Finding an argumentative essay topic often requires simply opening a newspaper or looking into your community; the world is filled with people arguing about different things. When selecting a topic, however, the most effective argumentative topics look at narrow subjects. For example, the death penalty requires more than one essay to cover; humane methods of the death penalty fits more for a three-page paper. To find a topic, ask yourself the following question: Do I have a strong opinion on this topic?
Like most colleges, Tidewater Community College provides a detailed list of possible argumentative topics.
The subject of an evaluation essay assignment often comes in one of two forms: teacher-assigned material or student-assigned material. If the teacher assigned the material, write a list of possible topics as you read the book or watch the movie. At the end, choose a topic that is both personal and relevant to the piece.
When writing a student-assigned evaluation essay, look at books, movies or songs that you want to get to know better. Do not choose a piece that you already have strong opinions on; evaluation essays require a certain impartial tone.
When writing an evaluative essay, support your judgment with valid arguments, checking yourself against argumentative fallacy lists, like the one from Purdue OWL.
The narrative essay supports a thesis using a personal anecdote. For example, the author Alice Walker supported several strong theses on self-acceptance by telling life stories, such as how she lost her eye. When developing a topic, choose one of two different methods: start by selecting a story that you love to tell, or start by selecting an opinion you want to share.
If you start by selecting a story you want to tell, make a list of the reasons you want to tell that story. For example, if you want to narrate a family dinner, you might make the following list of thesis options: "family is important" or "food is as much a part of family as people." Choose your favorite thesis.
If you start with a topic, try to think of an anecdote, from your life or the life of someone close to you, that narrates the thesis. For example, if you want to narrate a pro-life stance, you may decide to focus your story on a friend's miscarriage --- just don't use her real name.
In addition to argumentative, evaluative and narrative essays, Roane State Community College lists cause and effect, comparison and contrast, definition and even timed essays as essay types. When choosing a topic, focus on what the essay requires. For example, a comparison and contrast essay requires two different things or events that have some similarities and some differences. Obviously, "A Night at My Mom's House" would not satisfy the requirements.