To choose a good persuasive essay topic, begin with a big idea, narrow it down, and a. then narrow it down more; it is impossible to have a topic that is too narrow. b. do some research to see what you should write about c. specify-ask a question you want answered in your argument

it is natural to stand at the beginning of a research project and feel overwhelmed by the amount of published research that exists in databases, literature reviews, and reference pages. at the same time, each new research project brings the hope of discovering something new. overwhelming though a project may be, starting at the foothills of a new thread of research is a great privilege, and is best approached as an opportunity to learn rather than a drudgery. as a researcher/writer, you have the chance to dive more deeply into less frequently encountered pools of knowledge.

depending on the topic or scope of your research, it is also natural to spend many days and weeks - and in some cases months and years - searching. no matter how great or small the scope of research is, the serious researcher needs to reserve adequate time to perform a thorough survey of published articles. for an undergraduate course project, finding five or six sources might seem like plenty of material to review, but graduate-level writing projects typically involve up to 20 sources minimum.

note that the main point here is not to say that it is only the number of research articles matters most, but rather that having a broad spectrum of papers to choose from you choose your topic for at least the following two reasons: 1) a larger pool of sources provides you with a broader perspective of the topics within your scope of research and 2) along the way you will find many topics within your field that you do not want to write about! so, one particularly effective way of viewing research is not finding the absolute minimum sources to "get by", but rather to find a variety of sources that you can an artist uses negative space to "carve" shapes out of a dark guide you toward topics that are more directly relevant to your topic.

the good news is that as you research you may find that some of your sources that were published in the same decade or so will cite and reference each other.

one of the joys and privileges of research is being able to follow your curiosity; if you are truly curious about your topic, and authentically driven to find out as much as you can, then even the articles you don't find interesting will be useful for a future project, and no energy will be wasted.

the speech this question is referring to is president kennedy's special message to the congress on urgent national needs, may 25, 1961

kennedy responds in a very direct and concrete way to those thinking that communism is a positive system:

"yet their aggression is more often concealed than open. they have fired no missiles; and their troops are seldom seen. they send arms, agitators, aid, technicians and propaganda to every troubled area. but where fighting is required, it is usually done by others--by guerrillas striking at night, by assassins striking alone--assassins who have taken the lives of four thousand civil officers in the last twelve months in vietnam alone--by subversives and saboteurs and insurrectionists, who in some cases control whole areas inside of independent nations." (kennedy)

president kennedy presents communism as cowardly, as a hidden and treacherous weapon that strikes from the shadows like thieves, he represents the system as not even being capable of showing and open and overt attack or confrontation. to finish up the response, he expresses that the system attacks even a country's idependence and freedom.

this quote could be referring to the death penalty. it's questioning the morality of sentencing murderers to death as a punishment, because it seems hypocritical. this quote seems to be arguing for non-lethal punishment for killers.