Write about the bioethics of biomedical technology
Discuss bioterrorism
Write about body image and advertising
Write about bilingual education and whether it should be a requirement
Discuss the border fence idea
Write about cell phone use in school
Discuss censorship and whether there are times that it is necessary
Write about child welfare
Research protection laws for children online
Research clean coal possibilities
Research commercial whaling
Write about domestic terrorism and drone use
Discuss drug use in sports and drug legalization
Discuss genetically modified foods
Write about gambling
Research the idea of freedom of speech
Write about gay parental adoption
Discuss human trafficking
Discuss health insurance
Write about gun control and hate crimes
Research reproductive technology and anonymous sperm and egg donations
Discuss stem cell research
Write about teenage pregnancy
Research technology and its impact on society
Write about war crimes
Research water pollution
Writer about terrorism and the use of torture
Discuss the federal deficit

In all of these topics you can take one side or the other. You can argue for or against something. You can argue that something is good or bad. Your job is to make the idea something shocking. You can, for example, explain that bioterrorism can be beneficial because an airborne toxin can be released that would randomly cause infertility in one third of the population around the world, which would be beneficial to society as a whole because with time, that infertility would spread at a rate fast enough to reduce the overpopulation of the world. You can state that this is a benefit and explain why overpopulation is a problem and why this is a solution.