It’s time to get started on choosing a topic for your Narrative Argument. Think about an event that introduced you to a larger social issue. Now ground it in an actual experience. What happened? This may have happened gradually or quickly, but be specific and anticipate the details and scenes that you will develop in your essay. You can list these scenes and include some of the sensory experiences that you recall, including things you saw, felt, tasted, smelled, and/or heard. Why did the experience change your perspective? How do you feel about this issue now and how do your current feelings differ from those you experienced before the event? After answering these questions, prepare an outline for your Narrative Argument Essay. You will submit this outline in this module’s Discussion. Current Social Issues For the first writing assignment, the Narrative Argument Essay, you will need to think about an event that introduced you to a larger social issue. Here is a long list of “current social issues” below that you can get some ideas from. Of course you’re not limited to this list. Some Current Social Issues • Affirmative Action • Ageism / Age Discrimination • Airport Screening Procedures • Alcoholism • Alternative Medicine • Alternative Education • Animal Rights • Anti-Muslim Discrimination • Body Image/Beauty Standards • Binge Drinking • Birth Control/ Contraception • Bullying • Death Penalty • Child Labor • Child Care for Working Parents • Church and State (Separation of) • Classism • Corporate Power • Culture Shock • Date Rape • Disaster Relief • Domestic Violence • Dream Act • Drinking and Driving • Driving While Black • Drug Abuse / Drug Addiction • Eating Disorders • Economic Justice • Embryonic Stem Cell Research • Environmental Pollution • Environmental Racism • Equal Pay • Euthanasia / Physician Assisted Suicide • Excessive Force By Law Enforcement • Gang Violence • Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Equality • Gender Disparities in Health Care • Genetic Engineering • Gentrification • Global Warming • Green Energy • Gun Control • Gun Rights • Gun Violence • Hate Crimes • Hazing • Health Care Disparities • Health Care Reform • HIV / AIDS • Home Foreclosures • Homelessness • Honor Killings • Human Trafficking • Identify Theft • Immigration • International Student Education • Jury Service • Language • Learning Disabilities • Legalization of Marijuana • Materialism/Consumer Culture • Mental Health Stigma • Mental Health Services • Meth Labs • Middle Class Economics • Militarization of Police • Minimum Wage • Nature (Humans’ Connection or Disconnection to) • Obama Care (Affordable Health Care Act) • Outsourcing Jobs • Public Art (Graffiti, Murals, etc.) • Physical Disabilities (Discrimination, Accessibility) • Police Brutality • Police Militarization • Pornography • Poverty • Prayer in Schools • Prison Reform • Racial Disparities in Health Care • Racial Disparities in Sentencing • Racial Profiling • Racism • Recycling and Conservation • Reproductive Choice • Reproductive Rights Restrictions • Religious Extremism • Same-Sex Marriage • Sexism • Sexual Assault • Sexual Harassment • Shopping Addictions • Shopping While Black • Single Parenting • Smoking / Tobacco • Smart Phones and Emerging Communication Technologies (Use of) • Social Networking and Privacy • Standardized Testing • Steroid Use in Sports • Stereotyping • Student Loans • Sweat Shops • Teen Pregnancy • Teen Suicide • Terrorism • Texting While Driving • Texting While Walking • Unemployment • Unions • Urban Environments (City Life) • Violence in Schools • Violence in Music Videos • Violence in Video Games • Voting Rights Restrictions • Walking While Female • Workers’ Rights (Living Wage, Paid Sick Leave, Maternity/Paternity Leave, Childcare) • Wildlife/Endangered Species [1] Adapted from the University Maryland Libraries’ “Social Problems in the Twenty-First Century.”