Need help with research/argument essay topic + thesis?

It all depends on the argument you want to make. I would probably start with all the possible positions you could take. Here’s an example I have thought about,
Should houses be required to have point of use water filtration systems, so water used for non consumption uses, (watering lawns, washing cars, etc.) don’t need to consume government resources to purify?
I don’t really have an opinion, but doing the research on how much we spend to purify water, how much point of use systems cost, and how would switching our filtration process would effect our carbon foot print would probably help me to form an opinion.

You could also go after a specific polluter in your area and show how a change in public policy would effect the environment and the economy.

Depends on your accessibility to resources. A good idea is to pick a few topics and then see what kind of peer reviewed articles or resources you could come up with. My favorite thing to do with research papers is to make one of those bubble webs of either topics or points/subcategories to voice in your paper (tying all of the bubbles together that relate to each other). Then I pick which bubbles work best and organize them in a way that structures your paper. This gives you a good idea of what information you want to research and how to blend it all together/transition from one topic to the next.

That said – if you wanted to do Santa Monica bay – see if you can find out what kind of toxins or microbes inhabit the water, if any of those are pathogenic, etc. find out potential safety hazards and explain and define why and how. Then make a thesis – make a statement stressing why the safety of the water is important either for residents of Santa Monica or animals and vegetation that inhabit the area.

It all sounds doable with the page requirement – you just need good resources.

Thanks you guys. Your answers got me thinking. It’s starting to make more sense now!

@kutelilkat No problem! What you DONT want to do is make an argument with no substance – or an unsupportable argument. That’s when you start blanking.

Other than that my advice is to expand and articulate a lot.

If it’s an argument, you could look at why we are instructed not to swallow toothpaste because of the fluoride content even thought they add it to our water supply for us.

Also contact a company that does water treatment for your home. Filtration and such.

They will give you the facts to what is in our water and why it really is there.