Pick a disturbing fact or situation that you have observed and seek out is causes and effects to help you and your readers understand the issue better. You may limit your essay to the causes or the effects, or you may include both, but emphasize one more than the other.

The situation you choose may have affected your and people you know well, such as student loan policies, the difficult of working while going to school, or a challenge facing your family. It might have affected people in your city or region—a small voter turnout in an election, decaying bridge supports, or pet owners not using pooper-scoopers. It may affect society at large—identity theft, immigration laws, or the high cost of health care. It might be gender or racial stereotypes on television, binge drinking at parties, spouse abuse, teenage suicide, global warming, student debt, or the use of dragnets for ocean fishing. Don’t think you must choose an earthshaking topic to write a good paper. On the contrary, you will do a better job if you are personally familiar with the situation you choose.