Ladies, I am having commitment issues. Haha! I have to write an argumentative essay over the next few weeks and I cannot commit to a topic. The paper needs to be a minimum of eight pages. What on earth could I possibly try to convince people of...for EIGHT PAGES! My carpal tunnel is flaring up just thinking about it! Alright, enough whining. I told my prof I was having difficulty finding a topic that isn't cliche (think abortion, gun control, gay marriage), and that isn't overly broad (think, how to fix the U.S. education system)...he suggested I seek out a focus text, a document or article that might light my fire. I had already been considering a topic related to obesity/weight loss and I am wondering if any of you can share any ideas or articles with me?
A BIG thank you in advance!

What class is it for? I mean, is there a general theme, such as business management? I did my last paper on business ethics. I've also done a paper on the evolution of taxes (that was a really interesting read *rolls eyes*) for an accounting class. I've also written on the effects of emotional abuse. I've written others but can't remember off the top of my head what the topics were.

Topics:

1. Capral Tunnel Syndrome is a disease.
2. Capitalism is inconsistent with sane eating by the masses
3. It's OK to market A&F Clothes only to beautiful people
4. The eyeballs of young adult men are incapable of seeing women of weight - just like male color blindness
5. Chocolate is a food group

Good luck.

I did a really LONG project back in college on homeopathic medicine vs. western medicine and interviewed both natural doctors and "regular?" doctors (lost the word in my head)

I had a lot of fun with it and i'm pretty sure that project was longer than 8 pages though

whatever you pick, find something that you are interested in and can get behind enough to argue the point

for obesity related:
- obesity is solely genetic
- metabolism issues
- starvation mode myths
- whether exercise helps lose weight or merely helps fitness
- childhood obesity (social workers taking fat kids from their families) etc
- obesity bullying in the schools
- plus size models

i'm sure i'll think of some more

I read your post and figured I've think of something and come back to post it...but I can't really think of much! sorry...All my classes are nursing related so all my topics have been related to health or nursing in some way for many years. I did a paper last year on the effects of the internet in relation to healthcare, specifically patient access to health information. It was interesting because it brings both positive nad negative information to patients and can be very helpful or a huge problem for health care workers.

I don't know if you are supposed to take the less favorable position? But you can argue why interent access is not beneficial to public health since I would think most people only see it as a good thing being as they can google whatever they want, but it also is the largest and most danergous source of misinformation, it is not regulated (any one can claim anything is true) and most people do not know how to identify trusted information sources. Messages boards are another source of misinformation (people's opinions.. or horror stories about people with the "same" symptoms we have, which we have no way to prove is true.) Also self diagnosing can lead to not seeking health care when needed or over reacting to small problems & seeking out unnecessary/ invasive/ risky tests because a patient believes they have something rare. Also patients can now order "medicine" and herbs from random websites without knowing what the source of these pills are, or without knowing about side effects or interactions with current meds.
There's more but now I feel like I'm rehashing this whole paper!!!
Like I said there's an upside to this as well, but I doubt you need to convince people why the internet is a good thing! lol

Good luck! Wish I had more ideas!

How about something related to whether or not obesity is an illness? For instance, some believe obesity is a genetic disorder that a person has no control over (I've seen bariatric surgery commercials saying "It's not your fault, you have a disease!") while others believe it's the result of poor habits/choices or laziness.

A friend of mine, as part of some project he was working on, posed questions on facebook looking for as many varied answers as he could get. One question was something like "If the general population believes that a healthy diet & exercise create a healthy body, why are so many people obese?" And the answers he got were intense. Some people were like "Because fat people are lazy!" Others said things like "lack of access to healthy foods," "genetic predisposition," "ignorance," "denial," etc. My point is that the origin/cause of obesity itself is highly debated & controversial. I, personally, think it's a combination of many things and is certainly something that could take up 8 pages or more.

The thing that comes to my mind first that makes a good argument is whether childhood obesity should be considered a form of neglect and what steps should be taken with parents of children that are obese. ie: start with testing to determine it isn't something medical, nutrition counseling, moving on up to removal from homes.

Oh, eight pages is easy to fill up! As an appellate attorney, I am always writing arguments. The rules of appellate procedure LIMIT most of my briefs to 50 pages. You'd be surprised how many times I find it difficult to keep my briefs within that limit!

Anyway, how about the topic of GMO foods? Is the resistance to them justified? Or is it just the fear of the unknown?

How about whether or not to wear yoga pants to the supermarket? That took up like 25 pages here.


No? Other ideas:

weight discrimination in the workplace
women aren't assertive enough to succeed
the clothing industry and its human cost

BAHAHAHAHAHA! LMAO!

Preciousmissy- Thanks for responding. There is no theme, we choose our own area of focus. It's for an honors writing class that focuses on Rogerian Argument.

Haha! Bill, loved all your suggestions! I'm wondering where I can find support for my chocolate as a food group thesis.

Great ideas Alaskan laughter, I really like the idea of covering bullying of obese children, I feel pretty confident I could write 8 pages about it...although, I may have some difficulty in restraining my pathos effectively! Alternative medicine really interests me too, although I'm pretty ignorant about it right now, it would give me a chance to read more about it.

Thanks Rachel! I think I may jump on this one, "the origin/cause of obesity itself is highly debated & controversial. I, personally, think it's a combination of many things and is certainly something that could take up 8 pages or more."...maybe something related to blame and obesity? I know the Rudd Center has some published articles related to this. I could probably get inspired in the Is Obesity Your Fault? thread.

pnkrckpixikat- I really like this suggestion as well! This one is very interesting to me. I was very overweight in grade school, even so, I can't imagine how traumatic it must be to be taken from your parents for them letting you get too fat! Yet, I understand people's concern for children's welfare, as I know how difficult it is to try and become healthy after an unhealthy childhood. Are there actual documented cases of children being taken from their parents for being big?

Joe- GMOs would be interesting! I'm ashamed to admit, I had to look up what an appellate lawyer does. Am I interpreting correctly here?... Where trial lawyers work to convince a jury using oral argument, appellate lawyers convince a judge weather the proceedings of a trial were lawful using written argument? Possibly leading to a retrial? I could imagine 8 pages would be a respite! It seems like interesting work!



Oh my gosh, yoga pants! So scandalous! I was thinking about that thread the other day. My sister was ticked at her daughters middle school because they took all the girls aside and told them they are not allowed to wear yoga pants because, "They are distracting to the boys.". Apparently they are a bigger deal than I thought! It's surprising to me that the school would require volleyball players to wear skin tight booty shorts and then prohibit yoga pants! lol!

Yoga pants are distracting to the boys? Oh dear. So I suppose cheer leader uniforms are the acme of modesty & purity? Geeze, maybe I should write a paper on girls being blamed for boys' thinking with their penises instead of their brains...


Anywhoooo, blame & obesity sounds like a great topic! Nice & controversial I haven't seen that thread, I should go find it!

Oh my god, that was a good one!

I have heard of a few cases of children being removed from homes, if i remember right in the cases I heard about the children were SEVERELY obese a 3 yr old that was 90 lbs, an 8 yr old over 200 lbs, and I want to say I heard of a 12 yr old over 300 lbs. but there isn't any sort of process, they just sort of got reported to child services and removed.

Personally I think that allowing your child to get severly obese could be argued as neglect and is as damaging all around as other forms of abuse, but there need to be protocols in place and that removal should be a very last step. only if the parents are actively not trying or cooperating. I have to wonder how many kids are obese simply because parents don't understand proper nutrition or serving sizes for kids. If someone stepped in when weight started to be an issue and taught both the children and parents nutrition would it help? and in cases where it didn't help would mandatory tests to see if the child has any disorder lead to earlier treatment and less self hatred through the difficult teen ages?