What topic should you choose? It’s up to you; any topic with opposing viewpoints will work very well. The main thing you’ll want to consider in choosing your topic is scope. You don’t want to choose something so small that there’s not much information on it. On the other hand, if you choose an enormous multi-faceted issue with a long history and many nuanced opinions (such as abortion), you’ll quickly become overwhelmed with the research, and you probably won’t be able to narrow down the issues.
You will need sources for your paper — a minimum of 8. After all, if you’re going to summarize the current conversation on your topic and offer us some relevant quotes, you’ll need sources. Plus, when you write your own side of the issue, you’ll want sources that corroborate what you say.
1. A summary of at least 200 words explaining your topic, why it’s important, why you chose it, and some of the main issues surrounding it.
2. An annotated bibliography of at least 4 of the 8 sources you plan on using. For this part, you’ll need to cite your sources using MLA formatting, then write a paragraph (at least 75 words) on each source that briefly summarizes what it’s about and why you’ve chosen to use it.