Writer's block!!!

LunaLee_16 · Mar 24, 2006

grrr!

I have to write an argumentative essay for school over spring break, and I can't think of a topic.

Any of you feeling overly creative today? lol

I really need some suggestions (this is a 12th grade class btw) Please help!

Mister Emu · Mar 25, 2006

Could you explain more?
What do you mean by arguementative?
Do you mean argueing a position?

Tariel · Mar 25, 2006

yeah...um...what exactly is the assignment?

LunaLee_16 · Mar 25, 2006

Yeah, I have to argue a position. Well, my grammar book says an argumentative essay "uses reasoning and evidence to change minds and spur people to action." It has to be something that can be argued, not law or biblical principle. There must be an opposing view. I guess you could also call it a persuasive essay? My English teacher is very vague, lol

Tariel · Mar 25, 2006

LunaLee_16 said:
Yeah, I have to argue a position. Well, my grammar book says an argumentative essay "uses reasoning and evidence to change minds and spur people to action." It has to be something that can be argued, not law or biblical principle. There must be an opposing view. I guess you could also call it a persuasive essay? My English teacher is very vague, lol

how long?

Tariel · Mar 25, 2006

So you have to an essay like "Why dogs are better than cats" or some such topic? hmm...I'll try to come up with ideas

In the meantime...brainstorm Get a stack of post-it notes, and for a full five minutes just write whatever ideas come to mind...don't stop writing...even if they're all really bad ideas. Then look at them again...you just might have something

LunaLee_16 · Mar 25, 2006

It has to be 2 typed pages long in 12 font, however many words that is I guess. Like I said, my English teacher is vague.

Thanks Tariel, those are good suggestions. I'll try them. I had the topic "Pollution" but apparently there aren't 2 sides to that, lol I was never good at getting a paper started.

Mister Emu · Mar 26, 2006

Do you want one of us to write it? Or just give you ideas?

If ideas... one could easily write two pages of arguement on any of the following:

Abortion.
Feminist movement.
War in Iraq.
Illegal immigration.
The role of judiciary in America.
The existence of one Jesus of Nazareth.
Marriage and Homosexuality.
How to turn the public school system around.
The ethics of embryonic stem cell research.
The First Amendmen, more specifically what it means.
Gun control.
Vegetarian/Vegan lifestyle.

Bleh all I can think of for now.

(A stimulating thing to do is when you pick a topic
-regardless of whether or not it is one of the above- and realize where you stand on the issue, argue the opposite position )

barbaraclarke · Mar 26, 2006

you brain storm all the things that youare interested in and go from there

Tariel · Mar 26, 2006

Mister Emu said:
Do you want one of us to write it? Or just give you ideas?

If ideas... one could easily write two pages of arguement on any of the following:

Abortion.
Feminist movement.
War in Iraq.
Illegal immigration.
The role of judiciary in America.
The existence of one Jesus of Nazareth.
Marriage and Homosexuality.
How to turn the public school system around.
The ethics of embryonic stem cell research.
The First Amendmen, more specifically what it means.
Gun control.
Vegetarian/Vegan lifestyle.

Bleh all I can think of for now.

(A stimulating thing to do is when you pick a topic
-regardless of whether or not it is one of the above- and realize where you stand on the issue, argue the opposite position )

actually I would reccomend staying away from controversial issues

Mister Emu · Mar 27, 2006

actually I would reccomend staying away from controversial issues

Hmmm...

LunaLee_16 · Mar 27, 2006

those are all really interesting, emu, thanks And I like the "argue the other side" thing too, helps you think outside the box.

I wanted to come up with something really original, something that the other 15 kids aren't going to write about, ya know? But yeah, I'll just have to get some stuff down on paper. I've been thinking about what really ticks my friends off...like, what we gripe about after school, lol. I thought maybe less homework would be an interesting one (our school gives us a LOAD to do at night ) But would that come across like I was being a smart aleck...?

hm, I'll give it some thought, thanks you guys, you've been a huge help!

Tariel · Mar 27, 2006

yeah...if you want something original I would REALLY recommend staying away from controversial issues.

You could always talk about your opinion of a movie or a book or something...why you think it was good or not good...just because you need an opinion doesn't mean it has to be serious

Mister Emu · Mar 28, 2006

I wanted to come up with something really original, something that the other 15 kids aren't going to write about, ya know?

yeah...if you want something original I would REALLY recommend staying away from controversial issues

I would agree... If you want an original topic... nothing that is debated on the national or global level...

I thought maybe less homework would be an interesting one (our school gives us a LOAD to do at night ) But would that come across like I was being a smart aleck...?

As long as your arguements are sound I wouldn't see a problem...

ThinkJesus · Mar 29, 2006

My 2 cents...

you could get some ideas from a movie, book, TV show, etc. But I think you'd have to do more than write about whether or not you liked it.

However, you could think about what kind of argument the movie (book, etc...) was making and then make a case, for or against that idea. For example, I saw Disney's The Shaggy Dog recently. One idea that the movie seemed to put forth, was that it is important to spend time with your family, even at the expense of your job. The man in the movie is a lawyer who is working hard to become a DA, a step up in his field. With the long hours and concentration on his goal, he fails to stay up to date on what is going on in his children's lives. The movie shows the negative results of this man's choices. A person could write an argumentative essay about time spent at work versus time spent with family. You, as a child of parents, presumably one of whom works, can argue that your parent's career, or the time that they spend with you (pick one), is more important than the alternative.

Interestingly, in the movie, the father vows to change his behavior toward his family, by the end of the flick. However, the last scene is of the father taking the very appreciative mother on an expensive vacation! Life is full of trade-offs and someone who maximizes their time with their family may not be able to provide such nice material things to them. I found it interesting that the mother, who wanted the father to be more involved with the family and less with his career, had no problem with spending some of the money he earned away from the family, on her.

So, you see, you might be able to find your topic in a movie, book, TV show or even song. Best of luck and God bless!

ThinkJesus

oncewaslost · Apr 7, 2006

i know this is late and you've probably already have your essay finished, but my freshmen year in college i wrote a position essay (which is kind of persuasive/argumentative) on whether militant protesting was necessary in the women's suffrage movement. it's a historical topic but it works [FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Babel Fish · Apr 13, 2006

Ok if you look back through history, or read some books that were written before the 50's you will see that there is definately a difference in the form of language that is used. I would argue whether or not we, as a society, have become incapable of understanding certain concepts without having them dumbed down for us. Some examples would be the NIV bible derived from the KJV(are we no longer capable of searching for truth without having the words being put into a straight-forward, almost blunt form?), Shakespear (the plays written today certainly do not use that kind of dialogue anymore), and Poetry from the romantic period. We don't exactly use the english language the way that it was intended.

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