If you're asked by your writing instructor to compose a paragraph or essay developed with examples, these 40 topic suggestions should help you get started.
Forty Topic Suggestions: Examples
A. Drawing on your own experiences and observations, use examples to show that you agree or disagree with any one of the following principles:
1. In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. (The Peter Principle)
2. Work expands to fill the time available. (Parkinson's Law)
3. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. (Murphy's Law)
4. You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. (Barnum's Law)
B. Drawing on your own experiences and observations, use examples to show that you agree or disagree with any one of the following proverbs and observations:
5. "Adults are merely obsolete children." (Dr. Seuss)
6. Anticipation is often greater than realization.
7. "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." (Joni Mitchell)
8. A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.
9. "Punctuality is the virtue of the bored." (Evelyn Waugh)
10. When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.
11. "When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane." (Steven Wright)
C. Use specific examples to demonstrate your attitude toward any one of the following subjects:
12. superstitions
13. the best or worst movie of all time
14. contemporary slang
15. Facebook friendships
16. your favorite (or least favorite) television program
17. your favorite (or least favorite) commercial
18. tattoos
19. Twitter
20. violence in video games
21. body piercings
22. changing gender roles
23. PowerPoint presentations
24. the most useful (or useless) invention
25. online high school or college courses
26. best or worst job (real or imagined)
27. your favorite (or least favorite) actor, singer, or musician
28. your favorite (or least favorite) fictional character
D.Use specific examples to examine any one of the following subjects:
29. a parent's greatest responsibilities
30. fad diets
31. male or female stereotypes in popular culture
32. superstitions
33. the best (or worst) song lyrics
34. true leaders
35. good manners
36. the value of pets
37. best (or worse) fashions
38. true heroism
39. churchgoers
40. the different roles of a student
Model Paragraphs and Essays:
- Sample Example Paragraphs: Junk Food Junkie and Confessions of a Slob
- Examples in Margaret Drabble's "The Missing Piece"
- Developing a Topic Sentence With Examples in Pritchett's "London"
- Examples in Trippett's "Loaded Words"
- "Which," by James Thurber
- Fable
- Examples in E.B. White's "Progress and Change"
- "The Libido for the Ugly," by H. L. Mencken
Also see: 400 Writing Topics
