I adjunct online for various universities and have taught many a freshman comp class and read many a freshman comp paper. These are the topics I see too often:
- gun control (pro/con)
- health (exercise / diet)
- abortion (pro / con)
- paying student athletes
- legalization of marijuana
Why not shake things up a bit and do some of your own actual research? Here are some paper topics I would actually be interested in reading:
- conspiracy theories (pretty much any conspiracy theory would make an interesting research paper to me)
- poetry (obviously)
- publishing (again, see above)
- political predictions
- anything about stuff going on OUTSIDE THE USA
- cats
so freshmen, let’s go out and surprise your comp teacher this year!
Renee Emerson 
My husband teaches high school English and his students just picked conspiracy theories as the subject for some research-related project. So, there’s hope! 🙂
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