An essay is an author's description of their impressions on a given topic. It is usually based on facts or reasoned logic. The nature of the evidence base of an essay can be either reasoned or free, depending on the facts or logic and internal beliefs of the author. Statistical data or authoritative opinions of experts in a given field are usually used as sources for a good essay.
An argumentative essay requires the author to explore the topic thoroughly. To cover the topic of discussion as widely as possible, the author's task is to briefly summarize the official or generally accepted opinions on a given topic, as well as to describe their own and alternative opinions. The author can explain the advantages of their view on one of the argumentative essay topics listed below.
Argumentative Essay Topics
Critical articles in the argumentative essay genre are written with a detailed analysis of the issue. The author's personal experience is usually what causes these issues. For example, after reading a book or watching a movie, or after a specific experience. This genre also includes philosophical essays, literary criticism articles, school essays, and student essays.
The essays cover all aspects of human activity, from education and interpersonal relations to high politics and the popularization of scientific disciplines. Examples of the most popular argumentative topics in these areas of human activity are:
- How critical is the repayment of the US foreign debt to the economy?
- Why abortion should be legalized.
- What is the difference between the right and left wings of political parties?
- Socially oriented, capitalist, or planned economy – which economy is better?
- The role of the President of the US in Asian politics.
- Do elected leaders represent the interests of their parties and sponsors?
- Should health insurance be included in the database?
- Schools: Is it a business?
- Partial vegetarian lunches for children. Pros and cons.
- The advantages and disadvantages of having children live with their parents until the third generation.
- Why are you unable to wear animal skin?
- Is distance education a good or a bad option?
- Does artificial intelligence pose a threat to humanity?
- Truth and lies about 5th generation cellular communications.
- Is there life on Mars, or why do people behave strangely?
- God, religion, and faith – what's the difference?
Important Argumentative Essay Topics
Therefore, in the genre of an argumentative essay, rather superficial materials are written on topics that affect various aspects of people's activities. The essay serves the reader as either introductory material on a given theme or for this public discussion. This genre has a unique ability to address topics important to society, such as culture, politics, and history. The essay allows the author to interpret the facts against the background of their first-hand experience they acquired within the framework of some scientific concepts, political beliefs, or philosophical views. Below are examples of headlines and as the most popular argument ideas in the following three categories: 1) culture, 2) politics, and 3) history.
Argumentative Essay Topics About Society & Culture
- The problem of parents and children – how to discuss contentious issues.
- Equality laws in words and practice.
- A new world of individuals and the right to own firearms is opening up.
- Social networks unite people virtually, but they can also divide people in practice. Is it an issue?
- The era of post-truth, or how to distinguish truth from lies pouring from the news.
- What is the danger or benefit of a wave of emigration for a host?
- The death penalty is the right to life of the convict or the right to justice for the victims.
- Animal experiments are a moral issue.
- For and against euthanasia.
- Money as a form of monetized trust, or what money can't buy.
Argumentative Essay Topics About Politics
- A digital concentration camp, or how deeply the state should control the lives of citizens.
- Income inequality is caused by differences in people's abilities or the system's social inequality.
- The Federal Reserve Bank is printing money – is this the cause of inflation, or is it the goal of increasing the political influence of the United States in the world?
- Where do national security and public policy meet?
- Pros and cons of the financial declarations of politicians.
- Is the current confrontation between the United States and China an economic competition or an arms race?
- The moral aspect of a human expedition to Mars — it is an epic death sentence.
- The future of the economy – it is a look at 25 years ahead.
- The digital state – myths and reality.
- For and against the US self-isolating policy.
Argumentative Essay Topics About History
- What does history teach? Or it depends on who is writing the story.
- American Civil War – can the war repeat itself or the sad conclusion of history.
- If new facts contradict the outdated version of history, would it be possible to rewrite history, even if this threatens social conflicts?
- Both Covid-19 and the plague changed the course of history in Europe – lessons learned.
- Slave ownership was a state-forming factor in America, and how the Abolition of Slavery changed the world.
- The extermination of the indigenous population of America: are our contemporaries morally responsible to them?
- How the power of personality can change the course of history.
- The shortest war in history, with a duration of 38 minutes, Where and how was it?
- Empires that lasted the longest and which still exist.
- Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic – how physical defects activate a person's genius abilities.
What Makes a Good Argumentative Essay?
A well-structured argumentative paper consists of three parts: 1) the introduction, 2) the argumentation, and 3) the conclusion. In the introduction, the author describes the history of the issue under discussion and summarizes their thoughts on the topic. The author uses historical facts, statistical data, or a coordinate system of some scientific theory, philosophical school, or elementary logic as an argument. Argumentative paper topics require proof for each thesis of the author.
A scientific text is different from an argumentative one because in the first case, the most objective generalized data is used as evidence, but in the second case, the author's knowledge is used. They also do not claim to be the ultimate truth. Even if the author uses strict facts and figures, they still interpret them through the personal experience of interacting with the subject of discussion.
As a conclusion to an argumentative essay, please describe how your experience influenced the subject of discussion or vice versa. Additionally, you could describe what the value of your experience is and how readers of your essay can benefit from it. If we are talking about a speculative subject, that is, not about one that can be applied here and now, then describe this place in the big picture of the world. To refresh the reader's memory of your thesis, you can list them in the form of syllogisms – 2-3 theses, from which forced conclusions follow.
Argumentative Essay Topics for Different Levels
In an argumentative essay, a significant part of the topic is the title. It should appeal either to interesting – new or paradoxical – facts or to emotions. The following are examples of, in our opinion, good argumentative essay topics on school and educational themes.
Argumentative Essay Topics for Kids in Elementary School
- Is homework good or bad for motivating children to learn?
- What role – passive or active – should parents take in the process of schooling children?
- Is it true that only strict parents raise successful children?
- How many hours a day should the child study and rest?
- What to do if the teacher does not want the child to learn lessons?
- How often do children change hobbies?
- How much should a school backpack weigh – these are the components.
Argumentative Essay Topics for Middle School
- How competitions impact the self-esteem of schoolchildren.
- Do scenes of violence that are shown on the Internet, movies, or games impact the child's psyche?
- What role do social networks play in the education system?
- Is the success of schoolchildren the result of innate talent or hard work?
- How to adapt the school curriculum to the individual abilities of students?
- For and against beauty contests in school.
- Children typically feel guilty or ashamed of their parents – who and what to do about it?
Argumentative Essay Topics for High School
- Children skipping school – is it the fault of the parents?
- For and against the paid work of schoolchildren.
- How to develop a school education strategy for a future profession?
- How to resolve conflicts at school or why you should not change schools.
- How to express your individuality, but at the same time not look like a black sheep.
- Distance education and work are the challenges of the new time.
- List of prestigious colleges: their professional orientation – advantages and disadvantages.
Argumentative Essay Topics for College
- Can I work and go to college at the same time?
- Volunteering – how important is it for the future portfolio?
- When should you start building a portfolio?
- How to make useful social connections in college?
- Can college friendships be converted into social capital?
- At what age can one become a participant in the program of the first manned flight to Mars?
- New digital technologies: a list of new digital professions.
The argument topics' style largely depends on the target audience for which the essay is intended.
Even More Topics For Students
Education is an incredibly popular topic for argumentative essay ideas because education is a significant part of people's lives – it is a stage in the formation of their personality. There are many popular ideas, but in the selection below we have included the top ones – from family to philosophical problems like love and being.
Argumentative Essay Topics about Family
- The internal logic of the behavior of the older generation – how it affects the younger one.
- What is family therapy: methods and incurable cases.
- Are children responsible for their parents?
- Women's emancipation and how it impacts the institution of the family.
- She, She and a child — a story of one family.
Argumentative Essay Topics on Immigration
- How European countries shape policies towards migrants.
- How do illegal migrants influence the structure of the US economy?
- Migrants from Eastern Europe – is it social capital or a source of internal conflicts?
- Migrants from which countries are best assimilated in their new homeland.
- Do migrants experience discrimination?
Ethics Argumentative Essay Topics
- What is harassment, or where courtship ends and violence begins?
- You are fired and an abuse of power.
- Logic “I am the boss, and you are a fool” – how can a hired worker defend their dignity, but not become unemployed?
- How to say no to bosses.
- Ethics of working relationships in the digital economy of the future.
Psychology Argumentative Topics Ideas
- The role of religious organizations in the process of formation of nation-states.
- Corruption as a gluing factor in developing countries – is it good or bad?
- The right to euthanasia – for and against.
- Medicine, 300 years of life, and the search for new meanings.
- Overpopulation of the Earth as the reason for the start of the Third World War.
Conclusion
An argumentative essay is usually written by schoolchildren, students, and their parents, as well as by teachers. The above is a guide to how to write – the ingredients of this – an essay that the target audience will want to read, as well as the best examples of headlines. Besides the tastes and preferences of the intended audience, what matters is the author's inner experiences. This is their experience understanding the matter of debate, which does not pretend to be true.
