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Short Paper Topics

Note: Many of the writing topics below are taken from or adapted from the writing topics in Winchell. If there is a writing topic in Winchell not included below that you'd like to write about, or a topic that you have thought of on your own, let me know and we can discuss whether it is an appropriate topic or not.

Essay 1: Choose one of the following topics

1. How does the image of God that you get from reading Genesis 1 differ from the one you get from reading Genesis 2? Write an essay in which you develop an argument that compares the two.
2. Write an essay in which you explain your personal reaction to the two different stories of the creation of the universe, the world, its flora and fauna, and humans. If you were not aware of the two different versions, consider why you were not. In what ways does your gender, or your attitude about gender, affect your reaction to the two different versions, if at all? If you discuss gender, feel free to draw on the story of Lilith in your argument.
3. Write an essay explaining what is most striking to you in reading the first two chapters of Genesis and the passages from the Koran, the similarities or the differences.
4. Analyze the relationship between God and man in the excerpts from Genesis, the Koran, and the North American creation stories. How does God perceive human beings, and what does he feel their attitutde should be toward him? How do these conceptions of God differ from other religious views that your are familiar with?
5. Write an essay in which you present what you believe to be the most convincing evidence in teh natural world that there was a master plan behind its design. Consider using a structure similar to Paley's and identify refutations to any objections you might encounter.
6. One criticism of the teleological argument is that the watchmaker, or God, seems to have simply created the watch and then walked away. Explain why you either do or do not consider that a valid criticism. What other objections to Paley's argument can you think of?
7. Have your own beliefs about the creation of the world been affected by the theory of evolution? Write an essay in which you examine your beliefs and how they have been formed, informed, and influenced.
8. With respect to Henry Adams: What exposure, if any, to Darwin's theory of evolution have you had in the course of your education? Was the teaching of evolution ever a source of controversy at your school? Were you ever, in school, taught the biblical account of creation?
9. Can the theories of Paley and of Darwin as they are presented in the excerpts here be reconciled? Develop an argument pro or contra.

 

Essay 2: Choose one of the following topics.

1. In the readings for this topic, we've seen a lot of questions asked. Job asks many questions, God asks many questions in his response to Job, and Tennyson asks many questions as he mourns the loss of his friend, Hallam. Choose one of these questions (or a cluster of questions that seem related), and write an essay that advances an argument in response to it.
2. Identify a situation in which you or someone you know has had to deal with suffering or adversity of some sort. Analyze the techniques for dealing with adversity, and develop an argument in which you assess the advantages and disadvantages of the method in question.
3. Identify something or someone that/who most people would agree is "good," and argue that it/he/she is actually evil, or at least bad in some sense.
4. Identify something or someone that/who most people would agree is "evil" or "bad," and argue that it/he/she is actually good.
5. Do people tend to be bad or good because it is a natural disposition (genetics?), or because of their upbringing, or because of the environment they find themselves in, or because of specific incidents and events in their lives? What sorts of things might make a good person bad, or vice versa? Make sure your argument focuses on at least one specific example from life, art, or literature.
6. A "Faustian bargain" is a situation in which someone is willing to sacrifice a great deal--everything, perhaps--in order to obtain great knowledge or power of some kind. Is such a bargain worth it? Find a specific example of this and develop an analysis of it in which you make an argument about the advantages and disadvantages of such a situation.
7. Do companies and corporations have moral and ethical responsibilities, or are they amoral institutions that are beholden only to their stockholders? Make sure you analyze at least one specific example.
8. What problems arise when society and nature come into contact and conflict? Does society have an obligation to take care of nature, and what are the limits to which society can exploit nature in order to satisfy its own ends?
9. To what extent do perceptions (among individuals, groups, the media) determine moral issues, such as whether something is deemed good or bad? Are these catagories moral absolutes, or are they subjective? Make sure you analyze at least one specific example.

 

 

Essay 3: Choose one of the following topics

1. What is an unjust law that you would be willing to violate in order to protest it? Construct an argument explaining why the law is unjust, and make sure you carefully address the arguments that supporters of that law would make. You might also want to consider how the repeal of this law would make our country, or the world, a better place.
2. What is one historical event or idea that you would like to know more about? Research this event or issue and discuss the ways in which your new understanding of it might make you a better citizen.
3. Explain in an essay whether or not you feel King's concept of civil disobedience goes beyond Thoreau's.
4. Three of the readings here were composed in jail or are about being in jail (Plato, Thoreau, King). Was any one of these authors defending a more noble cause than the others? Compare Thoreau's willingness to go to jail to Socrates' willingness to drink the hemlock, for example, or Socrates' reasons for remaining in jail to Thoreau's.
5. Write an essay comparing Thoreau's critique of democracy with Socrates'.
6. Thoreau writes: "That government is best which governs not at all." Explain in an essay how this view compares with Aristotle's view of the function of government.
7. Sometimes people in communities desire what other communities have, and sometimes people in communities are grateful for what they have, things that other communities don't have. In America and Europe, in particular, it's easy to look at one's own society and be grateful that one has things other societies don't. It's harder for us, perhaps, to find things in other societies that we'd like to have but don't. With this in mind, write an essay in which you talk about something (any aspect of government, society, art, culture, etc.--anything, really) that a country other than your own has that your own country doesn't, and explore the ways in which this thing would make your life more meaningful.