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How to End a College Essay: Strategies and Examples

Writing a college essay takes skill, but making a strong college essay conclusion is often the most important part. A great ending can make a big impact on your readers and bring your main ideas together. This guide will walk you through four strategies that will help you create impactful conclusions that resonate with your audience.

1. Writing a Memorable College Essay Conclusion

The conclusion of your essay is your last chance to strengthen your main points and leave a lasting impression. A well-written ending can make your whole essay better and more memorable.

Successful Essay Ending Examples

Here are some great ways to end an essay:

• Share a thoughtful idea that connects to your main point, giving a sense of closure and understanding.
• Quickly go over your main points, showing them in a new way.
• Discuss why your topic matters beyond just your essay.
• Link back to your introduction, making your writing feel complete.

Example: 

"When I started looking into how music affects the brain, I didn't know I'd find a connection to my grandmother's struggle with Alzheimer's. I learned that songs people know well can often bring back memories for patients, even when they have trouble talking. This discovery changed how I see music's power and gave me a new way to connect with my grandmother. When we hum her favorite songs together, I see hints of recognition in her eyes, reminding me that sometimes, big scientific ideas can have very personal effects."

Common Mistakes in Ending an Essay

Avoid these problems when writing your college essay conclusion:

• Adding new ideas: Your conclusion should bring together existing points, not introduce new information.
• Just repeating your main point: While it's important to remind readers of your main idea, simply saying it again word-for-word doesn't work well.
• Using overused phrases: Don't use expressions like "In conclusion" or "To sum up."
• Stopping too suddenly: Make sure your conclusion gives a feeling of completion and doesn't leave readers hanging.

Aithor's advanced language model can help you write compelling conclusions that avoid these common mistakes and enhance the overall impact of your essay.

2. Thought-Provoking Questions: A Powerful Way to End an Essay

Ending an essay with a question that makes people think can get your readers interested and encourage them to keep thinking about your topic. This approach leaves a strong impression and can make your essay more memorable.

"After looking at how social media changes how we see ourselves, we're left with an important question: Can we find a way to share our lives online while still living them fully offline? Maybe the answer isn't choosing between the online and real worlds, but learning how to connect well in both."

When using this method, make sure your question is:

• Related to your essay's main topic
• Open-ended, encouraging deeper thought
• Not easy to answer with just "yes" or "no"

3. How to End Your College Essay with a Call to Action

A call to action (CTA) in your conclusion can encourage your readers to do something based on the ideas you've talked about. This works well for essays about social issues, environmental problems, or personal growth topics.

"In this essay, we've looked at the problem of plastic in our oceans. Now, it's time to help fix it. Start by replacing one single-use plastic item you use every day with something you can use again. It could be as simple as using a reusable water bottle or bringing your own bags to the store. Tell your friends and family what you're doing. By taking these small steps, we're not just making less waste; we're starting a chain reaction that can lead to cleaner oceans and a healthier planet."

When writing a CTA for your college essay conclusion, make sure it's:

• Clear and easy to write
• Directly related to your essay's main points
• Something your readers can actually do

Aithor can assist you in writing perfect calls to action that connect with your readers and fit well with your essay's content.

4. Personal Anecdotes: An Engaging Essay Ending

Ending an essay with a personal story can help your readers feel connected to you and strengthen your main message. This approach makes your writing more relatable and human.

"Last summer, I helped at a local animal shelter. One day, they brought in an older, scruffy dog named Max. For weeks, people passed him by, always choosing younger, cuter puppies instead. I started spending extra time with Max, and slowly, his playful side came out. When a family finally took him home, the happiness on their faces – and Max's wagging tail – showed me how important it is to give every living thing a chance. This taught me more about patience, unfair judgments, and the power of second chances than any book ever could."

When using a personal story to end your college essay:

• Make sure it relates to your main topic
• Keep it short and powerful
• Use clear language to paint a picture for your readers

Tips on How to End a College Essay

To write a strong conclusion, think about these extra tips on how to end a college essay:

• Wrap up your main points clearly while suggesting how they might apply to other things or future ideas to keep your readers thinking.
• Make sure your conclusion sounds like the rest of your essay for a smooth, polished finish.
• Don't weaken your arguments by sounding unsure in your conclusion.
• Be extra careful with grammar and punctuation in your conclusion, as it's the last thing your readers will remember.
• Write your conclusion to connect with your specific readers, whether they're college admissions staff, teachers, or other students.
• Write a short and powerful conclusion that drives your main points home without repeating too much or using too many words.

Remember, your conclusion is your last chance to make a strong impression. Take your time to write it carefully, making sure it ties together your main points and shows why your essay matters.

For those wondering how to end a reflection paper, Aithor can help you improve your college essay conclusion, making sure it's polished, powerful, and fits your specific needs. This top writing tool can help you refine your essay ending examples and give you guidance on how to end a reflection paper or any other type of school writing.

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• Pros and Cons

50 Pros and Cons Essay Topics

What is the point of pros and cons essay topics? They help students understand what they would like to write about. Imagine that you got an assignment: your professor asked you to craft an essay where you evaluate an object along with its advantages and disadvantages. This would be a pros & cons type of task, and it’s represented by a set of different features. You might be concerned about how much research you’re going to need and when to find time for writing, but the truth is, selecting which pros and cons subjects to explore is one of the major factors affecting your success. If you make a wrong decision, then your research and efforts won’t pay off as well as they could have otherwise. This kind of essay is essential because it develops your analytical skills and teaches you to look into the depth of an object, underlining its weak and strong sides. We hope to assist you by making it clear why choice of topics plays such a major role in writing and where to find inspiration for it.

How to Choose Pro Con Essay Topics?

All students should follow some writing strategies when they start working on a new task. We’re going to outline four of them. Take a look and try to keep these things in mind. They usually apply in all situations, and with their help, you have more chances at writing a strong and engaging essay.

• Always make things interesting for yourself.  All topics could be made interesting, at least to an extent. If you were forced to take a topic from a professor-generated list, then it could be tough, but otherwise, you can always look for something that will trigger your honest interest. There are plenty of good pros and cons topics — all you need is take a dive into your own mind. Think about stuff that you’re invested in. Perhaps you’re an athlete passionate about swimming. Maybe you love cooking, prefer theater performances over movies, or love sea over the ocean. Why not write about this? It would be exciting for you, and if you feel interested in your topic, your writing is going to reflect it, so your readers will find enjoyment as well.
• Preserve your objectivity.  Some pro con paper topics are less fortunate than others. Try not to pick something that is obviously good or bad. For example, if you decided on exploring the benefits and cons unemployment has, the latter will clearly prevail, so you won’t be able to write a balanced essay. If you have passion for some topic, it might be great, but it could also hinder you from being objective. Assess your reactions and attitudes, and choose a theme you could build a fantastic essay on.
• Check if your ideas are supported.  Pro con topics could be controversial, which is something professors usually like, but you’re going to have to use sources for supporting your points. Don’t make statements that reality refutes. Even if you feel strongly about a topic, you should rely on facts, not emotions. So watch out for it and check whether there are enough articles or books that could be incorporated as you need it.
• Discuss.  Talk about your ideas with others. This could be a teacher — in most cases, they appreciate being consulted. Classmates are also a great bet: discuss your ideas together and brainstorm. Maybe you’ll find common inspiration. Talk with your friends or family members — they could offer you ideas you haven’t considered. Write about things you like, and you’ll learn to feel enjoyment during this process.

50 Useful Pro and Cons Topics

The list below has various suggestions you could use for your essay. We devised it so that you could find inspiration whenever you need it: just look through these 50 options and settle on the ones you like. Take them and write an essay on them or shift some ideas in the way you like before doing this. The choice is yours: we are here only for boosting your productivity.

Education Pros and Cons Essay Topics

In many ways, success depends on the education you receive. These pros and cons topics could let you argue against this point or in favor of it.

• Should Students Be Motivated to Receive Education in the US?
• Doing Homework: Is This a Good Idea?
• Prolonging Education by Getting a Master’s Degree: Waste of Time or Step Toward a Better Future?
• Moving into Campus: Good or Bad Decision?
• Sending Children to Preschool: Do They Really Need to Go There?
• Tuition Costing Money: What Are Advantages and Disadvantages of This Issue?
• Academic Grades As a Method for Evaluating Performance: Motivating or Discouraging?
• What Are the Perks and Drawbacks of Online Education?
• Taking Gap Year Before Entering College: Yes or No?
• Purpose of Application Essays and Degrees of Effectiveness

Health Pros and Cons Essay Ideas

Billions of people all over the world are terrified for their health right now. Choose a pro con topic that speaks to you most.

• Wearing Masks Outside: Pros & Cons
• Hospice: Place of Hope or Despair for Those Who Are Already Dying?
• Should Students Choose Nursing as Their Career?
• Pros & Cons of Studying at Medical University
• Is Personal Hygiene Really That Important?
• The Benefits & Dangers of Alternative Medicine
• Should People Who Want to Lose Weight Rely on Diets?
• Reasons for Getting or Not Getting Health Insurance in the US
• Going Vegan: Should Most People Do It?
• Safety & Dangers Presented By Modern Vaccines

Social Media and Technology Topics

Almost all of us have an account on one of social media platforms. These pro and con topics reflect this trend.

• What Are the Benefits and Dangers Posed By Online Dating?
• Discuss What Makes iPhones a Great & Terrible Choice
• Gaining Popularity on Social Platforms: A Curse or a Blessing?
• Using Facebook For Most Communication Needs
• Reading E-Books Instead of Physical Books: Did This Change Make People’s Lives Easier?
• Relying on Your Cell Phone: Why Is This Useful & What Dangers It Could Lead To
• Evolution of Technology: Did It Improve Our Lives or Made Them Unhealthier?
• Becoming a Technician: Is There a Point?
• Skype as a Way to Stay in Touch Visually No Matter the Distance: Pluses and Minuses
• Twitter as a Platform for Exchanging Crucial Info.

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History and Politics

Here’s an example of advantage and disadvantage topics related to historical & political aspects of our life.

• Was Trump a Good President for Americans?
• Was Obama’s Presidency a Good or Bad Thing for Other Countries?
• Different Wars from the perspective of the US: Who Got Rich & Poor?
• Monarchy as System of Government: Should It Be Applied More Often?
• Age Limit for Participating for President Position: Is It Necessary?
• Being a Queen That Rules an Entire Country: Too Much Trouble or Endless Pleasure?
• Civil Right Movements: Victories and Losses That Resulted From It
• Should Students Be Encouraged to Study Political Science In Colleges?
• Is There a Sense in Political Theories Or Are They All Meaningless?
• Communism as Structure Based on Equality: In What Way Does It Work in Reality?

Morality and Social Issues Pro and Cons Essays Topics

Morality could be seen as a simple area of discussions, but at the same time, it’s incredibly complex. These topics with pros and cons could push you in the right direction.

• Provision of Free Apartments for Homeless People: Is This a Viable Solution?
• Discuss if Death Penalty Should Be Applied in Violent Cases Where Guilt Is Proven Beyond Reasonable Doubt
• Living in a Third World Country: Positive & Negative Aspects
• Adopting Pets From Shelter: Is It Always a Better Choice?
• Having Children Despite Being Poor: Should It Be Done?
• Living with a Person You No Longer Love for the Sake of Children
• Giving Gifts to People You Do Not Care About: Is There a Point?
• Helping People Despite Not Being Well Off Yourself
• Being Brave Regardless of the Circumstances: Is It Noble or Stupid?
• Should Children Be Punished by Their Parents If They Misbehave?

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278 Pros and Cons Essay Topics & Ideas

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Pros and cons essay topics offer an opportunity to analyze multiple aspects of a subject, weighing both positive and negative elements. They promote critical thinking, compelling the writer to delve into complex issues, presenting diverse viewpoints, and fostering a balanced argument. These themes can touch diverse fields, such as technology, social issues, politics, or the environment. However, the challenge lies in presenting a balanced perspective, not swaying too much on one side. It may become difficult if one’s personal bias toward a subject is obvious. Additionally, these topics often involve controversial issues, which require in-depth research to provide accurate, comprehensive information. The key to handling pros and cons essay topics successfully is an unbiased perspective, thorough research, and a well-structured argument.

Best Pros and Cons Topics

• Remote Learning in the Modern Age
• Genetic Modification: A Revolution in Agriculture
• Ethical Implications of Animal Testing
• Universal Basic Income: Solution to Poverty?
• Veganism: An Ethical and Healthful Choice?
• Nuclear Power: Energy Savior or Environmental Hazard?
• Cryptocurrency: Future of Finance or Speculative Bubble?
• Gun Control: Safety Measure or Infringement on Rights?
• Mandatory Vaccinations: Public Health Necessity or Personal Freedom Invasion?
• Internet Censorship: Protection or Restriction of Freedom?
• Autonomous Vehicles: Road Safety Improvement or Risk?
• Corporal Punishment: Effective Discipline or Child Abuse?
• Climate Change Mitigation: Economic Burden or Investment?
• Capital Punishment: Deterrent to Crime or Inhumane Practice?
• Cloning: Medical Breakthrough or Ethical Nightmare?
• Reality Television: Harmless Entertainment or Negative Influence?
• Artificial Intelligence: Economic Boon or Job Threat?
• Space Exploration: Worth the Investment or Financial Drain?
• Zoos: Education and Conservation Centers or Animal Prisons?
• Euthanasia: Mercy or Murder?
• Renewable Energy: Sustainable Solution or Unreliable Source?
• Youth Sports: Character Building or Too Competitive?
• Biometric Technology: Security Improvement or Privacy Erosion?
• Alternative Medicine: Healthful Practice or Pseudoscience?

Easy Pros and Cons Topics

• Homeschooling: Alternative Education or Socialization Hinderance?
• Plastic Surgery: Confidence Booster or Health Risk?
• Trade Unions: Workers’ Rights Protector or Economic Hindrance?
• Multilingual Education: Cultural Richness or Confusion?
• Immigration: Economic Growth Engine or Job Competition?
• Video Games: Skill Development or Violence Promoter?
• Social Media: Connectivity or Privacy Invasion?
• Caffeine Consumption: Health Benefit or Risk?
• Genetically Modified Foods: Solution to Hunger or Health Hazard?
• Nuclear Disarmament: Path to Peace or Security Risk?
• Surveillance Cameras: Safety Ensurer or Privacy Invader?
• Drone Technology: Efficiency Improvement or Privacy Threat?
• Mass Tourism: Economic Driver or Environmental Degrader?
• Offshore Drilling: Energy Solution or Environmental Danger?
• Celebrity Culture: Inspiration or Distraction?
• Fast Food Consumption: Convenience or Health Risk?
• Mobile Phones in Schools: Learning Tool or Distraction?
• Online Privacy: Safety or Surveillance?
• Organic Farming: Sustainable Practice or Luxury Expense?
• Hydroelectric Power: Renewable Energy or Ecosystem Disrupter?
• Deforestation: Economic Development or Biodiversity Threat?
• Animal Agriculture: Food Supply or Environmental Stressor?

Interesting Pros and Cons Topics

• Telecommuting: Work-Life Balance or Productivity Killer?
• Body Cameras on Police: Accountability Tool or Privacy Invasion?
• Online Shopping: Convenience or Traditional Retail Killer?
• Single-Gender Schools: Focused Education or Gender Stereotype Reinforcement?
• Electronic Voting: Democratic Enhancement or Security Risk?
• Free Trade Agreements: Economic Boom or Job Loss?
• Junk Food Tax: Health Initiative or Personal Freedom Infringement?
• Streaming Services: Entertainment Evolution or Traditional Media Death?
• Facial Recognition: Security Tool or Privacy Violation?
• Forest Conservation: Biodiversity Savior or Development Constraint?
• Solar Power: Sustainable Energy or Landscape Disruption?
• Drones for Delivery: Efficiency or Public Safety Hazard?
• Reality Augmentation: Technological Breakthrough or Reality Detachment?
• Fracking: Energy Solution or Environmental Hazard?
• Human Microchipping: Security Enhancement or Privacy Infringement?
• Reproductive Cloning: Medical Miracle or Ethical Minefield?
• Animal Fur in Fashion: Luxury or Cruelty?
• Homework: Academic Advantage or Unnecessary Stress?
• Fossil Fuel Dependency: Economic Necessity or Environmental Crisis?
• Carbon Capture Technology: Climate Change Solution or Greenwashing?
• Fast Fashion: Affordability or Environmental Impact?
• Legalizing Marijuana: Medical Breakthrough or Gateway Drug?
• Robot Workers: Efficiency Booster or Job Eliminator?

Pros and Cons Essay Topics for High School

• Implementation of School Uniforms: Benefits and Drawbacks
• The Influence of Social Media on Teenagers: Positive and Negative Aspects
• Incorporation of Technology in Education: Pros and Cons
• Standardized Testing: Advantages and Disadvantages
• Banning Junk Food in Schools: Right or Wrong?
• Single-Sex Education vs. Co-Education: A Comparative Analysis
• Homework Assignments: Necessary Practice or Unnecessary Pressure?
• Impacts of Extracurricular Activities on Students’ Life: Pros and Cons
• Online Classes vs. Traditional Classes: An Examination of Merits and Demerits
• School Hours Extension: Beneficial or Detrimental?
• Year-Round Schooling: A Review of Pros and Cons
• Learning Foreign Languages in School: Advantages and Disadvantages
• The Role of Sports in Schools: Positive and Negative Implications
• Integration of Arts Education: Pros and Cons
• Usage of Mobile Devices in Class: Boon or Bane?
• Compulsory Community Service for Students: Justified or Not?
• Early College Admission Programs: Assessing the Benefits and Risks
• Corporal Punishment in Schools: A Balanced Debate
• Privatization of Education: Pros and Cons
• Distance Learning: A Comprehensive Pros and Cons Analysis
• Sex Education in Schools: Critical Examination of Advantages and Disadvantages
• Parental Involvement in School Activities: Positive and Negative Aspects
• Academic Grading System: A Review of Its Merits and Demerits
• Inclusion of Meditation and Yoga in School Curriculum: Pros and Cons
• Mandatory Attendance Policies: An Examination of Benefits and Drawbacks

Pros and Cons Essay Topics for Middle School

• Incorporation of Life Skills Education in Curriculum: A Debate
• Boarding Schools vs. Day Schools: A Comparative Analysis
• Personalized Learning: Merits and Demerits
• Strict Dress Code Policies: A Balanced Argument
• Providing Student Counselling in Schools: Weighing the Pros and Cons
• Coed Sports in Schools: A Discussion of Benefits and Challenges
• Multicultural Education: Examining the Positives and Negatives
• Introduction of Philosophy Classes in High School: Pros and Cons
• Group Work in School Assignments: A Review of Advantages and Disadvantages
• Advancement of STEM Education: Weighing Its Merits and Demerits
• School Cafeterias: An Analysis of Health and Convenience Aspects
• Teaching Critical Thinking in Schools: A Balanced Examination
• School Field Trips: Weighing Educational Value and Risks
• Bilingual Education: A Comprehensive Pros and Cons Analysis
• Animal Dissection in Biology Class: Ethical Considerations and Practical Benefits
• Dual Enrollment Classes: Weighing Academic Benefits and Challenges
• Censorship of Books in School Libraries: A Balanced Argument
• Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education: A Comprehensive Analysis
• Adoption of Zero Tolerance Policies in Schools: A Debate
• Healthy Eating Programs in Schools: Pros and Cons
• Teacher Tenure: An Examination of Its Benefits and Drawbacks
• Climate Change Education: The Importance and Challenges in Schools
• Cyberbullying: Understanding Its Impacts and Ways to Mitigate
• School Security Measures: Weighing Safety and Freedom
• Influence of Video Games on Students: A Discussion on Advantages and Disadvantages

Pros and Cons Essay Topics for College Students

• Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life
• Online Learning vs. Traditional Classroom Instruction
• Use of Cryptocurrencies as a Primary Form of Exchange
• Introduction of Universal Basic Income in Developed Nations
• Implication of Driverless Cars on Traffic Management and Safety
• Consumption of Genetically Modified Foods and Health Outcomes
• Exploration of Space as a Priority for Modern Society
• Legalization of Medical Marijuana for Pain Management
• Impacts of Social Media on Interpersonal Communication
• Roles of Animal Testing in Biomedical Research
• Significance of Nuclear Energy in the Global Energy Mix
• Influence of Violent Video Games on Youth Behavior
• Efficacy of School Uniforms in Promoting Discipline and Equality
• Relevance of Single-Gender Schools in Contemporary Education
• Adoption of Veganism for the Health and Environment
• Deregulation of the Energy Market: Benefits and Drawbacks
• Value of Mandatory Military Service in Modern Democracies
• Practice of Telecommuting in Post-Pandemic Times
• Use of Drones in Delivery and Surveillance Services
• Importance of Privacy in the Age of Big Data
• Effects of Multilingualism on Cognitive Development
• Application of Genetic Engineering in Human Health
• Debate on Climate Change and Global Warming Policies
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Office Spaces

Pros and Cons Essay Topics for University

• Impacts of Homeschooling on Children’s Social Skills
• Roles of Religion in Public Schools
• Potential of 3D Printing in Manufacturing Industries
• Influence of Celebrity Culture on Youth Identity Formation
• Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Professional Sports
• Prospects of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles in Decarbonization
• Responsibility of Developed Countries in Climate Change Mitigation
• Evaluation of Renewable Energy Subsidies for Energy Transition
• Influence of Parenting Styles on Child Development
• Adoption of Facial Recognition Technology in Law Enforcement
• Question of Human Cloning: Ethical Implications
• Roles of Internet Censorship in Protecting National Security
• Effects of Mass Tourism on Local Cultures
• Impacts of Fast Fashion on the Environment
• Application of Nanotechnology in Medicine
• Importance of Liberal Arts Education in a Technological Society
• Effects of Mandatory Voting on Democratic Participation
• Impacts of Music Therapy on Mental Health
• Influence of Body Cameras on Police Accountability
• Pros and Cons of Full-Time Employment vs. Freelancing
• Role of Animal Zoos in Wildlife Conservation
• Application of Blockchain Technology Beyond Cryptocurrencies
• Debate on Genetically Modified Babies for Disease Prevention
• Consideration of Eco-Tourism as a Sustainable Travel Alternative

Pro and Con Debate Topics

• Space Tourism: Exciting Frontier or Elitist Extravagance?
• Universal Healthcare: Basic Human Right or Economic Burden?
• Polar Tourism: Adventure or Environmental Threat?
• eSports: Athletic Recognition or Sedentary Lifestyle Promoter?
• Online Dating: Convenient Connection or Relationship Ruin?
• Zero-Waste Lifestyle: Sustainable Practice or Unrealistic Expectation?
• Artificial Photosynthesis: Energy Breakthrough or Technological Hurdle?
• Underwater Cities: Innovative Living or Ecological Disaster?
• Job Automation: Efficiency Gain or Workforce Threat?
• Wildlife Trafficking: Economic Opportunity or Conservation Crisis?
• Gender-Neutral Parenting: Equality Promoter or Identity Confusion?
• Food Waste: Resource Mismanagement or Consumer Habit?
• Carbon Offsetting: Climate Solution or Responsibility Shift?
• Genetic Privacy: Personal Protection or Research Obstacle?
• Cashless Society: Convenience or Privacy Threat?
• Aging Population: Burden or Wisdom Source?
• Digital Learning Tools: Learning Enhancer or Traditional Teaching Underminer?
• Designer Babies: Medical Miracle or Ethical Disaster?
• Intellectual Property Rights: Innovation Protection or Monopolization?
• Digital Currency: Economic Revolution or Financial Instability?

Controversial Pro and Con Topics

• Mandatory Vaccination: Pros and Cons
• Legalization of Recreational Drugs: Benefits and Drawbacks
• Nuclear Energy: Advantages and Disadvantages
• Animal Testing in Medical Research: Arguments For and Against
• Capital Punishment: Exploring the Upsides and Downsides
• Adoption of Universal Basic Income: Prospects and Challenges
• Internet Censorship: Freedom vs. Safety
• Gene Editing Technology: Ethical Implications
• Driverless Cars: A Technological Breakthrough or Risky Innovation
• Homeschooling: Assessing Its Strengths and Weaknesses
• Protesting Rights: Balancing Freedom and Public Safety
• Concealed Firearms: Public Protection or Public Threat?
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): Feeding the World or Damaging the Environment
• Surveillance Technology: Safeguarding or Invading Privacy
• Social Media Influence: Connectivity or Toxicity
• Animal Rights vs. Human Needs: A Delicate Balance
• School Uniforms: Promoting Equality or Suppressing Individuality
• Euthanasia: Compassionate Response or Moral Dilemma
• Outsourcing Jobs: Boost for Global Economy or Local Unemployment Trigger
• Veganism: Healthy Lifestyle or Nutritional Risk
• Fracking: Energy Solution or Environmental Hazard
• Polygamy: Cultural Practice or Human Rights Violation
• Deforestation: Economic Gain vs. Environmental Loss
• Human Cloning: Scientific Progress or Ethical Nightmare
• Space Colonization: Next Frontier or Dangerous Fantasy

Pros and Cons Ideas

• Wind Power: Renewable Solution or Noise Pollution?
• Animal Rights in Entertainment: Fun Show or Unethical Practice?
• Artificial Meat: Sustainability Savior or Health Concern?
• Screen Time for Children: Educational Tool or Developmental Hindrance?
• GMO Labeling: Consumer Right or Unnecessary Panic?
• Public Surveillance: Crime Deterrent or Freedom Infringement?
• Trophy Hunting: Conservation Strategy or Cruelty?
• Quantum Computing: Technological Revolution or Security Threat?
• Prescription Drug Advertising: Informed Choice or Misleading Practice?
• Assisted Suicide: Compassionate Care or Ethical Dilemma?
• Nuclear Family Structure: Social Stability or Outdated Model?
• Paper Books vs. E-Books: Tradition or Technology?
• Colonizing Mars: Human Achievement or Unnecessary Distraction?
• Performance Enhancing Drugs: Fair Advantage or Cheating?
• Modern Art: Creative Expression or Financial Speculation?
• Professional Gaming: Career Opportunity or Unhealthy Lifestyle?
• Beauty Pageants: Self-Expression or Objectification?
• Child Labor: Economic Necessity or Human Rights Violation?
• Overtourism: Economic Prosperity or Cultural Erosion?
• Multiculturalism: Social Enrichment or Integration Challenge?
• Invasive Species: Ecological Threat or Biodiversity Booster?

Pro and Con Paper Topics

• Extreme Sports: Thrill or Danger?
• Lifelong Learning: Personal Growth or Economic Necessity?
• Paying College Athletes: Fair Compensation or Amateur Spirit Ruin?
• Self-Driving Cars: Traffic Solution or Safety Issue?
• Artificial Wombs: Medical Advancement or Ethical Quandary?
• Violent Media: Artistic Freedom or Social Malady?
• Helicopter Parenting: Child Safety or Overprotection?
• Cybersecurity Measures: Essential Safeguard or Privacy Intrusion?
• Holographic Technology: Futuristic Communication or Privacy Concern?
• Virtual Reality: Exciting Innovation or Isolation Enhancer?
• Hyperloop Travel: Transportation Revolution or Pipe Dream?
• Geoengineering: Climate Savior or Ecological Risk?
• Population Control: Sustainable Solution or Human Rights Violation?
• Nanotechnology: Revolutionary Science or Unpredictable Threat?
• Bioplastics: Environmental Solution or Greenwashing?
• Internet of Things: Connected Convenience or Surveillance Nightmare?
• 3D Printing: Manufacturing Revolution or Intellectual Property Nightmare?
• Digital Nomad Lifestyle: Freedom or Isolation?
• Dark Tourism: Educational Experience or Insensitive Practice?
• Autonomous Weapons: Military Efficiency or Ethical Disaster?

Pros and Cons Issues

• Telemedicine: Healthcare Accessibility or Patient Risk
• Labor Unions: Employee Advocacy or Business Hindrance
• Artificial Intelligence: Boosting Efficiency or Threatening Jobs
• Plastic Surgery: Cosmetic Enhancement or Health Risk
• Crypto-Currencies: Future of Finance or Bubble Waiting to Burst
• Assisted Reproduction: Miracle of Science or Ethical Quandary
• Multicultural Education: Promoting Diversity or Dividing Society
• Reality TV: Entertainment or Cultural Decay
• Extreme Sports: Thrilling Adventure or Unnecessary Risk
• Designer Babies: Genetic Customization or Ethical Issue
• Lobbying: Advocacy Tool or Unfair Influence
• Violent Video Games: Entertainment or Negative Influence
• Organic Farming: Sustainable Practice or Inefficient Production
• Renewable Energy: Long-Term Solution or Unrealistic Ideal
• Civil Disobedience: Necessary Protest or Legal Violation
• Zoos: Conservation Efforts or Animal Cruelty
• Performance Enhancing Drugs: Sporting Equality or Unfair Advantage
• Stem Cell Research: Medical Breakthrough or Ethical Dilemma
• Online Dating: Romantic Revolution or Relationship Ruin
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Ethical Practice or Marketing Gimmick
• Junk Food Taxation: Public Health Initiative or Personal Freedom Infringement
• Single-Gender Education: Enhanced Learning or Limited Socialization
• Offshore Drilling: Energy Opportunity or Environmental Threat
• Monarchy: Historical Heritage or Outdated System
• GMO Labeling: Consumer Right or Unnecessary Fearmongering

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

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160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Students in 2024

April 3, 2024

The skill of writing an excellent argumentative essay is a crucial one for every high school or college student to master. In sum, argumentative essays teach students how to organize their thoughts logically and present them in a convincing way. This skill is helpful not only for those pursuing degrees in law , international relations , or public policy , but for any student who wishes to develop their critical thinking faculties. In this article, we’ll cover what makes a good argument essay and offer several argumentative essay topics for high school and college students. Let’s begin!

What is an Argumentative Essay?

An argumentative essay is an essay that uses research to present a reasoned argument on a particular subject . As with the persuasive essay , the purpose of an argumentative essay is to sway the reader to the writer’s position. However, a strong persuasive essay makes its point through diligent research and emotion while a strong argumentative essay should be based solely on facts, not feelings.

Moreover, each fact should be supported by clear evidence from credible sources . Furthermore, a good argumentative essay will have an easy-to-follow structure. When organizing your argumentative essay, use this format as a guide:

• Introduction
• Supporting body paragraphs
• Paragraph(s) addressing common counterarguments

Argumentative Essay Format

In the introduction , the writer presents their position and thesis statement —a sentence that summarizes the paper’s main points. The body paragraphs then draw upon supporting evidence to back up this initial statement, with each paragraph focusing on its own point. The length of your paper will determine the amount of examples you need. In general, you’ll likely need at least two to three. Additionally, your examples should be as detailed as possible, citing specific research, case studies, statistics, or anecdotes.

In the counterargument paragraph , the writer acknowledges and refutes opposing viewpoints. Finally, in the conclusion , the writer restates the main argument made in the thesis statement and summarizes the points of the essay. Additionally, the conclusion may offer a final proposal to persuade the reader of the essay’s position.

How to Write an Effective Argumentative Essay, Step by Step

• Choose your topic. Use the list below to help you pick a topic. Ideally, a good argumentative essay topic will be meaningful to you—writing is always stronger when you are interested in the subject matter. In addition, the topic should be complex with plenty of “pro” and “con” arguments. Avoid choosing a topic that is either widely accepted as fact or too narrow. For example, “Is the earth round?” would not be a solid choice.
• Research. Use the library, the web, and any other resources to gather information about your argumentative essay topic. Research widely but smartly. As you go, take organized notes, marking the source of every quote and where it may fit in the scheme of your larger essay. Moreover, remember to look for (and research) possible counterarguments.
• Outline . Using the argument essay format above, create an outline for your essay. Then, brainstorm a thesis statement covering your argument’s main points, and begin to put your examples in order, focusing on logical flow. It’s often best to place your strongest example last.
• Write . Draw on your research and outline to create a first draft. Remember, your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect. (As Voltaire says, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”) Accordingly, just focus on getting the words down on paper.
• Does my thesis statement need to be adjusted?
• Which examples feel strongest? Weakest?
• Do the transitions flow smoothly?
• Do I have a strong opening paragraph?
• Does the conclusion reinforce my argument?

Tips for Revising an Argument Essay

Evaluating your own work can be difficult, so you might consider the following strategies:

• Read your work aloud to yourself.
• Record yourself reading your paper, and listen to the recording.
• Reverse outline your paper. Firstly, next to each paragraph, write a short summary of that paragraph’s main points/idea. Then, read through your reverse outline. Does it have a logical flow? If not, where should you adjust?
• Print out your paper and cut it into paragraphs. What happens when you rearrange the paragraphs?

Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Middle School, High School, and College Students

Family argumentative essay topics.

• Should the government provide financial incentives for families to have children to address the declining birth rate?
• Should we require parents to provide their children with a certain level of nutrition and physical activity to prevent childhood obesity?
• Should parents implement limits on how much time their children spend playing video games?
• Should cell phones be banned from family/holiday gatherings?
• Should we hold parents legally responsible for their children’s actions?
• Should children have the right to sue their parents for neglect?
• Should parents have the right to choose their child’s religion?
• Are spanking and other forms of physical punishment an effective method of discipline?
• Should courts allow children to choose where they live in cases of divorce?
• Should parents have the right to monitor teens’ activity on social media?
• Should parents control their child’s medical treatment, even if it goes against the child’s wishes?
• Should parents be allowed to post pictures of their children on social media without their consent?
• Should fathers have a legal say in whether their partners do or do not receive an abortion?
• Can television have positive developmental benefits on children?
• Should the driving age be raised to prevent teen car accidents?
• Should adult children be legally required to care for their aging parents?

Education Argument Essay Topics

• Should schools ban the use of technology like ChatGPT?
• Are zoos unethical, or necessary for conservation and education?
• To what degree should we hold parents responsible in the event of a school shooting?
• Should schools offer students a set number of mental health days?
• Should school science curriculums offer a course on combating climate change?
• Should public libraries be allowed to ban certain books? If so, what types?
• What role, if any, should prayer play in public schools?
• Should schools push to abolish homework?
• Are gifted and talented programs in schools more harmful than beneficial due to their exclusionary nature?
• Should universities do away with Greek life?
• Should schools remove artwork, such as murals, that some perceive as offensive?
• Should the government grant parents the right to choose alternative education options for their children and use taxpayer funds to support these options?
• Is homeschooling better than traditional schooling for children’s academic and social development?
• Should we require schools to teach sex education to reduce teen pregnancy rates?
• Should we require schools to provide sex education that includes information about both homosexual and heterosexual relationships?
• Should colleges use affirmative action and other race-conscious policies to address diversity on campus?
• Should public schools remove the line “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance?
• Should college admissions officers be allowed to look at students’ social media accounts?
• Should schools abolish their dress codes, many of which unfairly target girls, LGBTQ students, and students of color?
• Should schools be required to stock free period products in bathrooms?
• Should legacy students receive preferential treatment during the college admissions process?
• Are school “voluntourism” trips ethical?

Government Argumentative Essay Topics

• Should the U.S. decriminalize prostitution?
• Should the U.S. issue migration visas to all eligible applicants?
• Should the federal government cancel all student loan debt?
• Should we lower the minimum voting age? If so, to what?
• Should the federal government abolish all laws penalizing drug production and use?
• Should the U.S. use its military power to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan?
• Should the U.S. supply Ukraine with further military intelligence and supplies?
• Should the North and South of the U.S. split up into two regions?
• Should Americans hold up nationalism as a critical value?
• Should we permit Supreme Court justices to hold their positions indefinitely?
• Should Supreme Court justices be democratically elected?
• Is the Electoral College still a productive approach to electing the U.S. president?
• Should the U.S. implement a national firearm registry?
• Is it ethical for countries like China and Israel to mandate compulsory military service for all citizens?
• Should the U.S. government implement a ranked-choice voting system?
• Should institutions that benefited from slavery be required to provide reparations?
• Based on the 1619 project, should history classes change how they teach about the founding of the U.S.?
• Should term limits be imposed on Senators and Representatives? If so, how long?
• Should women be allowed into special forces units?
• Should the federal government implement stronger, universal firearm licensing laws?
• Do public sex offender registries help prevent future sex crimes?
• Should the government be allowed to regulate family size?
• Should all adults legally be considered mandated reporters?
• Should the government fund public universities to make higher education more accessible to low-income students?
• Should the government fund universal preschool to improve children’s readiness for kindergarten?

Health/Bioethics Argumentative Essay Topics

• Should the U.S. government offer its own healthcare plan?
• In the case of highly infectious pandemics, should we focus on individual freedoms or public safety when implementing policies to control the spread?
• Should we legally require parents to vaccinate their children to protect public health?
• Is it ethical for parents to use genetic engineering to create “designer babies” with specific physical and intellectual traits?
• Should the government fund research on embryonic stem cells for medical treatments?
• Should the government legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill patients?
• Should organ donation be mandatory?
• Is cloning animals ethical?
• Should cancer screenings start earlier? If so, what age?
• Is surrogacy ethical?
• Should birth control require a prescription?
• Should minors have access to emergency contraception?
• Should hospitals be for-profit or nonprofit institutions?

Good Argumentative Essay Topics — Continued

Social media argumentative essay topics.

• Should the federal government increase its efforts to minimize the negative impact of social media?
• Do social media and smartphones strengthen one’s relationships?
• Should antitrust regulators take action to limit the size of big tech companies?
• Should social media platforms ban political advertisements?
• Should the federal government hold social media companies accountable for instances of hate speech discovered on their platforms?
• Do apps such as TikTok and Instagram ultimately worsen the mental well-being of teenagers?
• Should governments oversee how social media platforms manage their users’ data?
• Should social media platforms like Facebook enforce a minimum age requirement for users?
• Should social media companies be held responsible for cases of cyberbullying?
• Should the United States ban TikTok?
• Is social media harmful to children?
• Should employers screen applicants’ social media accounts during the hiring process?

Religion Argument Essay Topics

• Should religious institutions be tax-exempt?
• Should religious symbols such as the hijab or crucifix be allowed in public spaces?
• Should religious freedoms be protected, even when they conflict with secular laws?
• Should the government regulate religious practices?
• Should we allow churches to engage in political activities?
• Religion: a force for good or evil in the world?
• Should the government provide funding for religious schools?
• Is it ethical for healthcare providers to deny abortions based on religious beliefs?
• Should religious organizations be allowed to discriminate in their hiring practices?
• Should we allow people to opt out of medical treatments based on their religious beliefs?
• Should the U.S. government hold religious organizations accountable for cases of sexual abuse within their community?
• Should religious beliefs be exempt from anti-discrimination laws?
• Should religious individuals be allowed to refuse services to others based on their beliefs or lifestyles? (As in this famous case .)
• Should the US ban religion-based federal holidays?
• Should public schools be allowed to teach children about religious holidays?

Science Argument Essay Topics

• Would the world be safer if we eliminated nuclear weapons?
• Should scientists bring back extinct animals? If so, which ones?
• Should we hold companies fiscally responsible for their carbon footprint?
• Should we ban pesticides in favor of organic farming methods?
• Should the federal government ban all fossil fuels, despite the potential economic impact on specific industries and communities?
• What renewable energy source should the U.S. invest more money in?
• Should the FDA outlaw GMOs?
• Should we worry about artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence?
• Should the alternative medicine industry be more stringently regulated?
• Is colonizing Mars a viable option?
• Is the animal testing worth the potential to save human lives?

Sports Argument Essay Topics

• Should colleges compensate student-athletes?
• How should sports teams and leagues address the gender pay gap?
• Should youth sports teams do away with scorekeeping?
• Should we ban aggressive contact sports like boxing and MMA?
• Should professional sports associations mandate that athletes stand during the national anthem?
• Should high schools require their student-athletes to maintain a certain GPA?
• Should transgender athletes compete in sports according to their gender identity?
• Should schools ban football due to the inherent danger it poses to players?
• Should performance-enhancing drugs be allowed in sports?
• Do participation trophies foster entitlement and unrealistic expectations?
• Should sports teams be divided by gender?
• Should professional athletes be allowed to compete in the Olympics?
• Should women be allowed on NFL teams?

Technology Argumentative Essay Topics

• Should sites like DALL-E compensate the artists whose work it was trained on?
• Should the federal government make human exploration of space a more significant priority?
• Is it ethical for the government to use surveillance technology to monitor citizens?
• Should websites require proof of age from their users? If so, what age?
• Should we consider A.I.-generated images and text pieces of art?
• Does the use of facial recognition technology violate individuals’ privacy?
• Is online learning as effective as in-person learning?
• Does computing harm the environment?
• Should buying, sharing, and selling collected personal data be illegal?
• Are electric cars really better for the environment?
• Should car companies be held responsible for self-driving car accidents?
• Should private jets be banned?
• Do violent video games contribute to real-life violence?

Business Argument Essay Topics

• Should the U.S. government phase out the use of paper money in favor of a fully digital currency system?
• Should the federal government abolish its patent and copyright laws?
• Should we replace the Federal Reserve with free-market institutions?
• Is free-market ideology responsible for the U.S. economy’s poor performance over the past decade?
• Will cryptocurrencies overtake natural resources like gold and silver?
• Is capitalism the best economic system? What system would be better?
• Should the U.S. government enact a universal basic income?
• Should we require companies to provide paid parental leave to their employees?
• Should the government raise the minimum wage? If so, to what?
• Should antitrust regulators break up large companies to promote competition?
• Is it ethical for companies to prioritize profits over social responsibility?
• Should gig-economy workers like Uber and Lyft drivers be considered employees or independent contractors?
• Should the federal government regulate the gig economy to ensure fair treatment of workers?
• Should the government require companies to disclose the environmental impact of their products?
• Should companies be allowed to fire employees based on political views or activities?
• Should tipping practices be phased out?
• Should employees who choose not to have children be given the same amount of paid leave as parents?
• Should MLMs (multi-level marketing companies) be illegal?
• Should employers be allowed to factor tattoos and personal appearance into hiring decisions?

In Conclusion – Argument Essay Topics

Using the tips above, you can effectively structure and pen a compelling argumentative essay that will wow your instructor and classmates. Remember to craft a thesis statement that offers readers a roadmap through your essay, draw on your sources wisely to back up any claims, and read through your paper several times before it’s due to catch any last-minute proofreading errors. With time, diligence, and patience, your essay will be the most outstanding assignment you’ve ever turned in…until the next one rolls around.

Looking for more fresh and engaging topics for use in the classroom? You might consider checking out the following:

• 125 Good Debate Topics for High School Students
• 150 Good Persuasive Speech Topics
• 7 Best Places to Study
• Guide to the IB Extended Essay
• How to Write the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay
• AP Lit Reading List
• How to Write the AP Lang Synthesis Essay
• 49 Most Interesting Biology Research Topics
• High School Success

Lauren Green

With a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Columbia University and an MFA in Fiction from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, Lauren has been a professional writer for over a decade. She is the author of the chapbook  A Great Dark House  (Poetry Society of America, 2023) and a forthcoming novel (Viking/Penguin).

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An Example of How to Write a Pro & Con Essay

Todd bowerman.

“Pro and Con” essays are impartial reports engineered to provide the reader with both the positive and negative aspects of any given topic. Your job as the writer of one of these essays is to provide accurate information that backs up both sides of the argument, yet does not show any favor toward one side or another. Writing a pro and con essay is similar to writing any other type of essay with a few minor tweaks.

Explore this article

• Choose a good topic
• Brainstorm as many negative and positive qualities as and of your topic
• Isolate three or four or
• Use a traditional essay format

1 Choose a good topic

Choose a good topic. The most important step in writing your essay is finding a subject that has both pros and cons. Writing a pro and con essay on a topic that is clearly beneficial or clearly dangerous will prove to be difficult and time-consuming. If you are allowed to choose your own topic, pick something that has two clear sides, each with their own set of arguments. For instance, you could choose to illustrate the pros and cons of a vehicle with a manual transmission. Since driving a manual isn't overwhelmingly good or bad, it is a perfect example of the type of topic to look for.

2 Brainstorm as many negative and positive qualities as and of your topic

Brainstorm as many negative and positive qualities of your topic as possible. Start two columns on a piece of paper, one labeled “Pros” and one labeled “Cons.” Fill this page with as many details as you can. Sticking with the manual transmission example, pros could include better gas mileage, less transmission maintenance, more fun and better performance. Cons could include damage caused by user error, inconvenience in slow traffic or hazardous situations and difficulty.

3 Isolate three or four or

Isolate three or four of the largest benefits and three or four of the largest problems with your topic from your brainstorming list. You cannot write about every pro or con, so stick with the ones that are at the core of your issue. Using the manual transmission example again, the strongest pros would be better gas mileage and less maintenance, while the strongest cons are the learning curve and possible user error causing expensive damage. You will likely have far more options from which to choose.

Research your topic at a library or using trusted resources on the Internet. A pro and con essay should be backed by as many facts as you can provide to strengthen both sides of the argument. For instance, Consumer Reports has found that a manual transmission improves gas mileage by 2 to 5 miles per gallon. That's a concrete fact that can help make the case for the pros of driving a stick. On the cons side, an expensive problem like clutch wear is verifiable evidence of the possible costs involved in driving a stick.

5 Use a traditional essay format

Use a traditional essay format to argue the case. Your first paragraph should be an introduction that speaks briefly on the topic at hand and what you intend to do with it. Use middle paragraphs to discuss pros and cons, devoting one section of your paper to each. Wrap your essay up with the conclusion you have drawn from doing this research and writing your paper. Be sure to mention your own opinion somewhere in the conclusion paragraph. Your closing line can be simple, along the lines of, "Based on the information I have discovered in my research, driving a vehicle with a manual transmission is clearly the better option for drivers concerned about the long-term cost and health of their vehicles."

• 1 Essay Town: How to Write a Pros and Cons Essay

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331 Advantages and Disadvantages Essay Topics [2024 Update]

Is globalization a beneficial process? What are the pros and cons of a religious upbringing? Do the drawbacks of immigration outweigh the benefits? These questions can become a foundation for your advantages and disadvantages essay. And we have even more ideas to offer!

There is nothing complicated about writing this kind of essay. Arguably the hardest part is choosing a topic. This article by our custom-writing team will help you with that. Here, you will find:

• great pros and cons essay topics for high school, middle school, and college;
• essay prompts and writing tips.
• 🔝 Top 10 Advantages & Disadvantages Topics
• 👍 Other Advantages & Disadvantages Topics
• ⭐ Top 10 Pros & Cons Topics
• ⚖️ For and Against Topics
• 🆚 Other Pros & Cons Topics
• 💡 Essay Prompts
• ✍️ Writing Tips & Outline

🔍 References

🔝 top 10 advantages and disadvantages topics.

• Benefits of vaccination. 
• Is living abroad worth it? 
• Plastic surgery: for and against. 
• Vegetarianism: benefits and pitfalls. 
• Pros and cons of extreme sports. 
• Disadvantages of having tattoos. 
• Is a Master’s degree a good investment? 
• Negative and positive aspects of animal testing. 
• Are motorcycles convenient or dangerous? 
• Learning a foreign language: pros and cons. 

👍 Advantage and Disadvantage Essay Topics

Here’s a list of topics that touch on subjects such as education, work, traveling, living conditions, family, politics, technology, and more.

• Advantages and disadvantages of computers . You can probably think of many positive aspects of using computers. They make communication easier, they can be helpful for your studies, and you get access to a wealth of information. Yet, if you think about it, you will find plenty of disadvantages. For example, computers can break down, or they may be hacked or infected.
• Write about the advantages and disadvantages of the New Year’s Day celebration. New Year’s Day is primarily associated with family gatherings and new beginnings. However, preparation for the party often requires too much effort. Moreover, celebrating all night can have problematic consequences for one’s health.
• Write all arguments for and against Christmas celebrations. During the Christmas holidays, we celebrate family traditions and hold fun meetings. All this is accompanied by delicious food and gift sharing. But sometimes, these events bring no joy. The expenses are too high, and dinner preparation is energy-consuming.
• Advantages and disadvantages of couch surfing. Staying for free at places registered online is becoming increasingly popular among travelers. New friends and authentic communication are additional benefits of couch surfing. However, they don’t guarantee safety and comfort.
• What are the pleasant and unpleasant aspects of gift exchange? Gifts are a crucial part of celebrations such as birthdays or wedding anniversaries. Most people enjoy receiving presents, but not everyone enjoys looking for them. The difficulties of choosing a gift can spoil the holiday mood.
• Pros and cons of buying an artificial Christmas tree. A beautiful Christmas tree decorated with lights instantly creates the holiday atmosphere. If you have an artificial tree, you don’t need to get a new one each year. However, a real Christmas tree is unique and has a pleasant odor.
• What are the pros and cons of school uniforms ? Standard uniforms can save students time while dressing up in the morning. Moreover, it prevents clothes-related bullying and contributes to the discipline necessary for studying. However, such standards impose certain restrictions on children’s individuality.
• Is an official dress code at work a benefit or an obstacle? Almost every company and organization has its requirements for the employees’ appearance. On the one hand, a dress code disciplines workers and demonstrates the company’s seriousness. On the other hand, employees can resist suppressing their self-expression.
• Keeping an online blog : for and against. The Internet provides people with colossal opportunities for finding new hobbies and occupations. For example, everyone can become a blogger: all you need to do is choose a topic and a platform. However, unflattering comments, lack of interest, or extreme popularity can become a serious problem for a blogger.
• A hitchhiking journey: an enjoyable adventure or a dangerous undertaking? Hitchhiking can be a budget option for travelers. This way, people can learn more about the place they’re traveling to and make friends. However, some drivers can turn out to be dangerous.
• What are the strengths and shortcomings of intellectual property rights? Valuable and original ideas are essential to the success of a person or a company. Intellectual property rights protect data from being stolen by competitors. Opponents of such measures believe that nobody should own ideas and that the information sphere is too vulnerable to manipulations.
• Describe the pros and cons of learning a language with a native speaker. Modern technologies make it possible to communicate with people from all around the world. This ability provides additional opportunities to learn a foreign language with native speakers. A potential downside is the difficulty of finding good teachers or understanding their accents.
• Talk about the benefits and disadvantages of alternative voting methods. Voting by mail or online is convenient for those who find it challenging to come to polling stations. Moreover, this way, people can save time. Nevertheless, the reliability of such methods is still in question.
• Being successful: what are the benefits and pitfalls? Achieving success is the goal of millions of people. It is usually associated with wealth and happiness, but there is also the other side. Successful people often feel more pressure and responsibility and make sacrifices.
• For and against family businesses. Perfect mutual understanding is what people typically expect from a family business. However, this description is more of an idea rather than a reality.
• Being creative: a gift or a curse? Society admires inspiring and mysterious artists. The creative process seems to be an easy activity, but some artists may disagree with this statement. Creativity crisis, procrastination, and lack of understanding from the public are only a few of the shortcomings they have to face.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of managing your own business. In search of professional freedom, some people start a business. This way, they can have complete control and be their own boss. At the same time, entrepreneurship requires talent and significant effort. Moreover, some businesses may turn out to be unprofitable.
• What are the possible advantages and drawbacks of being a professional athlete? Sport allows people to discover the hidden capabilities of their bodies. Such activities make them stronger and more disciplined, but doing sports full-time requires many sacrifices. Professional athletes endure significant stress and injuries, so this lifestyle is not for everyone.
• Is having young parents a benefit or an obstacle?
• Advantages and disadvantages of being married
• For and against working part-time after school
• What are the pros and cons of writing essays?
• Positive and negative aspects of returning to school as an adult
• Is it better to be living in a small town or a big city ?
• The benefits and shortcomings of living in a large country
• Do the positive aspects of living in the countryside outweigh the negative ones?
• Is working on a rotational basis beneficial or harmful?
• Is it better to be working remotely or in an office?
• Is working with the help of technology beneficial or risky?
• Advantages and drawbacks of physical labor
• Working with customers: perks and shortcomings
• What are the beneficial aspects of working with animals?
• Pros and cons of working with children
• Is making your hobby into a job profitable or disadvantageous?
• What are the pros and cons of changing jobs?
• Quitting a job or being fired: which option is better?
• Working in a multilingual setting: benefits and drawbacks
• Is having a job that requires a lot of traveling exciting or challenging?
• Choosing to pursue a creative profession: pros and cons
• Is hiring older or younger employees more beneficial?
• Privately-owned companies : benefits and pitfalls
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of working for the government?
• Business competition vs. monopoly
• What is better: owning a business with other people or partnership business models?
• Owning a car vs. other modes of transportation
• What are the benefits and shortcomings of using public transportation ?
• Is being self-employed better than working for somebody else?
• Describe the pros and cons of knowing or learning multiple languages
• Choosing to pursue a technical profession: for and against
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing a humanitarian career?
• Is receiving an education online a waste of time or a good investment?
• Perks and disadvantages of studying on Saturdays
• What are the pros and cons of reducing the length of the summer vacation?
• Completing online courses, classes, or training: arguments for and against
• Learning foreign languages online vs. in class
• What is more effective: private tutoring or group learning?
• Open group discussions during class: for and against
• Is it more beneficial to work in groups or alone?
• Describe the strengths and weaknesses of studying with textbooks
• What are the pros and cons of learning with interactive media?
• Using traditional vs. new methods of teaching
• Is taking tests better than answering questions in a free form?
• Advantages and disadvantages of using exams as a primary source of knowledge assessment
• Giving students different tasks according to their grades: pros and cons
• Is separating students according to their behavior and performance efficient or harmful?
• Strengths and weaknesses of using  multilingual online dictionaries
• Extracurricular activities: pros and cons
• Studying and having a part-time job: benefits and obstacles
• Going to a university in your town vs. moving to another town
• Is living in a dormitory preferable to living at home while studying in college?
• Entering a fraternity or a sorority during college years: arguments for and against
• Living with parents vs. living separately from them
• Is living alone burdensome or delightful?
• What are the obstacles and benefits of having a long-distance relationship?
• Having friends that live abroad or in other cities: advantages and disadvantages
• Being in a relationship vs. being single
• Pros and cons of early marriages
• Visiting the most popular places for tourists: for and against
• What hardships and benefits come with living in the most visited places in the world?
• What positive and negative outcomes do countries and cities that encourage tourism face?
• Pros and cons of visiting unexplored places
• Is it better to travel on your own or with friends?
• Having a tour guide vs. traveling without anyone’s help
• Traveling by car: advantages and disadvantages
• What is better: hiking alone or with other people?
• Short vs. long hiking trips
• Is it better to be tall or short?
• Being a foreigner in a country where you live: benefits and pitfalls
• Listening to music at home vs. live
• Watching movies at home vs. seeing them in theaters
• Is it better to have children early or later in life?
• Being the only child: advantages and disadvantages
• Perks and drawbacks of having siblings
• Being the oldest vs. the youngest sibling
• Describe the pros and cons of sharing items with other people
• Is it better to be living together or apart while being in a relationship?
• Living in a small apartment: pros and cons
• What are the arguments for and against living in a big house?
• Renting or purchasing a house vs. an apartment
• What are the pros and cons of having a small pet?
• Living in the city center vs. the suburbs
• What benefits and pitfalls come with having a diverse cultural background ?
• Is being a famous actor or musician a positive or negative experience?
• Being a leader or taking up a position of leadership: positive and negative sides
• Going to a private school vs. a public school
• Is it better to have a big or small family?
• Having many friends vs. having few friends
• What is more efficient: being a night owl or an early riser?
• Is waking up early more burdensome than waking up late?
• What are the dangers and benefits of dieting?
• Does fast food have any advantages?
• Arguments for and against cooking at home
• Bringing food to work or school vs. eating at a cafeteria
• Positive and negative outcomes of regular physical activity
• Rapid technological progress: arguments for and against
• Is it preferable to live in a cold or hot climate?
• Living close to the water (river, lake, sea, or ocean): pros and cons
• What are the positive and negative aspects of countries that have rainy or windy weather?
• Is direct democracy more efficient than representative democracy?
• Pros and cons of various types of government (democracy, autocracy, monarchy)

⭐ Top 10 Pros and Cons Essay Topics

• Advantages of ecotourism
• Pros and cons of facial fillers
• Instant foods: good or bad?
• Is international marriage worth it?
• Classroom debates: pros and cons
• Student loans: benefits and pitfalls
• Working with friends: for and against
• Drawbacks of having a double major
• Arguments for and against quitting social media
• Is working abroad a good or bad experience? 

Social Media Advantage/Disadvantage Essay Topics

The rapid development of social media platforms allowed people worldwide to connect. Despite the benefits these websites have brought, in recent years, they’ve led to more disadvantages people have never experienced before. These topics can serve as a basis for your upcoming argumentative papers on social media and its effect on people.

• Should social media use be restricted?
• Are social media platforms a gateway to radicalization?
• Is social media addiction the same as drug addiction?
• Should platform owners step in and moderate user content?
• Is it possible to hold social media platforms for spreading misinformation?
• Should children be banned from using TikTok?
• Do social media platforms offer viable business opportunities?
• Should the US government pass and enforce anti-cyberbullying laws?
• Do SM users have a say in which of their information is gathered?
• Can social media be used as an educational tool?
• How can corporations address security issues surrounding social media?
• Should children be taught responsible SM use at school?
• Does social media fuel social discord?
• Is there a way to reduce the harmful effects of social media on mental health?
• Is social media a driver for a global piece?
• Should social media resources actively delete fake news?
• Does social media make people more or less connected?
• Should individuals with social anxiety use social media?
• Have people become too reliant on social media?
• Can a balance be found between free speech and dealing with misinformation on social media?

Technology Topics for Advantages And Disadvantages Essay

The latest technological advancements make living in the modern world more satisfying and less resource-demanding by the day. While new pieces of advanced tech like foldable displays and automatic translation devices provide new ways for people to be entertained and productive, they open up new concerns about overreliance on technology. Check out these topics on technology issues. We’re sure you’ll find something that resonates with you.

• Can technology replace human knowledge?
• Will automation change the job market?
• How does technological progress threaten human privacy?
• What are the advantages and risks of widespread biometric data gathering?
• Does technology open new opportunities for student cheating?
• Do technological drawbacks outweigh their benefits?
• Do people become lazier because of technology?
• How can companies mitigate privacy-related issues with various technological products?
• What’s the best approach to dealing with cybersecurity threats?
• Can technology play a broader role in college education?
• What are the hidden dangers of excessive reliance on technology?
• Should military technology be subject to stricter regulations?
• Which advantages does technology bring to medical research?
• Do major technology developers have too much power?
• Do people have better job opportunities with emerging technologies?
• How does technology make workers more distracted?
• Does technological development make us safer?
• Is data security a significant risk for companies?
• Does technology make us more or less productive?
• What are the disadvantages of communication technologies? 

⚖️ For and Against Essay Topics 

A four and against essay is also known as persuasive or argumentative. Its goal is to persuade readers to side with a particular argument. These papers require data and evidence to support a position a student argues for and show the merit of their position. To better understand what such papers can be about, explore this list of effective for and against essay topics.

• Should robots replace human workers?
• Is nuclear energy a better option than green?
• Should schools ban the use of smart devices?
• Is it possible to grow crops without pesticides?
• What are the pros and cons of being married?
• Should children only eat what they like?
• Should workplaces discourage employees from the grind mentality?
• Will making healthcare universal improve its quality?
• Should vaccination be compulsory?
• Is it possible to make unpaid internships illegal?
• Should the US Constitution be updated?
• Should the government force food companies to reduce the amount of sugar in their products?
• Should men’s and women’s sports be mixed?
• Is it possible to deal with the drug pandemic through legalization?
• Should college education be free?
• Should schools reduce the amount of homework?
• Do electric vehicles drastically reduce pollution?
• Should college staff be armed?
• Should steroid use be encouraged in sports?
• Is the modern American approach to taxation fair?
• Is online education more effective than offline?
• Should the voting age be raised to 21?
• Is social media increasingly becoming a platform for radical ideas?
• Should smoking be illegal?
• Does the US need to ban mail-in ballots?

🆚 Pros and Cons Topics for Essays

• Write about the advantages and disadvantages of the United Nations . The UN is a well-known international organization. Its activities aim to support human rights, establish friendly relations between countries, and promote peace. These goals are admirable, but is the organization effective enough in achieving them?
• Is consuming sugar beneficial or harmful? Recently, the media started promoting the idea that sugar is the leading cause of many diseases. On the one hand, we are discouraged from consuming it. On the other hand, carbons are necessary for the human body to receive essential microelements, such as glucose.
• Pros and cons of using Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. It’s a popular source of information on countless subjects, from cosmology to literature. It often reveals various aspects of a topic that are interesting to the reader. However, since anyone can edit it, you can never be sure of the information’s accuracy.
• Benefits and drawbacks of living in a multicultural society. Society is becoming more diverse, and immigration is commonplace. Moreover, freedom of choice allows people to adhere to any traditions that are attractive to them. Such conditions help us develop multifaceted humanity but can potentially lead to conflicts.
• Write about the pros and cons of urbanization . In cities, the population is continuously growing, while in rural areas, it decreases. In a metropolis, people have a greater choice for their activities, and their social circle is wider. However, urbanization leads to overpopulation and an increase in stress levels.
• What are the pros and cons of online therapy? Therapy can be a powerful source of motivation and emotional balance. Some people may find it challenging to visit mental health specialists, which makes online consultations a practical option. However, insufficient understanding of facial expressions or faulty Internet connection are some of the obstacles to using this format.
• Describe the strengths and weaknesses of business investments . Investing is a popular way to receive additional passive income. Such activities don’t require too much effort and can be very promising. However, they also have disadvantages, including high risks and the need to have significant starting capital.
• Arguments for and against watching TV shows. Watching TV shows is a trendy pastime. A good plot and interesting characters can be great entertainment. However, some TV shows take too much time to watch, and some plot twists can be disappointing.
• Discuss the pros and cons of freelancing. The advantages include an opportunity to decide where and when to work and choose the tasks. At the same time, a freelancer needs to communicate more with customers, and the income can be uneven.
• The ubiquitous use of surveillance cameras: guaranteed security or loss of privacy? We can see security cameras everywhere, including stores, banks, and houses. They are designed to contribute to our security. However, many believe that in this way, people are losing privacy. Moreover, surveillance technology is quite expensive, and its effectiveness is doubtful.
• Advantages and disadvantages of an authoritarian teaching style . Representatives of the teaching profession often choose a specific model of behavior. For example, an authoritarian teacher is good at motivating and disciplining students. At the same time, this behavioral model can discourage children and cause resistance.
• What are the pros and cons of clinical trials? Clinical trials are created to prove the effectiveness of a specific cure. Patients can get unique medical treatment, which may help other patients in the future. Trials are also associated with risks since unexpected side effects are possible.
• Kindergartens: beneficial social interaction or stress for a child? Preschool is the first step in education for children. In kindergartens, kids form social skills and acquire basic knowledge. Nevertheless, some parents doubt whether it is worth it.
• Write about the advantages and disadvantages of referendums. Referendums can be used to solve political problems. They help governments understand the public’s attitude towards possible changes. However, the conduct of a referendum can be subject to manipulation.
• For and against women’s military service. Gender equality is becoming a part of various spheres of activity. However, in some fields, transformations are occurring slower. Women have already demonstrated their ability to be soldiers and continue to do so. Nevertheless, some army units still question their effectiveness.
• Gun ownership: advantages and disadvantages. The issue of weapons ownership causes serious disputes between politicians. Those who advocate for this idea are sure that people need protection. The opponents of gun ownership believe that gun-related accidents need to be prevented.
• Pros and cons of being optimistic . People who are positive worry less and achieve their goals easily. But optimism can also be an obstacle. For instance, an optimist can underestimate a threat and fail to take cautionary measures.
• What are the pros and cons of being selfish? Selfishness is often perceived negatively in society. Individuals who are showing this quality risk becoming outcasts. However, people may misunderstand selfishness because it sometimes manifests as self-care.
• Benefits of different societal classes
• Market economy vs. free market
• Outline the advantages and disadvantages of a planned economy
• Pros and cons of party systems: one, two, or multiple parties?
• Different voting systems (choice voting, Electoral College): which one is more efficient?
• Different economic systems (capitalism, socialism, and mixed economy)
• Is having a parliament a benefit or an obstacle?
• Pros and cons of advertising and its  different mediums
• Having a laptop vs. having a desktop computer
• Is the development of artificial intelligence (AI) beneficial or harmful?
• Cloning and genetic modifications: dangers and advantages
• What are the pros and cons of using old research for new studies?
• Is scientific advancement in medicine beneficial or dangerous?
• The growing use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in people’s daily lives: pros and cons
• Storing files in the cloud vs. on physical storage devices
• Is having one full-time job more efficient than multiple part-time jobs?
• Networking to build more connections: pros and cons
• Advantages and disadvantages of volunteering
• Having a fixed vs. a flexible schedule
• Being a vegetarian  or vegan vs. eating everything
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of having multiple jobs?
• Are hot or cold climates more beneficial for farmers?
• Choosing to pursue a rare profession: benefits and pitfalls
• What are the possible benefits and obstacles of pursuing a trendy job?
• Technical advancement in society: a threat or a welcome change?
• Arguments for and against pursuing extreme sports as a hobby
• Going to a music festival: an unforgettable experience or a nightmare?
• Pros and cons of having access to the Internet
• Are Internet regulations a safety measure or an infringement of rights?
• The positive and negative  effects of globalization
• What are the advantages and downsides of popular culture?
• Are stereotypes productive in any way?
• Positive and negative outcomes of the rising population on the planet
• The increasing lifespan of people: pros and cons
• The ability to obtain a driver’s license at sixteen vs. eighteen years old
• The right to work without parents’ permission at sixteen years old: pros and cons
• Dangers and possible advantages of global warming  
• Space travel and exploration: a good idea or waste of money?
• Arguments for and against television
• Is open access to books and movies beneficial or damaging?
• Is oral communication better than written communication?
• Nonverbal communication: positive and negative sides
• What are the positive and negative aspects of Facebook (and other social platforms)?
• Is online dating dangerous or advantageous?
• Having a pen pal: advantages and disadvantages
• What is more efficient: using digital or film cameras?
• Arguments for and against using email as the primary source of conversation
• Is calling better than  texting ?
• Describe the pros and cons of online communication
• Is being open and active on social media dangerous or profitable?
• Pros and cons of different sources of power (gas, oil, wind, solar, nuclear, and others)
• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy
• Recycling  and upcycling: benefits and pitfalls
• Pros and cons of organic materials and products
• Plastic and other synthetic materials: life saver or toxic waste?
• Possible benefits and obstacles of using credit cards
• Arguments for and against different types of financial aid
• What are the advantages and downsides of having health insurance?
• Life insurance : advantages and disadvantages
• Free health care: a longer life expectancy or more logistical challenges?
• Would a free introductory course in higher education improve academic performance or worsen it?
• Describe the pros and cons of taxes
• Is demonetization a success or failure?
• Arguments for and against vaccines
• Are plastic surgeries ethical or not?
• Shopping online vs. in brick-and-mortar stores
• What is more convenient: reading paper books or electronic books?
• Using DVDs vs. streaming platforms for watching movies
• What are the benefits and obstacles of buying music online?
• Storing medical records and other important information online: pros and cons
• Is online banking safe or not?
• Possible risks and benefits of making investments
• Video games and online games: good pastime or waste of time?
• Making movies based on source materials in other media: pros and cons
• Getting news from online sources vs. reading  print media
• Hourly wages and salaries: what is more beneficial?
• Can having a competitive working environment improve or decrease productivity?
• Arguments for and against irregular working shifts : working at night, on weekends, or on holidays
• Pros and cons of services with paid memberships and subscriptions
• Sales, special offers, and coupons: a marketing tool or a real opportunity to save money?
• Positive and negative effects of businesses outsourcing to different countries
• Arguments for and against moving businesses from the city center to the outskirts
• Recruiting one’s employees for new positions vs. hiring new people
• Finding work through connections and relatives: benefits and downsides
• Pros and cons of seeking a job online
• Care facilities and nursing homes for elderly: advantages and disadvantages
• What are the possible beneficial and harmful effects of having a routine?
• Small business or a big organization: which one has more benefits?
• Buying locally manufactured and grown products vs. buying imported goods
• What are the possible pros and cons of spending more time with teachers than with parents?
• Arguments for and against process automation
• Are robots that replace humans at work dangerous or effective?
• Is reducing the working week beneficial or harmful?
• What are the major benefits and drawbacks of having many national holidays?
• College: to go or not to go?
• Working after high school: advantages and disadvantages
• Taking a gap year before continuing education: is it worth it?
• What benefits and obstacles come with continuing your education (master’s and Ph.D. degrees)?

Need more essay ideas? Feel free to use our topic generator !

💡 Pros and Cons Essay Prompts

Pros and cons of living in a big city essay.

For your essay, you can consider the following benefits of living in a big city:

• There are many employment opportunities. Since big cities are places with many companies of different industries, it might be easier to find a job.
• Big cities have better infrastructure. It includes international airports, various dining options, and other opportunities.

The main downsides of living in a big city include the following:

• Higher living costs. Although you can find a job that suits you, living in a big city requires more money.
• High crime rates. The statistics say that big cities usually have higher crime rates than smaller ones.

Pros and Cons of Abortion Essay

Here are some examples of the procedure’s benefits:

• Abortions give women control over their bodies. The choice of whether or not to have children is a right of every woman.
• Every child should be a wanted child. Having children is an enormous responsibility that requires time, money, and energy. Unwanted pregnancies might result in child abuse and maternal depression and have other negative consequences.

You can also write about the following disadvantages of abortions:

• Abortion may lead to future medical problems for the mother. Negative consequences for a woman may include health complications such as infection or heavy bleeding.
• Abortion might result in psychological trauma. Women who undergo an abortion have a high chance of having depression.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Essay

Consider these arguments in favor of social media for your essay:

• Social media is an excellent place for online marketing. Nowadays, every big and small company promotes its services online.
• Information spreads online instantly. Thanks to social media, we can immediately receive and share all the urgent news.

And these are the cons you might want to write about:

• Lack of privacy. Location and personal information can be easily shared online and used against you.
• Lack of intimacy. Whether it is a family or friends’ reunion, everyone tends to be less engaged in conversations, instead preferring to scroll on the phone.

Federalism Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

Here are some advantages of federalism for you to write about:

• Federalism supports political participation and policy innovation. Thanks to federalism, we have benefits such as child labor laws and women’s right to vote.
• Federalism encourages groups, individuals, and social movements to help shape public policy and participate in it. It is possible because of the two levels of government that federalism creates.

Now, have a look at the cons of federalism:

• Federalism creates economic disparities across states. It leads to competition between states to attract businesses by lowering regulations and taxes.
• Federalism cuts off federal efforts to address national problems. For example, health care insurance could not be made more accessible to Americans due to legal challenges.

Pros and Cons of Immigration Essay

Immigration has benefits as well as pitfalls. Take a look at the positive aspects first:

• Immigration stimulates economic growth. Immigrants contribute to the labor force, which results in economic development.
• Immigration builds a multicultural society. Because of the immigrants, one country can be more diverse.

And here are the cons that you may consider writing about:

• Immigration might result in a higher unemployment rate. Since immigrants are often willing to work for a lower wage, native-born workers might be displaced.
• Immigration might lead to higher housing costs. Immigrants in limited housing stock areas might contribute to reducing living standards and increasing housing prices.

Pros and Cons of Working in a School Cafeteria Essay

Here are some of the arguments in favor of working in a cafeteria:

• Free lunches for workers. Working with the food, you get to have lunches at your workplace for free.
• Flexible shifts. You can work short hours to keep up with your studies.

However, there are also plenty of downsides, including the following:

• Low wages. The school cafeteria pays minimum wage, which is often not enough.
• Reduced working hours. In a cafeteria, there’s no opportunity to work and earn more.

Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet

The Internet has plenty of advantages you can cover, including the following:

• You can learn about virtually anything you want online. There are countless resources on the Internet, and it’s possible to access them from any part of the world.
• Unlimited communication. You can reach out to anyone from any part of the globe.

It also has many drawbacks, such as:

• There is a lot of spam on the Internet. We receive advertisements and other unimportant information through emails. Besides, there are many unconfirmed facts online.
• Leaking of personal information. We regularly upload a lot of personal information online. Unfortunately, it might be easily leaked or stolen.

✍️ How to Write a Pros and Cons Essay

Even if you do not have the necessary writing experience, your chances of getting an A+ for this task are relatively high. All you need to do is:

• Think of a good pros and cons topic. Keep reading to find the best topic for your paper.
• Make a list of all advantages and disadvantages and give details about each item. It can help you make a template for your future essay. Make sure to have enough points to cover.
• Draw conclusions on whether something is overall good or bad. Show the results of your research and answer the question your essay asks.
• Check out our article on essay writing to learn how to complete your assignment successfully.

Pros and Cons Essay Outline

The advantages and disadvantages essay should have the following structure:

• Introduction. Briefly introduce your topic, give some background information, and write your thesis statement that covers both sides of the issue.

Studying abroad might be a great experience filled with unforgettable memories, but it also has some financial and psychological pitfalls.

• Main Body. This part introduces both sides of the argument, starting with the positive aspects.
• Pros: introduce the advantages.

Being an international student, you get to meet people from all over the world and experience a new culture first-hand.

• Cons: introduce the disadvantages.

However, you might feel homesick and experience culture shock while studying in another country.

• Conclusion. Summarize your essay by restating your thesis and illustrating your most important arguments for and against the thing in question. If necessary, state whether the pros outweigh the cons. Finish your paper with a strong statement connecting all of your ideas.

Although being an international student has both positive and negative sides, it can bring you many unforgettable memories.

We hope you found the best topic for your pros and cons essay. Let us know what topic you’ve chosen, and don’t forget to share this article with your friends!

Further reading:

• 255 Unique Essay Topics for College Students [2024 Update]
• 267 Music Essay Topics + Writing Guide [2024 Update]
• 256 Satirical Essay Topics & Satire Essay Examples [2024]
• 205 Essay Topics for Grade 8, 9, 10, 12 + Writing Tips [2024]
• 220 Best Science and Technology Essay Topics to Write About
• Pro/Con Essay: Brigham Young University
• Abortion: World Health Organization
• Key Facts on Abortion: Amnesty International
• 7 Financial Pros and Cons of Living in a Big City: Debt.com
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Urban Living: haart
• Should Abortion Be Legal?: ProCon.org
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media: Medium
• The Pros and Cons of Social Networking: Lifewire
• Pro and Con: Social Media: Encyclopedia Britannica
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Federalism: Lumen Learning
• Federalism: Cornell University
• Federalism: Stanford University
• Pros and Cons of Immigration: Economics Help
• The Pros & Cons of Immigration Reform: Investopedia
• School Cafeteria Pay & Benefits Reviews: Indeed
• Being a School Cafeteria Worker: The Balance Careers
• Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet: Edraw Software
• Outlining: Harvard University
• Outlining Strategies: Walden University
• Essay Planning: Outlining with a Purpose: San José State University
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Usually,this type of essay made me to feel uncomfortable but samples helped me to realize my mistakes

I had a hard time writing my advantages and disadvantages essay. Thanks to your article on advantages and disadvantages essay writing, I have a clue on how to finish it.

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Pros And Cons - Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Pros and cons are a simple and effective method of evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of a particular idea, decision, or situation. Using this method allows for a comprehensive analysis of the situation, including both the benefits and drawbacks, which can ultimately lead to a more informed and balanced decision-making process. However, the potential downside of using pros and cons is that it can oversimplify complex issues, leading to a lack of nuance and potentially overlooking important considerations. Additionally, it is important to weigh the pros and cons against each other, as some pros may be much more significant or impactful than certain cons, and vice versa.

• 📘 Free essay examples for your ideas about Pros and cons
• 🏆 Best Essay Topics on Pros and cons
• ⚡ Simple & Pros and cons Easy Topics
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• Pros and cons
• The Pros & Cons of Media
• Pros & Cons of Television
• Pros And Cons Of Being Famous
• The Pros And Cons
• Social Media – Pros & Cons
• Pros and Cons of Self-Study
• Milk: Pros and Cons
• The Pros and Cons of Travel
• Facebook: Pros and Cons
• Pros and cons of working as a doctor
• Pros and Cons School Uniforms
• Pros and Cons of Social Networking
• What Are the Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing?
• The Pros And Cons Of Fitting In
• Plastic Surgery: Pros and Cons
• Pros and Cons of Computers
• The Pros and Cons of Mandatory Military service
• Pros and Cons for Going Vegan
• Pros and cons of horse racing
• The Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage
• The Pros and Cons of Using Social Media
• Pros and Cons of Death Penalty
• Pros and Cons of a Military School
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FAQ about Pros and cons

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218 perfect pros and cons topics to write your paper on.

A pro con topic is bordered on writing a persuasive essay. Topics with pros and cons are about debating the advantages and disadvantages of any subject.

Students examine the advantages and disadvantages of any topics which involve showing their perspectives at the end of the day. This gives room for genuine comparison of a subject as opinionated essays.

This is why there are pro versus con debate topics that show two sides of an argument before a judgment is formed. These two parts present the right information and analyze them.

Pros and Cons Paper Outline

Writing a pros and cons paper can become a challenge not only because there are so many topics to choose from but also because it can be difficult to structure. Preparing an outline can be crucial in writing the perfect pros and cons paper. Check out this sample outline to help you out:

• Introduction: Every successful paper begins with an intro. Introduce your topic. In the case of a pros and cons paper make sure to write out your thesis, which should be a statement that you will be examining the pros and cons of.
• First Body Paragraph: Here you should begin by choosing the pro and con side and focusing on it. Make sure to clearly state the pros and then provide supporting statements.
• Second Body Paragraph: In the second body paragraph you can now shift to the opposite side of the argument. If you wrote about pros, now you can focus on the cons.
• Third Body Paragraph: Finally, in the third paragraph you can provide counterarguments, and make an evaluation of the initial thesis, and if it is more  beneficial or detrimental.
• Conclusion: Summarize your findings and discussion in the conclusion. Repeat your thesis and your evaluation statements.

As students, you may need to create better essays through pro con topics. These are hot pros and cons subjects that require high quality writing skills for expression.

Pros and Cons Ideas

There are a series of existing ideas that can be developed from interesting pros and cons subjects. Your topics could be on any issue you’ve considered before or problems that are affecting the globe at present.

As students of a college or a university, you may need these topics for your semester break assignment. You can awe your professor with these hot pro con topics:

• Examine the pros and cons of the use of computers in the modern world.
• What are the pros and cons of having same-sex parents?
• What are the pros and cons of having a single parent?
• What are the pros and cons of writing adult essays as a teenager?
• What are the pros and cons of studying in a day school as an adult?
• What are the pros and cons of living in the countryside without the knowledge of the city?
• What are the pros and cons of technology in our day-to-day life?
• Examine the pros and cons of physical labor amongst teenagers.
• Analyze the pros and cons of working amongst children in orphanage houses.
• What are the pros and cons of quitting a job and getting fired from the job?
• Weigh the pros and cons of engaging in remote work.
• Examine the pros and cons of mixed marriages and multilingual experiences for kids.
• Weigh the pros and cons of living an imposing parent’s dream.
• Weigh the pros and cons of hiring older employees for physical labor in a manufacturing company.
• Examine the pros and cons of hiring younger employees as school bus drivers.
• What are the pros and cons of public transportation in the US?
• What are the pros and cons of making an order for a ride with a driver you do not know?
• Examine the pros and cons of any business model of your choice.
• Examine the pros and cons of traveling in risky places.
• Examine the pros and cons of being a wildlife fan.
• Examine the pros and cons of working with the government.
• Identify the pros and cons of working with private companies that require that you travel often.
• Examine the pros and cons of the space race during the Cold War
• Analyze the pros and cons of having a business and not being a partner.
• Identify the pros and cons of getting into a partnership with strange people.
• Write the pros and cons of getting an unsecured personal loan.
• Write the pros and cons of learning multiple languages.
• Identify the pros and cons of marrying a woman older than you as a man.
• Identify the pros and cons of pursuing a career you don’t like but fetching money.
• What are the pros and cons of business competition in the digital world?

Good Pros and Cons Topics

Rather than consult a paper help team for your homework pro vs con topics, you can consider many topics in this list. Students are always expected to be bright and creative with topics.

If time doesn’t allow you, you can be creative with these topics. Express your ideas on the following customized pro con topics:

• Identify the pros and cons of having a career in the technical niche.
• What are the pros and cons of online and distance learning?
• Analyze the pros and cons of going on vacations.
• Examine the pros and cons of working with NGOs.
• What are the pros and cons of learning amongst a group of people?
• What are the pros and cons of playing the “Truth or Dare” game?
• Examine the pros and cons of complying with struct rules as students.
• What are the pros and cons of getting vocational training in today’s world?
• What are the pros and cons of using an iPhone rather than an android?
• Examine the pros and cons of traditional and modern teaching methods.
• What are the pros and cons of using the media as an entertainer?
• What are the pros and cons of separating average students from exceptional students in schools?
• What are the pros and cons of having same-sex schools?
• What are the pros and cons of engaging in extracurricular activities?
• Examine the pros and cons of having a part-time job while studying.
• What are the pros and cons of living in a dormitory as students?
• Examine the pros and cons of being a part of a fraternity group.
• Are there any pros and cons to bullying?
• What are the pros and cons of Halloween parties?
• What are the pros and cons of having a long-distance relationship?
• What are the pros and cons of living with parents as adults?
• Examine the pros and cons of living alone as a teenager.
• Identify the pros and cons of encouraging tourism even in dangerous cities.
• Identify the pros and cons of attending strange people’s wedding ceremonies.
• Identify the pros and cons of hooking up.
• Examine the pros and cons of staying married.
• Are there pros and cons of testing on animals?
• What are the pros and cons of residing alone in the woods or forests?
• What are the pros and cons of studying abroad?
• Examine the pros and cons of having an insecure partner, friend, or parent.

Pro Con Paper Topics

As a university student, having pro con topics for your paper could be intriguing. If you want to consider it, you can awe your professors with an intellectual and creative argument.

You can flex your creative muscles around these pro and cons topics through in-depth research:

• Examine the psychological pros and cons of obsessive partners.
• What are the pros and cons of being a tour guide to strange people?
• Examine the pros and cons of doing business with people you do not know before.
• What are the pros and cons of traveling by car?
• What are the pros and cons of hiking alone?
• Examine the pro and cons of visiting unexplored places.
• Examine the pros and cons of having a child early.
• What are the pros and cons of living as a foreigner in a country?
• Examine the pros and cons of listening to music at a concert.
• Examine the pros and cons of going to the cinema.
• What are the pros and cons of taking a break from work?
• Examine the pros and cons of being an only child.
• What are the pros and cons of using an HP laptop to an Apple laptop?
• What are the pros and cons of dieting?
• What are the pros and cons of having a private school?l
• Examine the pros and cons of studying alone.
• Identify the pros and cons of having a terrible drinking habit.
• What are the pros and cons of having a big house?
• What are the pros and cons of living with a dog?
• What are the pros and cons of living and working as a writer?
• Examine the pros and cons of living and eating with a stranger in a private residence.
• Analyze the pros and cons of being a leader.
• Critically diagnose the pros and cons of having a big family.
• Critically examine the pros and cons of having a big house.
• Critically examine the pros and cons of having short nights.
• Critically examine the pros and cons of seeing horror movies.
• What are the pros and cons of having unhealthy eating habits?
• Examine the pros and cons of cooking and eating your food compared to buying
• What are the pros and cons of daily exercise?
• Identify the pros and cons of having different rooms as couples.

Pro Con Controversial Topics

These are topics that could lift eyebrows. These are controversial topics that could cause resentment amongst conservatives.

As students, you must know how to present healthy arguments to drive home your points. You can thus consider:

• The pros and cons of free education.
• The pros and cons of free health care in the US.
• The pros and cons of taking COVID-19 vaccines.
• The pros and cons of purchasing pirate music.
• The pros and cons of drinking beer.
• The pros and cons of believing in feminism.
• Examine the pros and cons of investing in digital currencies like cryptocurrencies.
• The pros and cons of having transgender athletes contest with women athletes born in women’s bodies.
• The pros and cons of plastic surgery.
• The pros and cons of a video game.
• The pros and cons of pornography.
• The pros and cons of having irregular working shifts.
• The pros and cons of having flexible working hours.
• The pros and cons of looking for jobs online.
• The pros and cons of having leisure time.
• The pros and cons of hooking up rather than marriage.
• The pros and cons of receiving government salaries over wages.
• The pros and cons of having more than one sexual partner.
• The pros and cons of working abroad.
• The pros and cons of giving out discounts and other offers as entrepreneurs.

Pros and Cons Issues

You can express reasonable pro con arguments on pressing issues in the global world. These are issues that are challenging and important that this generation solves. Consider these topics as what your teachers will like and write.

• What are the pros and cons of eating out in a restaurant?
• Examine the pros and cons of physical sports in an insecure world.
• Examine the pros and cons of unstable climatic conditions.
• What are the pro and cons of having your house close to the water?
• Examine the pros and cons of windy climates.
• Examine the pros and cons of having different societal classes.
• What are the pros and cons of market and free-market economies?
• Examine the pros and cons of communism and capitalism.
• Examine the pros and cons of democracy.
• Examine the pros and cons of the different voting systems.
• Examine the pros and cons of parliamentary and presidential systems of government.
• What are the pros and cons of having a parliament in your country?
• What are the pros and cons of having women in Parliament?
• What are the pros and cons of having a woman as president?
• Examine the pros and cons of a monarchy.
• Examine the pros and cons of religion.
• Examine the pros and cons of identifying as an atheist.
• What are the pros and cons of genetics in today’s world?
• Examine the pros and cons of cloning.
• Examine the pros and cons of clinical trials on kids.
• Analyze the pros and cons of the internet of things in the interconnected world.
• Examine the pros and cons of globalization in an increasingly anarchical international system.
• Examine the pros and cons of believing in yourself, not God.
• What are the pros and cons of creating networks for your business
• Identify the pros and cons of poor research studies?
• Would you say schooling has pros and cons?
• Would you say having multiple jobs has pros and cons?
• What are your pro and con thoughts on artificial intelligence?
• Express your views on the disadvantages and advantages of animal testing.
• Discuss the pros and cons of keeping pets.

Pro and Con Debate Topics

If you want to engage in intellectual pro and con debates, you can also add your voice to existential issues. Consider these pro and cons topics for an intelligent discussion even in your school. You can also use them for inter-school or class competitions. They are:

• Examine the pros and cons of policing marginalized communities of youths
• What are the pros and cons of abolishing the death penalty

You can also consider these direct topics where you need to weigh the pros and cons:

• There are no moral grounds for legalizing abortion
• There is no peer pressure in abstaining or conceding to violence
• The juvenile factor should be unnecessary when giving judgment on a teen manslaughter
• Cloning should be accepted in every country
• Democracy is the best political system that exists
• Marijuana is okay, and it should be legalized
• Nationalism is baseless and should big be encouraged even amongst the military
• Euthanasia is the best way to help patients whose hopes of recovery are slim
• The minimum wage must be raised to meet the existing crisis
• Domestic policies must be ratified to help low-income earners
• Climate Change remains dangerous and irreversible
• More national parks should be created
• Should Adolf Hitler be branded as a hero or villain to Germans before the end of WWII
• Should having an animal circus be considered an act of animal cruelty
• Genetics unmodified foods are the best choices for any society
• Free speech doesn’t exist in any country
• Every country is corrupt; the level of corruption is only different
• The rates at which taxes accelerate in the US is okay
• Racial inequality is not as challenging as many people think it is
• All white men are racist because it is entrenched in the culture
• Incarceration of minors does nothing but shape them to be better adults
• An aspirant to public offices must be active on social media
• The Facebook ban of Donald Trump was what was supposed to happen
• Donald Trump should be banned for the White House Riot
• There is a low impact of global warming on humanity
• Social networking sites are now used to stalk other peoples
• Religion does more good than harm to people
• There can be no end to wars in the world even if we avoid all-out conflicts

Pros and Cons Topics for Middle School

As a middle school student, you may need pros and cons topics for your level. You don’t need to overthink the things you want to write about.

Your teacher already knows that you have limited experience of the world. You can thus choose any of these topics and give your best in discussing them:

• What are the pros and cons of hot and cold weather conditions for farmers
• What are the pros and cons of having a career in a favored profession
• Would farming have pros and cons?
• What are the pros and cons of having a hobby
• Examine the pros and cons of globalization
• Examine the pros and cons of internet regulations
• Examine the pros and cons of gender stereotypes
• Examine the pros and cons of learning about pop culture
• Examine the pros and cons of having high mortality rates
• What are the pros and cons of video games
• What are the pros and cons of online dating
• What are the pros and cons of reading books and watching movies?
• What are the pros and cons of working without parents permission
• What are the pros and cons of using social networking platforms as a teenager
• What are the pros and cons of war
• What are the pros and cons of lying?
• Does life insurance have short pros and cons?
• What are the pros and cons of health insurance
• Discuss renewable energy’s pros and cons
• Examine the pros and cons of using synthetic materials over plastic
• Discuss the pros and cons of being active on social media
• Discuss the pros and cons of physical dating over online dating
• Identify student loans’ pros and cons
• Identify the pros and cons of nuclear energy
• Discuss the pros and cons of solar energy to the society
• What are the pros and cons of being a pastor’s son?
• Business owning pros and cons
• Examine the pros and cons of learning how to write
• What are the pros and cons of doing your assignment by yourself
• Identify the pros and cons of having a lot of friends

Pros and Cons Topics List

If you want to create brilliant and exceptional topics for your schoolwork, you can consider this topic list. You can choose the following subjects to write on:

• Getting involved in marital affairs
• Earning wages over salaries
• Hiring people for your services over DIY-ing
• Robots in place of work over people
• Having more national holidays
• Having more leisure time at work
• Reducing weekly work hours
• Spending more time with partners than friends
• Working out
• Working hard after high school without Interest in going to college
• Taking a break from school before doing a PhD
• Working with business organizations over creating your company
• The gender differences in sport question
• Making independent or collective choices
• The global economy concerns
• The domination of western economies in third world countries
• The role played by NATO in maintaining or worsening world security
• The effect of pornography

Don’t Want To Do Your Pros and Cons Paper?

With these pro cons topics, you can get quick paper help from reliable writing companies. We are a writing company with teachers and professors creating exceptional and high quality essays. We also offer reliable customer support to answer your questions. If you need a better university certificate, you can hire our writers for cheap pay with a quick turnaround time. You can finish college with a great grade through our helpful team of writers once you’re ready to begin.

University of Notre Dame

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Tips from Counselors

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Tackling the Personal Essay: Tips from a Notre Dame Admissions Counselor

Published: August 30, 2024

Author: Zach Klonsinski

If you ask almost any admissions professional which part of reading applications is their favorite, it’s likely their answer will be a resounding, “The essays!” Essays are where we get to engage with students’ hopes, fears, dreams, life experiences (and more) in their authentic voice. We are humbled every year getting to “meet” all the incredible young people who are applying to Notre Dame through their essays!

Yet, writing an essay introducing yourself can be really hard. Maybe you’ve never done so before, or you haven’t for a really long time, and often it will seem really awkward. That’s OK!

It feels hard because it is–or at least it can be.

Don’t worry, though! I love sharing tips with applicants about the personal essay that will hopefully help you see it as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and then share that discernment with the colleges who will be fortunate enough to receive your application!

Getting started

The easiest way to get started is by simply brainstorming! I love using pen and paper (I’m anti-pencil, though I realize that may be a divisive opinion). The physical materials help me feel less constrained by technology, though you may find the technology comforting.

Use bulleted lists or short phrases to capture ideas, life experiences, values, and more. Every day, set aside five minutes to write about yourself or your college discernment process without stopping to think. Where does your mind lead you when you get out of your own way?

Ask your friends and family to help you identify values that are important to you or things that make you.. well… you! Often it’s easier to highlight and say nice things about someone else than it is ourselves, so lean on those who know you well!

Group these collective nuggets to see if any patterns or stories emerge. Do you see any prompts on your application that align with your brainstorming? The Common Application, for example, has seven to choose from, including a make your own prompt! Start writing on one that makes you pause, as that means you might have something to say! Don’t be afraid to go longer than your word count or to use an atypical form of writing.

While that specific level of chaos may not work for you, I always recommend staying away from sentences and avoiding constraining yourself while writing because…

Editing is more than spelling and grammar!

When we want to “edit” something, it can be tempting to start–and just as quickly end–with spell check. (Yes, your essay should have proper spelling and grammar, but please know we are not reading your essay with a red pen “grading” every single comma.)

What is far more important–though also far more intimidating–is your essay’s content.

What really improved my writing actually had nothing to do with me–rather, it was finding trusted editors to give me honest and constructive feedback. While it’s tempting to have your best friend or family member read your essay, I’ve found my best editors possess a strong rhetorical mind, ask thoughtful questions, and are not afraid to tell me when something isn’t working the way I think it is.

This may describe someone close to you, but maybe not. Maybe there’s a classmate or teacher who you have always admired, even if you don’t know them that well. Editing is an incredibly vulnerable process; don’t be afraid to lean into that vulnerability! I promise that a strong editor who works with your voice and style–rather than rewriting your essay how they would have–will help bring forth an authentic essay you didn’t even realize you could write!

Speaking of, authenticity will lead to your best essay

The best application essay is the one that helps us get to know you. Period. Full stop. Any topic can be a good topic, any topic can be a bad topic. At the end of the day, the topic you choose to write about is only a gateway to help us get to know you!

Let’s think of it another way. Say you printed out your essay at your school, without your name or other identifying information on it, and someone who knows you picked it up and read it. If they said, “I bet this is (your name)’s essay,” I can already tell you’re on the right track. There’s something truly you about it!

Where can I find more about writing application essays?

I’m so glad you asked! On our On-Demand Sessions webpage , you can find a number of helpful recorded sessions from our College Application Workshop series. One of them, co-presented by yours truly, is called “Crafting the Perfect College Essay”. My colleague Maria Finan and I present our own tips and tricks for about 20 minutes and then take questions from a virtual audience for the remainder of the 45 minute session. I invite you to check it out, as well as the other sessions we have recorded!

Ready to Write Your App Essays? Advice from an Admissions Counselor on the Notre Dame Supplement

Zach Klonsinski is a senior assistant director with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

He is the regional counselor for Minnesota, Missouri (Kansas City), Wisconsin, Rwanda, Kenya, France, Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, and China - Beijing

• Read Zach's profile.

Pros and Cons of Abortion to the Society Argumentative Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Pros of abortion, cons of abortion, relationship between abortion and the course on religion, works cited.

If you’re studying the pros and cons of abortion, the essay below will be a great place to start your research.

For a very long time now, the right to abortion has been one of the most controversial topics on the planet, pitying two major sides. On one side, pro-lifers insist that it is immoral and amounts to murdering an innocent child, while pro-abortionists argue that it is just a form of birth control. The latter claim that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it as all children should be born when they are wanted.

The numerous legislations, policies by governments and even hard-line stands by some organizations like the church have made this subject more controversial instead of offering solutions. At one point, one may argue that there would never be a consensus on abortion’s pros and cons in any essay or discussion.

This debate is likely to go on for several years unless the sturdy stands taken by both pro-lifers and pro-abortionists are softened. People have to find ways of accommodating the views of each other regarding the subject. The author will evaluate the issues surrounding the abortion debate. Analyzing the pros and examining the cons of abortion, the essay will seek to find solutions to the conflicting ideas.

There are several arguments that one forward in support of abortion. First of all, any birth of a child should occur when the parents want and not by chance (Potts et al. 229). This way it would go a long way in assisting the world to have an environment where all children that are born in this world have an environment conducive for proper development.

There is no need for inflating the world with many children who cannot have access to basic needs like adequate clothing, food, shelter, and education. It should also be noted that when a person decides to carry out an abortion it is not out of her dislike for children but because she feels that it would not be a wise decision to proceed with the pregnancy as it is still not yet the right time to have a baby (Potts et al. 229).

In the case of rape or incest, keeping a pregnancy is very traumatizing to the person raped as no one would wish to keep a child that is a result of this, and the best solution to this problem would be to abort the unborn child.

For the case of rape, the emotional effects of the occurrence are too traumatizing and take time to heal, and some rape victims do not recover at all. Adding a child to the rape victim is like adding more salt to a wound and would be a constant reminder that is likely to add more emotional trauma to the victim (Khoster 35).

Many studies on the morality or immoralities of abortion have found that some of those against the morality of abortion tend to agree that it is acceptable to abort a pregnancy that is a result of rape.

For instance, the gulp poll carried out in Canada found only 13% of the respondents were against the practice completely while interestingly a whopping 65% were of the view that it is acceptable to abort an unwanted pregnancy in certain conditions like if it is a result of rape (Flanagan 130).

There has also been an unending debate on the exact time that a fetus acquires life and becomes a person with rights and ability to have feelings (Sather 159). Sather further argues that before the 24 th – 28 th week, the fetus has not yet acquired human features and it does not amount to murder if you perform an abortion before this time.

Pro-lifers led by the Catholic Church insist that life begins at conception and anyone who is found guilty of having performed an abortion could be excommunicated from the church because of committing murder (Kohmescher 137). That is not all several studies when life stars in the case of an unborn child have resulted in conflicting dates.

The impending standoff as to, when a person can and cannot have an abortion, have left it possible for anyone to conduct an abortion. It is not clear as to when life begins, and as so long as a woman feels that she cannot have a baby, she has the freedom to do it since it is not yet clear when the life of a person begins.

Sometimes complications can occur to a pregnancy that may put the life of the mother or unborn child in danger and even at times all of them. In this case, abortion ought to be permitted to save the physical health of the mother although some of those advocating for abortion have often argued that the mental health of the mother ought to be included when talking about health (white & Baldwin 113).

At this point, the life of the mother is given first consideration as the fetus cannot survive without the mother, and in any case, the chances are that the mother can always get other children if she wants, but there is no way a fetus can survive on its leave alone getting other parents which is impossible.

Several disadvantages of abortion are argued out by pro-lifers. Most of the books on the subject are mostly in support of the drawbacks of abortion as compared to the advantages. According to Koster abortion is only a temporary and irrational decision that make women feel that they have gotten some relief to an unwanted child against chances of permanent loss of infertility (Koster 304).

She further argues that although removing an unwanted pregnancy may somehow offer relief to the woman the possibility of becoming infertile especially if an unqualified person performed the operation is very significant and once you lose your fertility there is zero chance that you will regain it.

Even when performed by a qualified medical doctor there is a chance that complications may arise like in some medical procedures and if this happens, you could definitely lose your fertility. In fact, interviews conducted on women who had complications when performing an abortion revealed that a majority of them had lost the ability to conceive or hard a miscarriage (Koster 304)

The relief that one feels after procuring an abortion is usually short-lived, and it dies after some time leading to a permanent feeling of guilt and sadness. In fact, in most of the times, this feeling of relief is just a deliberate attempt by the psychology of a person to delete the sense of guilt and shame that creeps in immediately one procures an abortion (Holman 321).

Holman further adds that although most of the legislation and policies concerning abortion allow the practice in the case of schoolgirls the idea that you once killed part of you is not likely to go away and will haunt you forever.

A lot of pro-lifers would equate abortion to murder, and it is therefore morally wrong and should be outlawed. Genovesi defines murder as an intentional act of taking away the life of a human being (Genovesi 340). Fro this he further adds that since the fetus of a person has life, then taking it away will amount to killing it, which is the same as murder.

Of course from this reason arguments are bound to arise as to when the life of a person actually begins. To all Christians led by the Catholic Church, it is completely unacceptable to allow a person to take away another person’s life for whichever reason and at whatever stage in life as it is still murder.

The late Pope John Paul is on record as having condemned the practice and even stating that it would threaten the freedom and dignity of humankind as it promotes a culture of accepting death as a normal thing (Zastrow & Kirst 82)

Procuring an abortion is not the only solution in the event of unwanted pregnancy as the child could also be put to adoption. It is estimated that in all married couples in the United States alone, between 10% -15% of them do not have the ability to have children (Grunlan 217).

This figure is so high that more and more Americans are turning to other countries overseas in order to get children of their own and as Grunlan further adds; this figure has been increasing in the recent years as more mothers turn to abortion as a way of controlling birth.

Furthermore, as Zastrow & Kirst add, in this age where there are so many available contraceptive methods; there should be very minimal unwanted pregnancies that warrant the need to abort a baby who has already been conceived (Zastrow & Kirst 82).

The main concern in the abortion controversy is whether it is morally and ethically right or wrong. Ethics and morality are significantly discussed in unit one of the course.

In unit one, the main issue discussed is how to know what is right and what is wrong. As argued by Aristotle in part of the course, to become ethical he should first reason well and have good character, and total happiness can only be achieved if people are noble.

The abortion debate centers on ethics in that while those who are for abortion argue that it offers a solution to lots of problems that could be brought about by having unwanted children, those against it argue that this relief is only temporary.

Unit three of the course is mainly on how to live a good life as Christians. In this essential part, the unit deals on acceptable Christian virtues and values. One such virtue is having unconditional love towards others. On abortion, it is argued that when one performs an abortion automatically, she does not have love for that child regardless of the conditions.

Moreover, all Christians should preserve human life and have respect for Gods creations, and failure to do so is a sin. People are also supposed to think critically of their actions and be held accountable to these actions, and, as discussed in the unit, they should avoid searching for quick-fix solutions to problems facing them.

The Catholic Church has been the most vocal in speaking against abortion for a long time, and as it stands, there is no chance that this sturdy stand will be reverted. In the book Catholic morality and human sexuality, the author argues that immediately after fertilization, the resulting zygote has human features and should be respected as a human being. Removing it from the uterus amounts to murder (Genovesi 344).

Furthermore, if you reject human life at any point, it is like rejecting God as humans are created in the image of God (Ferrara & Ireland 20). Accepting abortion has been argued by the church as accepting a culture of death and living without Jesus Christ as it amounts t killing an innocent creature of God who has not yet performed any sin.

Even in cases of rape or incest, the church does not permit abortion (Kohmescher 138). In this case, a woman may seek treatment immediately after the incident but not abortion weeks after the incident, and even if the pregnancy is a threat to human life, there should be an attempt to save both lives human lives are sacred and equal before God an none is unique to the other.

As it stands today, it seems the debate on abortion will not come to an end soon. The stands taken by both the pro-abortionists and anti-abortionists are so rigid, and there have not been any attempts to build a consensus.

For instance, the church will certainly not relent on its claim that abortion is murder and therefore a capital sin while pro-abortionists argue that having a child should be a choice. The conflicting policies by different governments regarding the issue have added more controversy to this subject instead of offering guidelines.

There should be efforts to provide a clear policy on this issue that would be acceptable in the whole world through an international body like the United Nations. Apart from that the church and other organizations that are anti-abortion ought to soften their stand in some incidences like rape which are too traumatizing.

Ferrara, Jennifer & Ireland, Patricia. The catholic mystique: fourteen women find fulfillment in the Catholic Church. Huntington: Sunday visitor publishing, 2004. Print.

Flanagan, Thomas . Game theory and Canadian politics . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Print.

Genovesi, Vincent. In pursuit of love: Catholic morality and human sexuality . Minnesota: Hutts Publishing, 2002. Print.

Grunlan, Stephen . Marriage and the family . Michigan: Zondervan. 1983. Print.

Holman, Thomas . The family in the new millennium . Westport: Praeger Publishers. 2007. Print liturgical press, 1996. Print.

Khoster, Winnie. Women and abortion in the Yoruba society, Nigeria . Amsterdam: Aksant academic publishers, 2003. Print.

Kohmescher, Matthew. Catholicism today: a survey of Catholic belief and practice the third edition. New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1999. Print.

Potts, Malcolm, Diggory Peter & Peel John . Abortion . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. Print.

Sather, Trevor . Pros and cons: a debaters handbook 18 th edition . London: Routledge, 1999. Print.

White, Stuart & Baldwin, Timothy . Legal and ethical aspects of anesthesia, critical care, and preoperative medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 2004. Print.

Zastrow, Charles & Kirst, Karen. Understanding human behavior and the social environment: 8 th edition. Belmont: Brookscole, 2007. Print.

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Pros and Cons of Abortion

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Pros of abortion, cons of abortion.

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Essay on Single hood | Advantages & Disadvantages of Single Life

Single hood is a state of being alone, but it does not mean it is a bad thing. This essay explores the different aspects of singlehood, including the advantages and disadvantages of being single, the reasons why some people choose to remain single, and how society views single individuals.

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Essay on Single hood | Pros & Cons Of Single Life

• Introduction
• Defining Singlehood
• Advantages of Singlehood
• Disadvantages of Singlehood
• Reasons for Choosing to Remain Single
• Societal Attitudes towards Single Individuals

1. Introduction

Singlehood is a state of being alone or not being in a committed romantic relationship. While many people view singlehood as a negative thing, it is important to recognize that it is not necessarily a bad thing. Being single has both advantages and disadvantages, and it is a choice that many people make for various reasons. This essay explores the different aspects of singlehood, including the advantages and disadvantages of being single, the reasons why some people choose to remain single, and how society views single individuals.

2. Defining Singlehood

Singlehood can be defined in many ways, but it generally refers to being unmarried or not being in a committed romantic relationship. Some people may still date or have casual relationships, but they do not have a partner that they are committed to in the long-term. Singlehood can also refer to being alone, without any romantic relationships or close friendships.

3. Advantages of Singlehood

One of the biggest advantages of singlehood is the freedom it provides. Single individuals do not have to consider their partner’s opinions or feelings when making decisions, and they have more control over their own lives. They can pursue their own interests, hobbies, and goals without having to compromise with someone else. Being single also allows individuals to focus on their own personal growth and development, which can lead to greater self-awareness and self-confidence.

4. Disadvantages of Singlehood

While singlehood has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages. Single individuals may experience loneliness, especially during important life events such as holidays, birthdays, or weddings. They may also feel like they are missing out on the emotional and physical intimacy that comes with being in a committed romantic relationship. Additionally, single individuals may face societal pressure to be in a relationship or to settle down and start a family.

5. Reasons for Choosing to Remain Single

There are many reasons why some people choose to remain single. Some may prioritize their careers or personal goals over finding a partner. Others may have had negative experiences in past relationships and prefer to avoid the potential emotional pain that can come with dating. Still, others may simply enjoy being alone and find fulfillment in their own company. It is important to recognize that choosing to remain single is a valid choice, and individuals should not be pressured into entering into a relationship if it is not what they want.

6. Societal Attitudes towards Single Individuals

Despite the growing acceptance of singlehood in modern society, there is still a stigma attached to being single. Single individuals may be seen as lonely, selfish, or unfulfilled, and may face pressure from family and friends to find a partner. This societal attitude can be harmful to those who choose to remain single, as it can lead to feelings of shame or inadequacy.

In conclusion, singlehood is a state of being alone, but it does not necessarily mean it is a bad thing. Being single has both advantages and disadvantages, and it is a choice that many people make for various reasons. Society’s attitudes towards single individuals can be harmful, but it is important to recognize that choosing to remain single is a valid choice. Ultimately, it is up to each individual to decide what works best for them, whether that means being in a committed relationship or remaining single.

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Writing a pros and cons essay.

Instructions

• -Write a list noting the advantages and disadvantages of your topic. Arrange them in the order you plan on writing them in your essay. Create a rough outline of your essay, including how many paragraphs you want and what you plan on writing for the conclusion.
• - Use transitions when writing your essay. Do not start every sentence with the words, one advantage or one disadvantage. Use words like despite, nevertheless, yet, however and although. Keep your advantages and disadvantages grouped together. Write one or two paragraphs for each.
• -Do not include opinion words (I believe, I think, etc) in the introduction or the main body of compositions, reports and articles.

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Artificial Intelligence Pros and Cons: Essay Sample

Artificial intelligence pros and cons: essay introduction, artificial intelligence pros and cons essay: background information, artificial intelligence pros and cons essay: discussion, artificial intelligence pros and cons: essay conclusion, works cited.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a machine’s ability to demonstrate intelligence comparable to that of humans. The AI algorithms are developed for a specific task, implying that a device can scan its environment and perform actions to achieve a set goal. The use of artificial intelligence suggests both improvements in various domains of human activity, such as medicine or manufacturing, and dangers connected to the loss of jobs and unknown implications of AI’s advancement.

AI is a technology that was first introduced in 1956 and has overcome several transformations over the years, including skepticism towards its capabilities and lack of appropriate hardware to support AI’s work. The current stage of AI’s development is innovation, meaning that different AI algorithms are being introduced to the market. Jennings states, “today, you will find AIs in factories, schools, hospital banks, police stations” (1). Learning from the given information or the environment and solving problems are the two critical characteristics of AI. With AI’s rapid development and improvement, many aspects of people’s lives are at stake, including millions of jobs and how individuals receive healthcare or education services.

Since AI can be applied in different settings, the stakeholders of this technology are all people. The main conversation surrounding the increasing popularity of AI is the safety and reliability of the algorithms. Another aspect is the impact of AI’s use on employment prospects in many industries, including logistics and manufacturing. The positive effect of AI that some sources cite is connected to the superiority of its problem-solving and the ability to analyze. AI can produce better analysis and lower costs associated with manufacturing. Makridakis states that AI will help companies make better decisions based on data analysis, creating an additional competitive advantage (46). Hence, AI will help reduce costs and make more efficient decisions based on the algorithms’ analysis.

The financials available to companies because of improved efficiency will be invested in further development, which will lead to the introduction of better products and services. Jennings states that AI has already allowed many companies, specifically auto manufacturers, to minimize the number of people engaged in production by applying this innovative technology (2). Another example is Amazon Go, a fully autonomous grocery store in Seattle that does not have cashiers or sales representatives. Moreover, AI is used in medicine to analyze photographs, detect skin cancer, or help medical professionals diagnose conditions (Jenkins 2).

It improves healthcare quality since people receive a better diagnosis more quickly. Wilson et al. argue that although AI already disrupts the workforce, it will create a substantial amount of jobs because the machinery will require maintenance and programming (14). The authors argue that newly created positions will require people to work with AI to produce better results for their companies.

The arguments supporting AI and its implementation in different domains highlight the positive impact that it will have on companies and people. These sources provide information connected to AI prospects, meaning that they focus on how the benefits will outweigh the negative impact. These stakeholders choose this approach because AI will disrupt many aspects of people’s lives, most notably by eliminating millions of jobs. Hence, by focusing on the jobs created due to AI to maintain and support the technology and other positive outcomes, these stakeholders can highlight the need to address the immediate issues that will arise soon, such as work shortage.

While currently, AI can perform varied tasks, and this technology will continue to evolve as new computers and other advanced hardware are introduced to the market. In his interview with Bill Gates, Holley discusses the potential dangers of AI and the destruction that it can cause if not managed properly. Gates states that the technology industry will undergo rapid development and progress in the following thirty years, making accurate vision and speech recognition with AI possible.

Holley references the opinion of scientist Stephen Hawking, who stated that AI could end the human race. Other well-known technology experts and entrepreneurs, for instance, Elon Musk, voiced a similar opinion. The latter stated that people should be “very careful about artificial intelligence” (Holey). The main argument is that it is unclear how AI will develop in the future and what capabilities it will have.

If AI surpasses humans’ ability to think and solve tasks, how it will interact with people is unclear. The popular argument against AI is that they are presented as warnings. Technology specialists choose this approach to discuss their opinion on AI because it is rapidly developing, and no governmental or international regulations are present. This reasoning is most evident in Elon Musk’s commentary on AI, in which he states that regulatory oversight should be introduced to contain and oversee the development of AI.

The previous paragraph focused on stakeholders’ opinions about the future of AI. However, there are several ways in which AI currently affects people’s day-to-day life in a negative manner. Knight and Hoa (2019) cite the crashes of self-driving cars in recent months and the various manipulations of information done by bots as examples of AI’s misuse. The recent Cambridge Analytica case, a data-collecting scandal, revealed that individuals’ news feeds could be manipulated to display particular information. It can potentially impact opinions regarding significant social and political problems.

Finally, both pros and cons AI stakeholders note that once the technology is advanced enough, it will be used in some significant domains of people’s lives. For example, Gates states that once robots can move things appropriately, they will be used in hospitals to help with patient transportation (Holey). Similar applications will be possible in warehouses and other facilities with much inventory. Jenkins states that self-driving trucks and other AI-supported technology will eliminate one-third of jobs in the United States (2). Similarly to the previous argument, these concerns are voiced as a warning for politicians and organizations developing AI.

Overall, AI was first introduced in 1956 as a technology miming human thinking and task-solving capabilities. The main stakeholders of the debate are all people since AI is already used in different domains, for example, healthcare or education. The main argument supporting AI is the efficiency and capabilities of this technology, which surpasses human abilities. However, the arguments against the uncontrolled development of AI presented by technology specialists and scientists argue that it is unclear how AI will develop in the future and how humanity will interact with it.

Holley, Peter. “ Bill Gates on Dangers of Artificial Intelligence: ‘I Don’t Understand Why Some People are not Concerned. ” Washington Post , 2015. Web.

Jennings, Charles. Artificial Intelligence: Rise of the Lightspeed Learners. Rowman & Littlefielf, 2019.

Knight, Will and Karen Hoa. “ Never Mind Killer Robots—Here are Six Real AI Dangers to Watch Out for in 2019. ” MIT Technology Review, 2019.

Makridakis, Spyros. “The Forthcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) Revolution: Its Impact on Society and Firms.” Futures, vol. 90, 2017, pp. 46-60.

Wilson, James et al. “The Jobs That Artificial Intelligence Will Create.” MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 58, no. 4, 2017, pp. 14-16.

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Montana schools weigh pros, cons of AI use in higher education

by Briana Henderson

Popular artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are becoming more commonly used in in day-to-day life, whether in programming, human resources and even in the classroom.

According to Forbes, around 89% of polled students nationwide said they used ChatGPT in one way or another to complete an assignment.

NBC Montana spoke with local universities to see when they allow the use of AI, how many students use it and what the consequences are if a student crosses the line into academic dishonesty.

“We acknowledge that there are some courses where using generative AI or learning how to use it is something that would benefit our students when they leave the university,” said Michael Babcock, the director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at Montana State University.

Montana State University does not currently have any policies in place regarding AI. Instead, administration and faculty work together to define the acceptable usage of artificial intelligence in the classroom. They choose to lay out guidelines on a per-classroom basis for usage.

Students who want to use ChatGPT to write entire essays beware. A lot of the information is incorrect and vague.

For example, we asked ChatGPT to write using the following prompt, “write me an essay about NBC Montana’s Briana Henderson.”

What ChatGPT wrote was completely incorrect information. From where she was born and raised to what her degree was in, ChatGPT created a new reality.

When AI makes up information based on patterns it sees, it is called AI hallucination.

However, that doesn’t make AI useless to students.

While completely creating a paper using a tool like ChatGPT is considered plagiarism, faculty may approve AI use to be beneficial in some situations.

Both the University of Montana and Montana State University are excited about what the future may hold for AI.

“We’re just kind of taking it that way,” commented Amy Ratto Parks, an associate director of the writing center at University of Montana, “and are bringing – continuing that conversation into our current generation of students. ”

While many educators do see the academic use of a tool such as ChatGPT, universities work to define the line between acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in the classroom.

If used in an unapproved way, students could face a number of consequences ranging from a zero on the assignment to being referred to the dean of students.

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Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art

In 1953, Roald Dahl published “ The Great Automatic Grammatizator ,” a short story about an electrical engineer who secretly desires to be a writer. One day, after completing construction of the world’s fastest calculating machine, the engineer realizes that “English grammar is governed by rules that are almost mathematical in their strictness.” He constructs a fiction-writing machine that can produce a five-thousand-word short story in thirty seconds; a novel takes fifteen minutes and requires the operator to manipulate handles and foot pedals, as if he were driving a car or playing an organ, to regulate the levels of humor and pathos. The resulting novels are so popular that, within a year, half the fiction published in English is a product of the engineer’s invention.

Is there anything about art that makes us think it can’t be created by pushing a button, as in Dahl’s imagination? Right now, the fiction generated by large language models like ChatGPT is terrible, but one can imagine that such programs might improve in the future. How good could they get? Could they get better than humans at writing fiction—or making paintings or movies—in the same way that calculators are better at addition and subtraction?

Art is notoriously hard to define, and so are the differences between good art and bad art. But let me offer a generalization: art is something that results from making a lot of choices. This might be easiest to explain if we use fiction writing as an example. When you are writing fiction, you are—consciously or unconsciously—making a choice about almost every word you type; to oversimplify, we can imagine that a ten-thousand-word short story requires something on the order of ten thousand choices. When you give a generative-A.I. program a prompt, you are making very few choices; if you supply a hundred-word prompt, you have made on the order of a hundred choices.

If an A.I. generates a ten-thousand-word story based on your prompt, it has to fill in for all of the choices that you are not making. There are various ways it can do this. One is to take an average of the choices that other writers have made, as represented by text found on the Internet; that average is equivalent to the least interesting choices possible, which is why A.I.-generated text is often really bland. Another is to instruct the program to engage in style mimicry, emulating the choices made by a specific writer, which produces a highly derivative story. In neither case is it creating interesting art.

I think the same underlying principle applies to visual art, although it’s harder to quantify the choices that a painter might make. Real paintings bear the mark of an enormous number of decisions. By comparison, a person using a text-to-image program like DALL-E enters a prompt such as “A knight in a suit of armor fights a fire-breathing dragon,” and lets the program do the rest. (The newest version of DALL-E accepts prompts of up to four thousand characters—hundreds of words, but not enough to describe every detail of a scene.) Most of the choices in the resulting image have to be borrowed from similar paintings found online; the image might be exquisitely rendered, but the person entering the prompt can’t claim credit for that.

Some commentators imagine that image generators will affect visual culture as much as the advent of photography once did. Although this might seem superficially plausible, the idea that photography is similar to generative A.I. deserves closer examination. When photography was first developed, I suspect it didn’t seem like an artistic medium because it wasn’t apparent that there were a lot of choices to be made; you just set up the camera and start the exposure. But over time people realized that there were a vast number of things you could do with cameras, and the artistry lies in the many choices that a photographer makes. It might not always be easy to articulate what the choices are, but when you compare an amateur’s photos to a professional’s, you can see the difference. So then the question becomes: Is there a similar opportunity to make a vast number of choices using a text-to-image generator? I think the answer is no. An artist—whether working digitally or with paint—implicitly makes far more decisions during the process of making a painting than would fit into a text prompt of a few hundred words.

We can imagine a text-to-image generator that, over the course of many sessions, lets you enter tens of thousands of words into its text box to enable extremely fine-grained control over the image you’re producing; this would be something analogous to Photoshop with a purely textual interface. I’d say that a person could use such a program and still deserve to be called an artist. The film director Bennett Miller has used DALL-E 2 to generate some very striking images that have been exhibited at the Gagosian gallery; to create them, he crafted detailed text prompts and then instructed DALL-E to revise and manipulate the generated images again and again. He generated more than a hundred thousand images to arrive at the twenty images in the exhibit. But he has said that he hasn’t been able to obtain comparable results on later releases of DALL-E . I suspect this might be because Miller was using DALL-E for something it’s not intended to do; it’s as if he hacked Microsoft Paint to make it behave like Photoshop, but as soon as a new version of Paint was released, his hacks stopped working. OpenAI probably isn’t trying to build a product to serve users like Miller, because a product that requires a user to work for months to create an image isn’t appealing to a wide audience. The company wants to offer a product that generates images with little effort.

It’s harder to imagine a program that, over many sessions, helps you write a good novel. This hypothetical writing program might require you to enter a hundred thousand words of prompts in order for it to generate an entirely different hundred thousand words that make up the novel you’re envisioning. It’s not clear to me what such a program would look like. Theoretically, if such a program existed, the user could perhaps deserve to be called the author. But, again, I don’t think companies like OpenAI want to create versions of ChatGPT that require just as much effort from users as writing a novel from scratch. The selling point of generative A.I. is that these programs generate vastly more than you put into them, and that is precisely what prevents them from being effective tools for artists.

The companies promoting generative-A.I. programs claim that they will unleash creativity. In essence, they are saying that art can be all inspiration and no perspiration—but these things cannot be easily separated. I’m not saying that art has to involve tedium. What I’m saying is that art requires making choices at every scale; the countless small-scale choices made during implementation are just as important to the final product as the few large-scale choices made during the conception. It is a mistake to equate “large-scale” with “important” when it comes to the choices made when creating art; the interrelationship between the large scale and the small scale is where the artistry lies.

Believing that inspiration outweighs everything else is, I suspect, a sign that someone is unfamiliar with the medium. I contend that this is true even if one’s goal is to create entertainment rather than high art. People often underestimate the effort required to entertain; a thriller novel may not live up to Kafka’s ideal of a book—an “axe for the frozen sea within us”—but it can still be as finely crafted as a Swiss watch. And an effective thriller is more than its premise or its plot. I doubt you could replace every sentence in a thriller with one that is semantically equivalent and have the resulting novel be as entertaining. This means that its sentences—and the small-scale choices they represent—help to determine the thriller’s effectiveness.

Many novelists have had the experience of being approached by someone convinced that they have a great idea for a novel, which they are willing to share in exchange for a fifty-fifty split of the proceeds. Such a person inadvertently reveals that they think formulating sentences is a nuisance rather than a fundamental part of storytelling in prose. Generative A.I. appeals to people who think they can express themselves in a medium without actually working in that medium. But the creators of traditional novels, paintings, and films are drawn to those art forms because they see the unique expressive potential that each medium affords. It is their eagerness to take full advantage of those potentialities that makes their work satisfying, whether as entertainment or as art.

Of course, most pieces of writing, whether articles or reports or e-mails, do not come with the expectation that they embody thousands of choices. In such cases, is there any harm in automating the task? Let me offer another generalization: any writing that deserves your attention as a reader is the result of effort expended by the person who wrote it. Effort during the writing process doesn’t guarantee the end product is worth reading, but worthwhile work cannot be made without it. The type of attention you pay when reading a personal e-mail is different from the type you pay when reading a business report, but in both cases it is only warranted when the writer put some thought into it.

Recently, Google aired a commercial during the Paris Olympics for Gemini, its competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4 . The ad shows a father using Gemini to compose a fan letter, which his daughter will send to an Olympic athlete who inspires her. Google pulled the commercial after widespread backlash from viewers; a media professor called it “one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve ever seen.” It’s notable that people reacted this way, even though artistic creativity wasn’t the attribute being supplanted. No one expects a child’s fan letter to an athlete to be extraordinary; if the young girl had written the letter herself, it would likely have been indistinguishable from countless others. The significance of a child’s fan letter—both to the child who writes it and to the athlete who receives it—comes from its being heartfelt rather than from its being eloquent.

Many of us have sent store-bought greeting cards, knowing that it will be clear to the recipient that we didn’t compose the words ourselves. We don’t copy the words from a Hallmark card in our own handwriting, because that would feel dishonest. The programmer Simon Willison has described the training for large language models as “money laundering for copyrighted data,” which I find a useful way to think about the appeal of generative-A.I. programs: they let you engage in something like plagiarism, but there’s no guilt associated with it because it’s not clear even to you that you’re copying.

Some have claimed that large language models are not laundering the texts they’re trained on but, rather, learning from them, in the same way that human writers learn from the books they’ve read. But a large language model is not a writer; it’s not even a user of language. Language is, by definition, a system of communication, and it requires an intention to communicate. Your phone’s auto-complete may offer good suggestions or bad ones, but in neither case is it trying to say anything to you or the person you’re texting. The fact that ChatGPT can generate coherent sentences invites us to imagine that it understands language in a way that your phone’s auto-complete does not, but it has no more intention to communicate.

It is very easy to get ChatGPT to emit a series of words such as “I am happy to see you.” There are many things we don’t understand about how large language models work, but one thing we can be sure of is that ChatGPT is not happy to see you. A dog can communicate that it is happy to see you, and so can a prelinguistic child, even though both lack the capability to use words. ChatGPT feels nothing and desires nothing, and this lack of intention is why ChatGPT is not actually using language. What makes the words “I’m happy to see you” a linguistic utterance is not that the sequence of text tokens that it is made up of are well formed; what makes it a linguistic utterance is the intention to communicate something.

Because language comes so easily to us, it’s easy to forget that it lies on top of these other experiences of subjective feeling and of wanting to communicate that feeling. We’re tempted to project those experiences onto a large language model when it emits coherent sentences, but to do so is to fall prey to mimicry; it’s the same phenomenon as when butterflies evolve large dark spots on their wings that can fool birds into thinking they’re predators with big eyes. There is a context in which the dark spots are sufficient; birds are less likely to eat a butterfly that has them, and the butterfly doesn’t really care why it’s not being eaten, as long as it gets to live. But there is a big difference between a butterfly and a predator that poses a threat to a bird.

A person using generative A.I. to help them write might claim that they are drawing inspiration from the texts the model was trained on, but I would again argue that this differs from what we usually mean when we say one writer draws inspiration from another. Consider a college student who turns in a paper that consists solely of a five-page quotation from a book, stating that this quotation conveys exactly what she wanted to say, better than she could say it herself. Even if the student is completely candid with the instructor about what she’s done, it’s not accurate to say that she is drawing inspiration from the book she’s citing. The fact that a large language model can reword the quotation enough that the source is unidentifiable doesn’t change the fundamental nature of what’s going on.

As the linguist Emily M. Bender has noted, teachers don’t ask students to write essays because the world needs more student essays. The point of writing essays is to strengthen students’ critical-thinking skills; in the same way that lifting weights is useful no matter what sport an athlete plays, writing essays develops skills necessary for whatever job a college student will eventually get. Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way.

Not all writing needs to be creative, or heartfelt, or even particularly good; sometimes it simply needs to exist. Such writing might support other goals, such as attracting views for advertising or satisfying bureaucratic requirements. When people are required to produce such text, we can hardly blame them for using whatever tools are available to accelerate the process. But is the world better off with more documents that have had minimal effort expended on them? It would be unrealistic to claim that if we refuse to use large language models, then the requirements to create low-quality text will disappear. However, I think it is inevitable that the more we use large language models to fulfill those requirements, the greater those requirements will eventually become. We are entering an era where someone might use a large language model to generate a document out of a bulleted list, and send it to a person who will use a large language model to condense that document into a bulleted list. Can anyone seriously argue that this is an improvement?

It’s not impossible that one day we will have computer programs that can do anything a human being can do, but, contrary to the claims of the companies promoting A.I., that is not something we’ll see in the next few years. Even in domains that have absolutely nothing to do with creativity, current A.I. programs have profound limitations that give us legitimate reasons to question whether they deserve to be called intelligent at all.

The computer scientist François Chollet has proposed the following distinction: skill is how well you perform at a task, while intelligence is how efficiently you gain new skills. I think this reflects our intuitions about human beings pretty well. Most people can learn a new skill given sufficient practice, but the faster the person picks up the skill, the more intelligent we think the person is. What’s interesting about this definition is that—unlike I.Q. tests—it’s also applicable to nonhuman entities; when a dog learns a new trick quickly, we consider that a sign of intelligence.

In 2019, researchers conducted an experiment in which they taught rats how to drive. They put the rats in little plastic containers with three copper-wire bars; when the mice put their paws on one of these bars, the container would either go forward, or turn left or turn right. The rats could see a plate of food on the other side of the room and tried to get their vehicles to go toward it. The researchers trained the rats for five minutes at a time, and after twenty-four practice sessions, the rats had become proficient at driving. Twenty-four trials were enough to master a task that no rat had likely ever encountered before in the evolutionary history of the species. I think that’s a good demonstration of intelligence.

Now consider the current A.I. programs that are widely acclaimed for their performance. AlphaZero, a program developed by Google’s DeepMind, plays chess better than any human player, but during its training it played forty-four million games, far more than any human can play in a lifetime. For it to master a new game, it will have to undergo a similarly enormous amount of training. By Chollet’s definition, programs like AlphaZero are highly skilled, but they aren’t particularly intelligent, because they aren’t efficient at gaining new skills. It is currently impossible to write a computer program capable of learning even a simple task in only twenty-four trials, if the programmer is not given information about the task beforehand.

Self-driving cars trained on millions of miles of driving can still crash into an overturned trailer truck, because such things are not commonly found in their training data, whereas humans taking their first driving class will know to stop. More than our ability to solve algebraic equations, our ability to cope with unfamiliar situations is a fundamental part of why we consider humans intelligent. Computers will not be able to replace humans until they acquire that type of competence, and that is still a long way off; for the time being, we’re just looking for jobs that can be done with turbocharged auto-complete.

Despite years of hype, the ability of generative A.I. to dramatically increase economic productivity remains theoretical. (Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs released a report titled “Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?”) The task that generative A.I. has been most successful at is lowering our expectations, both of the things we read and of ourselves when we write anything for others to read. It is a fundamentally dehumanizing technology because it treats us as less than what we are: creators and apprehenders of meaning. It reduces the amount of intention in the world.

Some individuals have defended large language models by saying that most of what human beings say or write isn’t particularly original. That is true, but it’s also irrelevant. When someone says “I’m sorry” to you, it doesn’t matter that other people have said sorry in the past; it doesn’t matter that “I’m sorry” is a string of text that is statistically unremarkable. If someone is being sincere, their apology is valuable and meaningful, even though apologies have previously been uttered. Likewise, when you tell someone that you’re happy to see them, you are saying something meaningful, even if it lacks novelty.

Something similar holds true for art. Whether you are creating a novel or a painting or a film, you are engaged in an act of communication between you and your audience. What you create doesn’t have to be utterly unlike every prior piece of art in human history to be valuable; the fact that you’re the one who is saying it, the fact that it derives from your unique life experience and arrives at a particular moment in the life of whoever is seeing your work, is what makes it new. We are all products of what has come before us, but it’s by living our lives in interaction with others that we bring meaning into the world. That is something that an auto-complete algorithm can never do, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. ♦

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Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024

Confidence in U.S. public opinion polling was shaken by errors in 2016 and 2020. In both years’ general elections, many polls underestimated the strength of Republican candidates, including Donald Trump. These errors laid bare some real limitations of polling.

In the midterms that followed those elections, polling performed better . But many Americans remain skeptical that it can paint an accurate portrait of the public’s political preferences.

Restoring people’s confidence in polling is an important goal, because robust and independent public polling has a critical role to play in a democratic society. It gathers and publishes information about the well-being of the public and about citizens’ views on major issues. And it provides an important counterweight to people in power, or those seeking power, when they make claims about “what the people want.”

The challenges facing polling are undeniable. In addition to the longstanding issues of rising nonresponse and cost, summer 2024 brought extraordinary events that transformed the presidential race . The good news is that people with deep knowledge of polling are working hard to fix the problems exposed in 2016 and 2020, experimenting with more data sources and interview approaches than ever before. Still, polls are more useful to the public if people have realistic expectations about what surveys can do well – and what they cannot.

With that in mind, here are some key points to know about polling heading into this year’s presidential election.

Probability sampling (or “random sampling”). This refers to a polling method in which survey participants are recruited using random sampling from a database or list that includes nearly everyone in the population. The pollster selects the sample. The survey is not open for anyone who wants to sign up.

Online opt-in polling (or “nonprobability sampling”). These polls are recruited using a variety of methods that are sometimes referred to as “convenience sampling.” Respondents come from a variety of online sources such as ads on social media or search engines, websites offering rewards in exchange for survey participation, or self-enrollment. Unlike surveys with probability samples, people can volunteer to participate in opt-in surveys.

Nonresponse and nonresponse bias. Nonresponse is when someone sampled for a survey does not participate. Nonresponse bias occurs when the pattern of nonresponse leads to error in a poll estimate. For example, college graduates are more likely than those without a degree to participate in surveys, leading to the potential that the share of college graduates in the resulting sample will be too high.

Mode of interview. This refers to the format in which respondents are presented with and respond to survey questions. The most common modes are online, live telephone, text message and paper. Some polls use more than one mode.

Weighting. This is a statistical procedure pollsters perform to make their survey align with the broader population on key characteristics like age, race, etc. For example, if a survey has too many college graduates compared with their share in the population, people without a college degree are “weighted up” to match the proper share.

How are election polls being conducted?

Pollsters are making changes in response to the problems in previous elections. As a result, polling is different today than in 2016. Most U.S. polling organizations that conducted and publicly released national surveys in both 2016 and 2022 (61%) used methods in 2022 that differed from what they used in 2016 . And change has continued since 2022.

One change is that the number of active polling organizations has grown significantly, indicating that there are fewer barriers to entry into the polling field. The number of organizations that conduct national election polls more than doubled between 2000 and 2022.

This growth has been driven largely by pollsters using inexpensive opt-in sampling methods. But previous Pew Research Center analyses have demonstrated how surveys that use nonprobability sampling may have errors twice as large , on average, as those that use probability sampling.

The second change is that many of the more prominent polling organizations that use probability sampling – including Pew Research Center – have shifted from conducting polls primarily by telephone to using online methods, or some combination of online, mail and telephone. The result is that polling methodologies are far more diverse now than in the past.

(For more about how public opinion polling works, including a chapter on election polls, read our short online course on public opinion polling basics .)

All good polling relies on statistical adjustment called “weighting,” which makes sure that the survey sample aligns with the broader population on key characteristics. Historically, public opinion researchers have adjusted their data using a core set of demographic variables to correct imbalances between the survey sample and the population.

But there is a growing realization among survey researchers that weighting a poll on just a few variables like age, race and gender is insufficient for getting accurate results. Some groups of people – such as older adults and college graduates – are more likely to take surveys, which can lead to errors that are too sizable for a simple three- or four-variable adjustment to work well. Adjusting on more variables produces more accurate results, according to Center studies in 2016 and 2018 .

A number of pollsters have taken this lesson to heart. For example, recent high-quality polls by Gallup and The New York Times/Siena College adjusted on eight and 12 variables, respectively. Our own polls typically adjust on 12 variables . In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be necessary to have that much intervention by the pollster. But the real world of survey research is not perfect.

Predicting who will vote is critical – and difficult. Preelection polls face one crucial challenge that routine opinion polls do not: determining who of the people surveyed will actually cast a ballot.

Roughly a third of eligible Americans do not vote in presidential elections , despite the enormous attention paid to these contests. Determining who will abstain is difficult because people can’t perfectly predict their future behavior – and because many people feel social pressure to say they’ll vote even if it’s unlikely.

No one knows the profile of voters ahead of Election Day. We can’t know for sure whether young people will turn out in greater numbers than usual, or whether key racial or ethnic groups will do so. This means pollsters are left to make educated guesses about turnout, often using a mix of historical data and current measures of voting enthusiasm. This is very different from routine opinion polls, which mostly do not ask about people’s future intentions.

When major news breaks, a poll’s timing can matter. Public opinion on most issues is remarkably stable, so you don’t necessarily need a recent poll about an issue to get a sense of what people think about it. But dramatic events can and do change public opinion , especially when people are first learning about a new topic. For example, polls this summer saw notable changes in voter attitudes following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. Polls taken immediately after a major event may pick up a shift in public opinion, but those shifts are sometimes short-lived. Polls fielded weeks or months later are what allow us to see whether an event has had a long-term impact on the public’s psyche.

How accurate are polls?

The answer to this question depends on what you want polls to do. Polls are used for all kinds of purposes in addition to showing who’s ahead and who’s behind in a campaign. Fair or not, however, the accuracy of election polling is usually judged by how closely the polls matched the outcome of the election.

By this standard, polling in 2016 and 2020 performed poorly. In both years, state polling was characterized by serious errors. National polling did reasonably well in 2016 but faltered in 2020.

In 2020, a post-election review of polling by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) found that “the 2020 polls featured polling error of an unusual magnitude: It was the highest in 40 years for the national popular vote and the highest in at least 20 years for state-level estimates of the vote in presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial contests.”

How big were the errors? Polls conducted in the last two weeks before the election suggested that Biden’s margin over Trump was nearly twice as large as it ended up being in the final national vote tally.

Errors of this size make it difficult to be confident about who is leading if the election is closely contested, as many U.S. elections are .

Pollsters are rightly working to improve the accuracy of their polls. But even an error of 4 or 5 percentage points isn’t too concerning if the purpose of the poll is to describe whether the public has favorable or unfavorable opinions about candidates , or to show which issues matter to which voters. And on questions that gauge where people stand on issues, we usually want to know broadly where the public stands. We don’t necessarily need to know the precise share of Americans who say, for example, that climate change is mostly caused by human activity. Even judged by its performance in recent elections, polling can still provide a faithful picture of public sentiment on the important issues of the day.

The 2022 midterms saw generally accurate polling, despite a wave of partisan polls predicting a broad Republican victory. In fact, FiveThirtyEight found that “polls were more accurate in 2022 than in any cycle since at least 1998, with almost no bias toward either party.” Moreover, a handful of contrarian polls that predicted a 2022 “red wave” largely washed out when the votes were tallied. In sum, if we focus on polling in the most recent national election, there’s plenty of reason to be encouraged.

Compared with other elections in the past 20 years, polls have been less accurate when Donald Trump is on the ballot. Preelection surveys suffered from large errors – especially at the state level – in 2016 and 2020, when Trump was standing for election. But they performed reasonably well in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, when he was not.

During the 2016 campaign, observers speculated about the possibility that Trump supporters might be less willing to express their support to a pollster – a phenomenon sometimes described as the “shy Trump effect.” But a committee of polling experts evaluated five different tests of the “shy Trump” theory and turned up little to no evidence for each one . Later, Pew Research Center and, in a separate test, a researcher from Yale also found little to no evidence in support of the claim.

Instead, two other explanations are more likely. One is about the difficulty of estimating who will turn out to vote. Research has found that Trump is popular among people who tend to sit out midterms but turn out for him in presidential election years. Since pollsters often use past turnout to predict who will vote, it can be difficult to anticipate when irregular voters will actually show up.

The other explanation is that Republicans in the Trump era have become a little less likely than Democrats to participate in polls . Pollsters call this “partisan nonresponse bias.” Surprisingly, polls historically have not shown any particular pattern of favoring one side or the other. The errors that favored Democratic candidates in the past eight years may be a result of the growth of political polarization, along with declining trust among conservatives in news organizations and other institutions that conduct polls.

Whatever the cause, the fact that Trump is again the nominee of the Republican Party means that pollsters must be especially careful to make sure all segments of the population are properly represented in surveys.

The real margin of error is often about double the one reported. A typical election poll sample of about 1,000 people has a margin of sampling error that’s about plus or minus 3 percentage points. That number expresses the uncertainty that results from taking a sample of the population rather than interviewing everyone . Random samples are likely to differ a little from the population just by chance, in the same way that the quality of your hand in a card game varies from one deal to the next.

The problem is that sampling error is not the only kind of error that affects a poll. Those other kinds of error, in fact, can be as large or larger than sampling error. Consequently, the reported margin of error can lead people to think that polls are more accurate than they really are.

There are three other, equally important sources of error in polling: noncoverage error , where not all the target population has a chance of being sampled; nonresponse error, where certain groups of people may be less likely to participate; and measurement error, where people may not properly understand the questions or misreport their opinions. Not only does the margin of error fail to account for those other sources of potential error, putting a number only on sampling error implies to the public that other kinds of error do not exist.

Several recent studies show that the average total error in a poll estimate may be closer to twice as large as that implied by a typical margin of sampling error. This hidden error underscores the fact that polls may not be precise enough to call the winner in a close election.

Other important things to remember

Transparency in how a poll was conducted is associated with better accuracy . The polling industry has several platforms and initiatives aimed at promoting transparency in survey methodology. These include AAPOR’s transparency initiative and the Roper Center archive . Polling organizations that participate in these organizations have less error, on average, than those that don’t participate, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight found .

Participation in these transparency efforts does not guarantee that a poll is rigorous, but it is undoubtedly a positive signal. Transparency in polling means disclosing essential information, including the poll’s sponsor, the data collection firm, where and how participants were selected, modes of interview, field dates, sample size, question wording, and weighting procedures.

There is evidence that when the public is told that a candidate is extremely likely to win, some people may be less likely to vote . Following the 2016 election, many people wondered whether the pervasive forecasts that seemed to all but guarantee a Hillary Clinton victory – two modelers put her chances at 99% – led some would-be voters to conclude that the race was effectively over and that their vote would not make a difference. There is scientific research to back up that claim: A team of researchers found experimental evidence that when people have high confidence that one candidate will win, they are less likely to vote. This helps explain why some polling analysts say elections should be covered using traditional polling estimates and margins of error rather than speculative win probabilities (also known as “probabilistic forecasts”).

National polls tell us what the entire public thinks about the presidential candidates, but the outcome of the election is determined state by state in the Electoral College . The 2000 and 2016 presidential elections demonstrated a difficult truth: The candidate with the largest share of support among all voters in the United States sometimes loses the election. In those two elections, the national popular vote winners (Al Gore and Hillary Clinton) lost the election in the Electoral College (to George W. Bush and Donald Trump). In recent years, analysts have shown that Republican candidates do somewhat better in the Electoral College than in the popular vote because every state gets three electoral votes regardless of population – and many less-populated states are rural and more Republican.

For some, this raises the question: What is the use of national polls if they don’t tell us who is likely to win the presidency? In fact, national polls try to gauge the opinions of all Americans, regardless of whether they live in a battleground state like Pennsylvania, a reliably red state like Idaho or a reliably blue state like Rhode Island. In short, national polls tell us what the entire citizenry is thinking. Polls that focus only on the competitive states run the risk of giving too little attention to the needs and views of the vast majority of Americans who live in uncompetitive states – about 80%.

Fortunately, this is not how most pollsters view the world . As the noted political scientist Sidney Verba explained, “Surveys produce just what democracy is supposed to produce – equal representation of all citizens.”

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Scott Keeter is a senior survey advisor at Pew Research Center .

Courtney Kennedy is Vice President of Methods and Innovation at Pew Research Center .

How do people in the U.S. take Pew Research Center surveys, anyway?

How public polling has changed in the 21st century, what 2020’s election poll errors tell us about the accuracy of issue polling, a field guide to polling: election 2020 edition, methods 101: how is polling done around the world, most popular.

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