LSC-Tomball: Library Research Guides: Persuasive Speech: Finding a topic

Picking Your Topic

Librarian

Terra Thompson

she/her

Choose a Topic

Find lists of great research paper topics, and basic information on them from the library databases and web resources:

Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Full text on current social issues from sources including books, statistical reports, and news publications.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Full-text, balanced, comprehensive journalistic reports and analysis of current and controversial issues of the day.
Issues & Controversies This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from different points of view on important issues in today's news, plus statistics, images, and more.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Includes materials from over 650 reference books on a variety of topics in higher education, including art, business, history, languages, literature, science, criminal justice, and political science.

Web Resources

75 persuasive speech topics and ideas
See the wide range of categorized topics, and other details that can help you to start with writing and presenting a persuasive speech on a topic you really care about.
100 persuasive speech topics for students
A great starting point. A site with ideas on how to choose, write and present a speech that is thought-provoking and can keep your audience engaged. Includes a great list of topics to help you prepare for it.
243 Easy and simple speech topics
Another great starting point. Pick a topic from this interesting list of topics and also learn all about writing, preparing and presenting a speech that you are interested in.

Find more topics from the sites below:

Web sites: Finding topics

Use these resources to choose a topic to select from. You can also use the library databases on the right to choose a topic from and start your research from there.

ProCon.org: Understand the issues. Understand each other
A leading source for pro con issues with a non-partisan approach, which has a mission of "Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, and primarily pro-con format."

401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing
401 ideas to write your speech on..Learning Network, Teaching and Learning with the New York Times. (https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning)

509 Informative Speech Ideas and Topics
A site with "hundreds of topics for informative speeches and essays".

Major Types of Informative Speeches
Writing guide from the Writing Studio at Colorado State University

Topic Selection Helper
A list to help pick a topic from, put together by University of Hawai`i Maui Community College Speech Department

Deciding on a Topic

A YouTube video presentation on starting with a research project, presented by NCSU

Develop a Research Question that Works
A YouTube video showing the whole process of doing research - step by step. Presented by University of Cincinnati Libraries.