Directions: Write a convincing 3 (double spaced) page essay in the standard format, using the principles of debate you have learned this semester. Write on one topic only. Use facts, expert opinions, statistics, and/or studies as well as ethical, logical, and emotional appeals. Because you must prepare for a hostile audience, arrange your evidence from the least important to the most important, saving your most compelling evidence for the next to the last paragraph. You may choose what way you would like to present your essay i.e. compare/contrast, definition, expository, cause/ effect, etc. You will decide which evidence to use; i.e., statistics, expert opinion, a study, or a startling fact.

You must cite at least three experts from the internet to bolster your argument. Important: You must use frequent documentation to show information has been borrowed.

1. Define the following term: "love."

2. Do you think there is hope for a lasting peace in our world? Do you think the nuclear nations will manage to avoid using their terrible "apocalyptic machines"? Write an essay describing what our future is in this dangerous nuclear age.

3. Divorce and Single Parents: What is the impact of divorce and single parent households on society? Are divorce and single parent households to blame for the ills of our society?

4. Americans today seem to be obsessed with the need to keep fit. In an essay, argue for or against the current fitness craze.

5. Plastic surgery: a way to promote beauty or destroy it?

6. Write a critical analysis of an essay we have read so far this semester, demonstrating understanding the use of writing strategies, purpose for writing, thesis, and methods of development, audience, tone and diction. Your paper should have a focused thesis that you prove using specific evidence from the essay you are writing about, which means quotes from the original essay.