What are some interesting and unique research paper topics for an English class?

[courtrigrad]

Hi all

Could you please suggest some interesting topics for a research paper. It does not have to be science oriented, as this paper is for an english class.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Thanks a lot

 

[dduardo]

Linux versus Windows Security

You can start here:
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160588

 

[courtrigrad]

thanks

any other ideas?

 

[tribdog]

health problems related to pencil stab wounds. send me a copy

 

[dduardo]

You can write a research report on writing research reports.

 

[Moonbear]

health problems related to pencil stab wounds. send me a copy

You could write an entire thesis on the unusual maladies of tribdogs.

 

[courtrigrad]

lol

seriously guys

although tribdog and dduardo's suggestions are pretty good! meh

Thanks

 

[Moonbear]

Okay. I can understand your difficulty. I always hated those English research papers that could be on anything. Either I couldn't think of anything or had too many ideas and couldn't pick just one. If they just handed me a topic, any topic, I could do the project no problem, but don't make me pick the topic myself!

That said, how about things like:
Ways to conserve energy in the home: what really works, and what doesn't.
The Starbucks Secret: How they get people to pay $3.00 for a cup of coffee. (something on marketing)
Media influences on culture.
Why aren't there more physicists?

Some of these are lame and some are okay, but I figured I owed you a serious answer after the tribdog crack.

 

[courtrigrad]

Thanks

Any other ideas are welcome

 

[Gokul43201]

I think historical reports are fun and informative (which is really what makes them fun).

Here's a few "The history of..." titles :

The Submarine
Ciphers and Cryptography
Forensics
Political Thought
Sport
Alcoholic Beverages
The English Language
Medicine

...all lend for some fascinating reading. And you'll find yourself writing better if the content interests you.

 

[courtrigrad]

Thanks a lot guys

I forgot...the research paper has to be persuasive. In other words, it has to contain two sides of an argument.

Any other ideas are appreciated

Thanks

 

[Quantum_Prodegy]

If it has to contain two sides to an argument...I take it you mean you have to counter-claim...in which case something in philosophy might be good. I'm in grade 11 and as part of the IB program we have to take Theory of Knowledge. They put a huge emphasis on making counter-claims when writing our philosophy papers. Also, they require us to develop a personal response to a question and then back up our personal response, at the same time making counter-claims, which disproving these strengthens our argument. (Hope that made sense) They are usually fairly interesting. I'll bring home my TOK binder tomorrow and post some essay questions...perhaps it will give you some ideas.

-jonny

 

[courtrigrad]

ok thanks a lot. I am in also grade 11, and some common topics are:

abortion
death penalty
school uniforms

etc... but I like your ideas

 

[Gokul43201]

Freedom vs. Security
Interference vs. Liberation
Evolution vs. Religion

 

[Polly]

Oh I got a few. Do we need to be wealthy and successful? Who is a bigger victim in modern society, men or women? Modernisation, is it worth its dehumanising effects? The true state of our existence.
Failing the above I suggest a glance at the topics in the Philosophical and Social Science Forums. Good luck .

 

[franznietzsche]

You could write an entire thesis on the unusual maladies of tribdogs.

Yeah you could.

Thesis: DOn't be him, its painful.

 

[courtrigrad]

is there any way i could have finance as a topic in a persuasive paper?

Any other ideas are appreciated

Thanks a lot for your input

 

[Astronuc]

You could look at the tax cuts and deficit spending under the Bush administration. The conservatives believe it is working and leading the US economy out of recession, and others disagree.

Or you could do something scientific and controversial like the Greenhouse effect and whether or not we should be more aggressively curbing CO₂ emissions.

 

[misogynisticfeminist]

I think your english teacher would have read tons of those boring old topics like the greenhouse effect and all. Since you come to PF, i assume you take an interest in science. So those regarding science would be good, but what's so good about science is that you can throw in sh*itloads of jargon like "diffeomorphism invariance" or "lorentz invariance" and your teacher would probably be thinking "wow." because he/she probably can't understand half of what you're writing.

That worked for me though.

You can write about politics or philosophy but your english teacher should be somewhat quite well read in the humanities so such jargon won't scare him/her. Something good would also be to compare various fields, perhaps modern art and physics? Its a little bit difficult, but if you want, you can pick up "the tao of physics" as an example of what you should NOT be writing.