Argumentative/Persuasive Essay Topics

Persuasive essay, also known as argumentative essay or argument essay, is used to convince
the reader of a writer’s argument(s) relating to a debatable issue. Persuasive writing involves
convincing the reader to perform an action, or it may simply consist of an argument(s)
convincing the reader of the writer’s point of view. Persuasive writers employ many techniques
to improve their argument and show support for their claim. Another definition is "an essay that
offers and supports an opinion to Shiver. Following are some argumentative essay topics that
can be used for persuasive writing practice.

1. We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in businesses,

hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in
future? Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of
their benefits?
2. Some businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in any of their offices. Some
governments have banned smoking in all public places. Do you agree or disagree? Give
reasons.
3. Should the same laws which prohibit the sale and consumption of heroin be applied to
tobacco?
4. Human beings do not need to eat meat in order to maintain good health because they can
get all their food needs from meatless products and meatless substances. A vegetarian
diet is as healthy as a diet containing meat. Argue for or against the opinion above.
5. Forests are the lungs of the earth. Destruction of the world's forests amounts to death of
the world we currently know. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
6. Are our zoos cruel to wild animals? Discuss.
7. Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment.
Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos.
8. Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. Do you
agree?
9. The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people.
But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the
difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture. To
what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer.
10. Education is recognized as vital to the future of any society in today's world.
Governments throughout the world should make education compulsory for all children
between the ages of 5 and 15. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this
statement?
11. Foreign language instruction should begin in kindergarten. Discuss.
12. Children should never be educated at home by their parents. Do you agree or disagree?
13. Children learn best by observing behavior of adults and copying it. To what extent do you
agree or disagree with this statement?
14. Should wealthy nations be required to share their wealth among poorer nations by
providing such things as food and education? Or is it a responsibility of the governments
of poorer nations to look after their citizens themselves?
15. The dominance of black people in US sport is due to sociological rather than
physiological factors. Discuss.
16. In Britain, when someone gets old, they often go to live in a home with other old people
where there are nurses to look after them. Sometimes the government has to pay for this
care. Who should be responsible for our old people? Give reasons.
17. In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others
people can work until they are 65 or 70. Until what age do you think people should be
encouraged to remain in paid employment? Give reasons for your answer.
18. In your opinion should government intervene in the rights of the individual with regard to
family planning?
19. Many people believe that women make better parents than men and that this is why they
have the greater role in raising children in most societies. Others claim that men are just
as good as women at parenting Write an essay expressing your point of view. Give
reasons for your answer.
20. The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many
as 29 million vehicles on British roads. Alternative forms of transport should be
encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use. What do
you think?
21. The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to make all young drivers
complete a safe driving education course before being licensed to drive.
22. The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world cities can be
attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use.. Discuss
possible ways to encourage the use of public transport.
23. The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace. Nuclear power provides cheap and
clean energy. The benefits of nuclear technology far overweigh the disadvantages. Do
you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer.
24. News editors decide what to broadcast on TV and what to print in newspapers. What
factors do you think influence their decisions?
25. Do we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported?
26. The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping
people's ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for
your answer.
27. Tourism is becoming increasingly important as a source of revenue to many countries but
its disadvantages should not be overlooked. What are some of the problems of tourism?
28. Are women are better parents than men?
29. Should children should be taught sex education in schools?
30. Should money be spent on space exploration?
31. Should rich countries should forgive all debts for poor countries?
32. Will the Internet will bring people of the world closer together?
33. Does foreign aid helps donor countries more than the recipients?
34. Is animal testing necessary?
35. Should rich countries pay more for environmental damage?
36. Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain
percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women?
37. Are famous people treated unfairly by the media ? Should they be given more privacy, or
is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives?
38. Should developing countries concentrate on Improving industrial skills or should they
promote education first?
39. Safety standards are important when building people's homes. Who should be responsible
for enforcing strict building codes - the government or the people who build the homes?
40. Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology
was simpler?
41. Does travel help to promote understanding and communication between countries?
42. If children behave badly ,should their parents accept responsibility and also be punished?
43. Should sports classes be sacrificed in High School so students can concentrate on
Academic subjects?
44. Nowadays doctors can become very rich. Maybe they should not focus on profitable
activities such as plastic surgery or looking after rich patients and concentrate more on
patients health, no matter how rich they are?
45. Will modern technology, such as the internet ever replace the book or the written word as
the main source of information?
46. Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of giving international Aid to poor countries.
47. Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabituated,
using community service programs for instance, before being reintroduced to society?

48. Interesting persuasive essay topics:

49. A good persuasive essay topic would consist of two essential components; the capability
to persuade people with your writing skills and the second is to select a persuasive essay
topic, which would interest the large number of audience. One of the trickiest tasks in
persuasive essay writing process is choosing a right topic. Make sure the topic you
choose must be creative, original, of your interest and you have some knowledge
regarding it. It must be presented in a most convincing matter.
Many students fail to choose a convincing topic and therefore, they are unable to attain
good marks. Utilize all the available resources in order to find a topic for your persuasive
essay. You can find numerous topics from books, class lectures, Internet, magazines,
newspapers, television programs and experiencing the phenomena on your own.
Following are some persuasive essay topic from, which you can choose a topic of your
choice:
• Advertisement targeting practices
• Internet privacy issues
• Clash of civilization
• Environmental issues
• Homosexuality
• Is music downloading illegal?
• Wealth and power
• Life beyond earth
• Women and Islam
• Steroid and sports
• Discuss the difference between the life of big city and small city
• Importance of games in a student’s life
• Effects of globalization on one’s life
 • Space exploration
• Morality and Religion
• Commercials of liquor
• Cyber stalkers
• Immigration Policies
• Religion in Schools and Colleges
• Nurture versus Nature
• Influence of media on one’s life
• Salary caps for professional students
• Is human cloning right?
• Terrorist attack in Iraq
• Are beauty contests harmful?
• Disney films
• Violent movies
• Internet filters
• Plastic surgery programs
• Sports gambling
• Effects of beer commercials on elementary school children
• Professional athletic strikes
• Benefits of team work in an organization
• Criminals and Criminology
• Ecology of Earth
• Understanding Addictions
• Commercialization of sports
Above are some persuasive essays topics that help students in choosing a topic of their
interest. When selecting a topic, it is necessary to keep in mind, the topic you choose
must be of your interest and you have some knowledge regarding it.

The last of the list of speech topics is perhaps the best speech topic source. When it comes to
topic research and topic information, people are the best source of stories and experiences. These
real life examples can move an audience. Consider a few places to find them.

Some may not be used right away. Keep them in a file because they may come in handy in the
future.

Happy hunting for your public speech topic source.

29. Good Listening: Like the grocery store, find out what the buzz is at the local coffee shop or
diner. Listen to what people are talking about. Look for trends.

30. Environmental groups: These organizations have projects, issues, unusual animal’s sightings,
field trips, and LECTURES and sometimes need speakers. So you could get a speech topic and a
chance to speak.
One of my human speech topic sources concerned with the environment lead me to a business
that produces bugs and sells them to the forestry departments. These friendly bugs eat another
kind of bug that destroy a regional tree. They provided me with a packet of info and CD's. A
ready made research packet great for an environmental speech.

31. Trends: What is the latest trend and what is its impact on the community? It might be a
building boom or shopping trend. It might be a new toy. It could even be something less
desirable like a dump. All create issues with people taking sides. More importantly, there is a
need for information as to how to best deal with the trend.

Each one is a potential speech topic source to consider. If not used now, keep a file for the future.

32. Cemeteries: Tomb Stone Reading is not just a hobby. It is a rich source of speech topics.
Topics come in several varieties. Notice the ages and trends of when the people died. Notice life
spans.

Notice the dash. The dash is perhaps your greatest speech topic source. What filled in that dash?
That little line between the birth and death is a life of memories and experiences. Notice the
words and comments on the tomb stones.

One cemetery had head stones with the inscription, “Awaiting a Glorious Resurrection.” The
people died in the late 1800’s. Evidentially their belief in death and dieing was different than the
masses today. Who were they and why the different belief?

33. Demographics: Again off to the library and a meeting with the Research Librarian. Ask for
the books that have demographic statistics. You’ll find community populations, age breakdowns,
and income for starters. Then you can look at employment, education level, even how many of
your neighbors will fall and break their hips this next year. How do the stats from your
community compare with the national averages?

The librarian is not only a speech topic source, consider this contact a resource.

34. The Barber / Hairdresser: A barber is to your hair what a bartender is to your drink. A session
in the chair can give you several potential speech topics. They usually hear what’s happening in
the community from someone who came in before you. Personally I have not got any speech
topics but I have got numerous historical and anecdotal stories to spice up my speeches. They are
invaluable to me.

35. Community Center: Check out the bulletin board. This is where information is posted by all
kinds of organizations. It could be considered your personal speech topic source bulletin board.

36. Welfare Agencies: You might not think this a source of topics but think what they do to help
the poor. What is the impact? Is it working? Are the poor benefiting from the programs? Welfare
is a very emotionally charged subject and highly debated. Agencies can often give statistics and
information. You will find them helpful in providing research information which make them a
great speech topic source.
37. Take a Walk and Talk: Visit the local businesses and ask business people what folks are
talking about in town? Make sure and hand out your card. Tell them your looking for topics for
an upcoming speech, training session, or what ever the event your speaking for. Focus on issues?
What great things are happening, what is the good news and what stories beg to be told? As
speech topic sources go, it doesn't get much more real than this.

38. The grocery store: Two places here, one on the bulletin boards and the other in the lines. Yes,
go for the longest one. Scan the magazine cover headlines first and then ask the person in front
of you their thoughts about the headlines. Find out what they think and feel.

39. Nursing Homes: This will require a friend of the family to make an introduction. Do not get
discouraged about finding someone. We are only separated by 6 people (6 degrees of separation)
from knowing everyone on the planet.

The man mentioned above who died at 105, well I had him as a patient. When asked what the
world was like when he was younger said,” It wasn’t that bad of a place, till Hoover took office.”
He was full of stories of a rich and full life.

If you go this route, make sure and get the best portable high fidelity recording system that you
can and record your interview. It will be a treasure for future generations. Again, don't think
speech topic source, think resource. They are living breathing historians.

Even though this next one is a web based source, it is with the human list because the articles are
human driven. This is what people are reading and voting for. The closer a speaker can come to
what the audience is interested in, the easier time reaching the audience. It is a wonderful speech
topic source and resource because it is people driven and provides a portion of the research for
you.

40. Interactive sites like Digg De.lic.ous and other social book marked sites. The more human
interactive the more reliable they are as to being alive issues and speech topics.
 Ideas in pictures

Persuasive Speech Topics

 The case for organ donation

 The need for recycling
 Why the death penalty should be abolished
 The need for gun control
 The dangers of taking illegal steroids
 How to pay off your credit card The i-pod generation - Should
 Avoiding drinking or drunk driving music be free?
 Why we should abolish school uniform
 Global Warming - What we can do about it
 Why we should wear seat belts in cars
 Why you should become a blood donor
 The dangers of gambling
 Gay marriage
 Euthanasia
 Avoiding student debt
 Avoiding junk food
 Pay off your student loan in three easy steps
 Volunteering - What can you do about it?
 Golf - the best hobby in the world or a complete waste
of time? Man's best friend?
 Ten good tips for legal tax avoidance
 Three easy ways to improve your time management
 Can drugs reverse the ageing process?
 If you believe - they put a man on the moon
 Ten things you can do for a Dollar/ Euro/ Pound
 What you should wear for your next date/ job interview

More topics

 Animal rights
 I can make you thin
 Princess Diana - a cover up? Road congestion charging - the
 Internet - the death of the newspaper? way of the future?
 Can we eradicate AIDS in Africa?
 Is Broadband economic in rural areas?  
 What good is keep fit?
 Sex, drugs and rock and roll - good fun or a major health
hazard?
 Getting to the top of the waiting list
 Road congestion charging - the way of the future?
 Dogs - wolves in the living room or man's best friend?
 7 easy ways to simplify your life?
 The five day detox
 The Loch Ness monster really does exist
 Creative thinking

Can drugs reverse the ageing

process?
  Has the DaVinci code just been made up?
 Half man - half robot. Should we be scared?
 Political
 Creative thinking
 Vote for me
 Why there should be a United States of Europe
 An easy way to give up smoking
 Why prostitution should be legalized
 How we can get more people to vote?
 Why the death penalty should be abolished in the United States
 Why we should not consume genetically modified crops?
 Should religious clothes be banned in schools?
 The war in Iraq - was it justified?
 Famous lives
 The greatest American./ Briton/ French Person/ Scientist/ Discoverer/ Adventurer of all time
 Scott of the Antarctic - hero or failure?
 Winston Churchill - good man or a famous alcoholic?

List of 200+ Persuasive Speech Ideas

Find a persuasive speech topic idea with a specific point of view. How?

 Which of the speech topics are you interested in?

 Do you know something about?
 Would you like to research and persuade your audience about?

Abortion Civil Rights

Abuse Of The Elderly Climate Change Policy
Abused Women Condoms In Schools
Academic Dishonesty Creationism vs. Evolution
Academic Freedom Cuba
Acid Rain Dating Campus Issues
Addiction Death Penalty
Adoption Depression
Affirmative Action Dieting
Afghanistan Disabilities Act
Africa Domestic ViolenceDrug Policy
Age Discrimination Drunk Driving
Aging Population Endangered Oceans
Agricultural Policy Endangered Species
AIDS/HIV Espionage and Intelligence Gathering
Air Pollution Ethnic Violence
Airline Safety Euthenasia
Alcohol Abuse Family Violence
Aliens and UFO's Fat Tax On Food
Alternative imprisonment Feminism
Alternative Medicine Foreign Oil Dependence
American Education Reform Foreign Policy
Amnesty Foster Care
Animal Experimentation Fraud
Animal Rights Gambling
Animal Welfare Gangs
Anorexia Nervosa Gay Marriage
Anti-Semitism Gay Rights
Arab-Israeli Conflict Genetic Engineering
Armed Conflicts Genetically Engineered Foods
Arms Control Genocide
Global Resources
Global Warming
Government Fraud and Waste
Arms Trade Gun Control
Asylum Hate Crime
Atomic Energy Health Care Policy
Ballot Initiatives Home Schooling
Battered Women Homeland Security
Beginning of Life Issues Homeless in America
Bermuda Triangle Human Cloning
Bigamy Immigration
Bilingual Education Infectious Diseases
Biodiversity Inner City Poverty
Biological and Chemical Weapons Internet Chatrooms
Bird Flu Iraq
Birth Control Islamic Fundamentalism
Body Piercings Juvenile Crime
Breast Feeding in Public Language Policy
Bulimia Legal System
Cameras in Courtrooms Littering
Campaign Finance Reform Marriage and Divorce
Capital Punishment Media Violence
Censor Hate Speech Medical Ethics
Censorship Medicinal Marijuana
Chain Gangs Medicine Abuse
Child Labor Minimum Wage
Church State Issues Missile Defense System
City Curfews National Tobacco Settlement
Nonproliferation
Nuclear Technology
Organ Donation
Organized Crime
Peace
Physician-Assisted Suicide
Polygamy
Pornography
Poverty
Prison regime
Race Relations
Racial Profiling
Rain Forests
Recycling
Religious Right
Reproductive Technologies
Russia
School Uniforms
School Violence
Sex Education
Single Parent Families
Smoking
Social Security Reform
Social Welfare
 Space Exploration
Stadium Taxes
Stem Cell Research
Tax Reform
Teen Pregnancy
Term Limits
Terrorism
Tobacco Industry
Trade with China
Transportation
US Budget
US War on Drugs
Urban Terrorism
Vaccinations
Violent Video Games
Voluntary National Testing
War Crimes
War On Drugs
Water Resources
Weapons Disarmament
Welfare Reform
Women in the Military
Women's Rights
Working Women
World Trade

Narrow Down 3 Persuasive Speech Ideas

Review your short list of persuasion ideas and narrow your choices by answering these questions:

 Do you know global, national, state, community, job or school related problems and solutions, issues or
controversies, related to the persuasive speech ideas?
 Historical or current events, places, processes, organizations or interesting people?
 Concerns, opinions, beliefs, attitudes or values?
 What did you see about the persuasive speech ideas in the news or read about them in library books?
 Is there a link with personal experiences, professional or personal goals?

All the answers on the questions above help you to find your angle of approach for a persuasive speech. So,
select a few specific angles. Those can serve as the basic main points of your persuasive speech ideas.

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