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Events, news & press, free speech.

While many Americans take free speech for granted, the tradition is far from universal. Many developed nations restrict speech that is deemed hurtful or offensive. And in the United States, there is increasing sentiment that some speech is not worth protecting. Is it time to reconsider the nation’s free-speech orthodoxy?

Nearly everyone has experiences that contradict the children’s rhyme “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Words can be painful. And that is particularly true in the age of social media, when a viral tweet or insensitive post can hurt feelings and damage reputations.

Despite this reality, the United States maintains a strong legal and cultural tradition of free speech. While many Americans take it for granted, the tradition is far from universal. Many developed nations restrict speech that is deemed hurtful or offensive. And in the United States, there is increasing sentiment that some speech is not worth protecting.

Is it time to reconsider the nation’s free-speech orthodoxy?

Part 1: What is freedom of speech?

The First Amendment of the Constitution says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

At its core, the Constitution’s robust protections for speech are intended to preserve and protect liberty. Hoover Institution senior fellow Peter Berkowitz  highlights  how the First Amendment connects freedom of speech with liberty:

Its position in the text of the First Amendment symbolizes free speech’s indissoluble connection to religious and political liberty. One can neither worship (or decline to worship) God in accordance with one’s conscience, nor persuade and be persuaded by fellow citizens, if government dictates orthodox opinions and punishes the departure from them. Indeed, the more authorities—whether formally through the exercise of government power, or informally through social intolerance—prescribe a single correct view and demonize others, the more citizens lose the ability to form responsible judgments and defend the many other freedoms that undergird human dignity and self-government.

Freedom of speech protects your right to say things that are disagreeable. It gives you—and everyone else—the right to criticize government policies and actions.

Part 2: What isn’t protected?

It sounds straightforward, “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech,” but the First Amendment isn’t absolute. Hoover Institution senior fellow Richard Epstein  offers a framework  for how to think about free speech and its limits:

The First Amendment clearly covers the spoken word, written pamphlets, and books. By analogy, it also reaches other expressive activities like drawing, dancing, and acting. But no one could claim that it also protects mayhem, murder, defamation, and deceit. The only way to draw the right line—that between expression and violence—is to recognize that the First Amendment is as much about  freedom  as it is about speech. The necessary theory of freedom applies equally to all forms of speech and action, and it draws the line at the threat or use of force, even if the former counts as speech and the latter does not.

As the video below explains, the general principle of the nation’s free-speech rules is that your speech is protected so long as it doesn’t harm others.

But this raises the question: what should count as a harm? In our legal system there are well-defined examples where speech is not protected, because it hurts someone. You can’t lie about someone to harm their reputation. That’s called defamation. You can’t misrepresent the truth to people for your own gains. That’s fraud. And the First Amendment doesn’t permit you to advocate for the immediate use of force against someone else.

But there are other times when speech is protected even when someone may claim to be harmed. Mean or hateful words that may be true or a matter of opinion are generally protected by the First Amendment, even if they offend someone. You may think that is wrong. And there are plenty of countries that agree with you. Many countries have enacted strong hate-speech laws that prohibit derogatory remarks about a person’s race or religion. Peter Berkowitz  summarizes  new restrictive speech laws recently enacted by other nations:

In 2017, Germany enacted a law that obliges social media networks to be more “diligent in policing ‘hate speech’ on their platforms.” The next year, France adopted a similar law. A substantial plurality of British voters in 2018 believed that people do not feel free to express their opinions on “important issues.”

But there is a danger to these rules. As the video below highlights, enacting laws that ban offensive speech mean that “the people who disagree with you the  most  would have the most control over what you’re allowed to say.”

In an interview with Tunku Varadarajan , Richard Epstein explains the consequences of laws that ban offensive speech: “Everybody offends everybody a large fraction of the time. So, if I am insulting to you because you’re a progressive and you’re insulting to me because I’m a conservative, and if we allow both people to sue, then neither can talk.” The end result is that debate and free expression are stifled.

Part 3:  What about private restrictions on speech?

The First Amendment constrains the federal government from infringing on most speech, and the Fourteenth Amendment extended these constraints to state and local governments. But the First Amendment’s protections don’t apply to the personal and private interactions of people or businesses. If people disagree with you, they are free to stop listening. And companies are generally free to stop doing business with people with whom they disagree. Nor is anyone obligated to provide a forum for anyone else’s speech. Richard Epstein  explains:

Freedom of speech means that you have the right to use your own resources to advance your own causes. But it doesn’t give you, in the name of free speech, the right to take somebody’s telephone, somebody’s house, or somebody’s anything in order to use it for your own purposes.

But while private actors are not bound by the First Amendment, many private institutions have thrived because they have embraced a culture of free speech. For example, private universities have historically maintained broad academic freedoms for its faculty and students that allow for robust dissent on campuses. Recently, however, some universities have adopted policies that take a narrower view of what is acceptable speech.  Here’s Peter Berkowitz :

At universities, America’s founding promise of individual freedom and equality under law is often treated as irredeemably tainted by racism and sexism, colonialism and imperialism. In some cases, free speech is placed on the list of “incorrect phrases” that ought not be uttered, because it belongs among the “impure thoughts” of which minds must be cleansed.

Berkowitz notes, “Ninety percent of American universities censor speech or maintain policies that could authorize administrators to engage in censorship.” These rules are well intentioned. They are intended to promote a safe and welcoming environment for students and faculty. But a rejection of free speech has significant costs.

Part 4:  What are the benefits of free speech?

Without protections for speech—particularly for disagreeable speech—our liberties are more easily threatened. But free speech is important even beyond its value to our liberty. The free exchange of ideas—even ones that are disagreeable—is key to future prosperity. Hoover Institution research fellow Ayaan Hirsi Ali  explains  why:

Societies since the Enlightenment have progressed because of their willingness to question sacred cows, to foster critical thinking and rational debate. Societies that blindly respect old hierarchies and established ways of thinking, that privilege traditional norms and cower from giving offense, have not produced the same intellectual dynamism as Western civilization. Innovation and progress happened precisely in those places where perceived “offense” and “hurt feelings” were not regarded as sufficient to stifle critical thinking.

Diversity of thought isn’t just a matter of freedom; it is also an important ingredient to progress. When society discourages dissent or governments dictate the bounds of acceptable opinions, there is less innovation, and incorrect yet popular ideas go unchallenged. Economist Milton Friedman explains how diversity and freedom of all types are integral to a thriving society in this video:

Part 5: How do we preserve freedom of speech?

Preserving our liberties and ensuring a vibrant, innovative society requires free speech. Well-intentioned efforts to protect people from speech that offends is thus a threat to our free and prosperous society. What steps can we take to ensure free speech remains a cherished value for future generations?

Hoover Institution research fellow David Davenport  makes a case  for reprioritizing civic education in US schools. Testing reveals that a shrinking number of students are knowledgeable about US history. Increased funding and improved curriculum for civic education will ensure that future generations understand and appreciate the nation’s tradition of free speech.

Higher education also has a role to play. Public universities are generally bound by the First Amendment, but all universities—public and private—should remember the value academic freedom brings to campuses and to all of society. As Richard Epstein  argues :

The First Amendment prohibition does not allow one person to commandeer the property of another for his own purposes. But in terms of their roles in society, there is a critical difference between a university and a private business: Universities have as their central mission the discovery and promotion of knowledge across all different areas of human life.

Part 6:  Conclusion

All too often, support for free speech depends on who is talking and what is being said. Partisanship too frequently shapes our view of just how expansive the First Amendment should be. But we should remember how the nation’s strong tradition of free speech has helped protect the freedoms of all Americans. It has empowered citizens to speak against and undo unjust laws. And it has helped create a vibrant, diverse economy with widespread prosperity.

Does this mean there is nothing we can do about speech we find disagreeable or offensive? Certainly not. As  the video above explains : “The way to respond to offensive speech isn’t to use force—it’s to counter with persuasive speech of your own.”

Citations and Further Reading

In his essay  Rewriting the First Amendment ,  Richard Epstein explains the dangers of a proposed constitutional amendment to restrict spending for political speech.

In  an interview on  Uncommon Knowledge ,  Ayaan Hirsi Ali emphasizes the importance of free speech in addressing the nation’s racial inequalities.

To view the original article, click here .

View the discussion thread.

Join the Hoover Institution’s community of supporters in ideas advancing freedom.

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5 (page 81) p. 81 Free speech in the age of the Internet

• Published: February 2009
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The Internet has transformed our world by expanding channels of communication and opening up people to new ideas and ways of interacting with each other. ‘Free speech in the age of the Internet’ asks whether or not such a proliferation of expressed ideas is good for humanity and whether there are any dangers associated with the Internet. There are issues to consider: anonymity, lack of quality control, potential audience size, and antisocial communication. The existence of the Internet also brings forth concerns about the limits on free speech that copyright law imposes. The Internet makes it very difficult to implement controls. Things have to change to adapt to this.

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Articles on Free speech

Displaying 1 - 20 of 310 articles.

Middle East student dialogue: As an expert in deep conflict, what I’ve learned about making conversation possible

Aftab Erfan , Simon Fraser University

In Knife, his memoir of surviving attack, Salman Rushdie confronts a world where liberal principles like free speech are  old-fashioned

Paul Giles , Australian Catholic University

Columbia president holds her own under congressional grilling over campus antisemitism that felled the leaders of Harvard and Penn

Lynn Greenky , Syracuse University

AI chatbots refuse to produce ‘controversial’ output − why that’s a free speech problem

Jordi Calvet-Bademunt , Vanderbilt University and Jacob Mchangama , Vanderbilt University

Venezuela: why Maduro is ramping up his attack on free speech

Nicolas Forsans , University of Essex

Conspiracy theorist tactics show it’s too easy to get around Facebook’s content policies

Amelia Johns , University of Technology Sydney ; Emily Booth , University of Technology Sydney ; Francesco Bailo , University of Sydney , and Marian-Andrei Rizoiu , University of Technology Sydney

Terrorist content lurks all over the internet – regulating only 6 major platforms won’t be nearly enough

Marten Risius , The University of Queensland and Stan Karanasios , The University of Queensland

If TikTok is banned in the US or Australia, how might the company – or China – respond?

Marina Yue Zhang , University of Technology Sydney and Wanning Sun , University of Technology Sydney

Supreme Court’s questions about First Amendment cases show support for ‘free trade in ideas’

Wayne Unger , Quinnipiac University

Trump wouldn’t be the first presidential candidate to campaign from a prison cell

Thomas Doherty , Brandeis University

Israel-Gaza protests have cost police at least £25 million so far – but can you put a price on free speech?

Eric Heinze , Queen Mary University of London

Australian writers festivals are engulfed in controversy over the war in Gaza. How can they uphold their duty to public debate?

Denis Muller , The University of Melbourne

Doxing or in the public interest? Free speech, ‘cancelling’ and the ethics of the Jewish creatives’ WhatsApp group leak

Hugh Breakey , Griffith University

As the war in Gaza continues, Germany’s unstinting defence of Israel has unleashed a culture war that has just reached Australia

Matt Fitzpatrick , Flinders University

How AI threatens free speech – and what must be done about it

Philip Seargeant , The Open University

Why university presidents find it hard to punish advocating genocide − college free speech codes are both more and less protective than the First Amendment

Supreme Court to consider giving First Amendment protections to social media posts

How a new identity-focused ideology has trapped the left and undermined social justice

Defending space for free discussion, empathy and tolerance on campus is a challenge during Israel-Hamas  war

David Mednicoff , UMass Amherst

A Palestinian author’s award ceremony has been cancelled at Frankfurt Book Fair. This sends the wrong signals at the wrong time

Related topics.

• Academic freedom
• Donald Trump
• First Amendment
• Freedom of speech
• Free speech on campus
• Hate speech
• Social media
• US Supreme Court
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Top contributors

Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne

Professor of Politics and Public Policy, The University of Queensland

Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law. President, Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics., Griffith University

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wayne State University

Professor Emeritus of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Syracuse University

Professor of Law; Kim Santow Chair of Law and Social Justice, University of Sydney

Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication, University of Florida

Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Technology Sydney

Lecturer in Political Theory and Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast

Lecturer, School of Law, University of Aberdeen

Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Professor of Higher Education, University of Mississippi

Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Associate Professor in Political Science and International Relations, The University of Western Australia

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257 Speech Essay Topics

🏆 best speech essay topics, 💡 simple speech essay titles, 👍 good speech research topics & essay examples, 🌟 great topics for speech to write about, 📌 easy speech essay topics, 🎓 most interesting research speech topics, ✍️ speech essay topics for college.

• Greta Thunberg’s Speech: Rhetorical Analysis
• My Mother Is My Source of Inspiration: Speech
• Sociolinguistic Concepts: Definitions, Concepts, and Theories of the Speech Community
• Sociolinguistic Concepts: Speech Community
• Why Do We Need Sleep?: InFormative Speech
• Susan B. Anthony’s Speech Analysis: Rhetorical Devices, Purpose, & More
• A Persuasive Speech: The Importance of Eating Healthy
• “Severn Cullis-Suzuki at Rio Summit” Speech Analysis The primary part of the “Severn Cullis-Suzuki at Rio Summit” speech highlights the seriousness of the situation and reminds us about the prospects of a bleak future for children.
• The Speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” by Martin Luther King, Jr: Rhetorical Analysis In order to convince his audience that the civil rights movement in the U.S. should oppose the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr. appealed to their ethos, pathos, and logos.
• The Speech About a Piece of Paper Paper is a sheet of natural plant or artificial fiber, and its history and the development of the paper industry are not simple.
• Freedom of Speech: Right and Responsibility The freedom of speech grants people the essential right to speak their mind, but it also means that they are responsible for their words.
• Pathos, Ethos, and Logos in Steve Job’s Speech Steve Jobs begins his 2005 speech at Stanford University with a rather emotional but short greeting. Jobs, at that time, was already a famous person.
• Grammy Award for Best Artist: Speech Preparation This document provides an example of a speech given prior to the presentation of the award to the honorable Grammy winner in the industry.
• Barack Obama Inauguration Speech 2009: Analysis Barack Obama gave his inaugural speech after taking the oath of office. He did this while standing in front of a building which was built by black slaves during the period of slavery.
• A Good Conclusion in King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech Concluding thoughts are essential, as they are the final impression a reader receives from a speech or a piece of written communication.
• Social Media and Freedom of Speech Social media has revolutionized how people communicate publicly and privately, allowing users to express thoughts and feelings freely.
• Serial Killers: Speech Analysis The act of murdering other people is a common thing in our society. To kill one person is already a horrifying deed, to kill more than that is a crime against all humanity.
• Al Gore’s Speech on Global Warming Using two essential constituents of a subtle rhetoric analysis for speech or text, the paper scrutinizes Al Gore’s speech on global warming.
• Teen Pregnancy Persuasive Speech Plan This paper tries to persuade the Communications 111 class that teenage pregnancy is still rampant among teens in the US and has unprecedented effects on the teens.
• Rhetorical Analysis: “I Have a Dream” Speech It can be stated without a doubt that Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” is among the most memorable and outstanding speeches up to date.
• A More Perfect Union Speech Analysis – Barack Obama’s Speech To write about Barack Obama’s A More Perfect Union speech analysis, examine its rhetorical strategies. ♥ We can help! ? See this Obama’s speech analysis essay.
• Taming of the Shrew: Katherina’s Final Speech Katherine’s final speech in Act 5, scene 2 of Taming of the Shrew, is quite surprising and contradictory to her character.
• Private Speech in Psychology Private speech is the act of communicating with oneself for the purposes of self-guidance and self-regulation.
• Metaphors in King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech This paper examines the extensive use of metaphors in Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream”, and how metaphors serve as powerful literary devices in political speeches.
• Speech of Emma Watson: Gender Equality The paper discusses the process of Emma Watson makes the first speech called United Nations Address on Gender Equality, focusing on gender equality.
• Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech at Stanford University From 2005 Jobs’ speech at the 2005 graduation is still relevant today because it raises fundamental questions. The author wants to show every student that life can be difficult.
• Malala Yousafzai’s Speech on Education The purpose of Malala Yousafzai’s speech was to unite and help society ensure that education becomes a right for every child.
• Matthew McConaughey’s 2014 Best Actor Acceptance Speech The thesis aims to investigate verbal and nonverbal clues. The artifact chosen for the analysis is Matthew McConaughey’s 2014 Best Actor award speech.
• Parts of Speech Misused in English Sentences Every word in the English language belongs to a certain grammatical category. Every part of speech has a lot of subcategories, which determine the use of certain words.
• Negative Bullying Outcomes: A Persuasive Speech Bullying has adverse effects on both victims and perpetrators. Bullying should be prevented, or should it occur, reported, and taken care of as soon as possible.
• The Speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a Dream” is recognized as one of the best speeches of the XX century due to its vivid imagery, persuasiveness, and clear structure.
• Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman” Speech Analysis This paper provides an analysis of Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman,” focusing on the literary devices she employs to amplify the significance of her message.
• Analysis of Othello Speech With Brabantio The analysis focuses on Othello’s speech from the writing’s Act 1, Scene 3 where context is based on Brabantio accusing Othello about the latter stealing the former’s daughter.
• Speech Defending the Construction of Bicycle Lanes The purpose of my appeal to the city authorities and the local community is to build bicycle lanes and to create new bicycle routes.
• Electric Cars and Their Future: Informative Speech Choosing electric cars will reduce the level of gas emissions in the air and provide opportunities for recycling and usage of renewable sources of energy instead of gasoline.
• Jules Ferry’s Speech on French Colonial Expansion Jules Ferry, a politician of the early Third Republic, is famous for his strategy of secular education and the fruitful extension of France as a colonial empire.
• Steve Job’s Speech at Stanford: Rhetorical Analysis Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford university commencement address illustrates how rhetorical components should be utilized while giving a discourse.
• Special Features of the Oprah Winfrey’s Speech During Harvard Commencement This paper examines the features of Oprah Winfrey’s speech during Harvard Commencement in 2013, as she was able to attract the listeners’ attention and transmit her message.
• Steve Job’s Commencement Speech at Stanford Steve Jobs’s speech is the subject of the paper which seeks to demonstrate how the speech attains the hallmarks of persuasion and rhetoric
• Informative Speech: Importance of Ethical Awareness Ethical awareness is very important in our society; morality promotes integrity, tranquility, peaceful coexistence as well as professional building.
• President’s Speech on the High Levels of Corruption Corruption leads to the destruction of a person’s morals and ethics and would increase people’s hatred towards that person.
• Pope Urban II Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095 The paper represents the Pope’s speech in 1095 at Clermont: Urban had an appeal to a crusade where he addressed to the Christian, the Church leaders and members from all walks of life.
• Analyzing Edmund Burke’s Speech on Reconciliation With America Edmund Burke’s speech on reconciliation with America on March 22, 1775 describes his thinking on the colonial crisis.
• Personal Informative Speech Reflection Public speaking skills are essential in the contemporary world since they contribute to a person’s academic and career achievements.
• Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 UN Speech and Its Importance Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech to the United Nations (UN) of 1988 is believed to have paved the way for the improvement of the US-Soviet relations during the Cold War.
• Diotima’s Speech in “The Symposium” by Plato In the work “The Symposium” by Plato, Socrates quotes Diotima as saying that Love is neither mortal nor eternal, lovely nor ugly.
• Steve Jobs: The Commencement Ceremony Speech Steve Jobs talks at length about a few things: people’s ambitions and curiosity. Giving a personal account from his life, the man tells his audience how he found his purpose in life.
• TED Talk Analysis: Tim Urban’s Speech on Procrastination One of the most successful speeches is Tim Urban’s speech on procrastination. the speaker was telling the audience a story of one’s personal experience with procrastination.
• Effective Speech Delivery Tips How do we make our speech effective? Why do we sometimes remain misunderstood despite our efforts? What prevents us from being heard?
• The “Ain’t I a Woman?” Speech by Truth: Rhetorical Analysis “Ain’t I a Woman?” is a seminal speech by Sojourner Truth at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Truth uses numerous rhetorical devices to appeal to her audience.
• Michelle Obama’s TED Speech: Rhetoric Devices Michelle Obama’s TED speech is an example of a well-designed public speech that will be analyzed according to the Aristotelian rhetoric framework.
• Martin Luther King Speech “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” speech addresses the subject that many people fighting against racism and segregation regarded as controversial at the time.
• Pros and Cons of Free Speech Regulations on Social Media Freedom of mass information is considered the central principle in any democratic state which necessary for political pluralism and cultural diversity.
• Speech and Open Letters: Genre Analysis The most interesting and inspiring genre is speech and open letters because they are not only practical but can also be transformative.
• Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Controversial Speech Analysis Mayor Mitch Landrieu gave a controversial speech on removing four statues from the city of New Orleans. This paper examines the rhetorical aspects of the speech.
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s ”I Have a Dream” and Old Major’s in ”Animal Farm” Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” and Old Major’s speech from Animal Farm has the same message of wanting equality, though in different ways.
• Confidentiality in Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists Clinicians may encounter challenges related to confidentiality during clinical practice and research that require the application of critical thinking and ethical decision-making.
• Convincing Techniques of “The Danger of a Single Story” Speech “The Danger of a Single Story” uses ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the listeners of the importance of the issue it is speaking about.
• Greta Thunberg Speech with Loaded Language Greta Thunberg gained worldwide fame, promoting ideas about the inevitable ecological disaster on the Earth and criticizing politicians for their inability to solve this problem.
• First Lady Michelle Obama Commencement Speech By her speech, Michelle Obama honors the distinguished Tuskegee alumni and encourages the students to overcome the obstacles on the way to achievements and be true to themselves.
• Freedom of Speech on the Internet The research paper explores freedom of speech, with a specific focus on each person’s right to express their thoughts on the Internet.
• Communication Analysis of Lady Gaga’s Acceptance Speech Lady Gaga won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and gave her acceptance speech in 2019. She thanked the Grammy organizers and audience for the award.
• Lady Gaga’s “Women in Hollywood” Acceptance Speech Lady Gaga’s “Women in Hollywood Acceptance Speech” is an example of powerful and highly successful rhetoric based mostly on emotions and not on facts and references.
• The Michelle Obama’s Commencement Speech at Spelman College In her speech at Spelman College, Michelle Obama was able to convince the audience to accept her vision of the students’ mission because of applying three modes of persuasion.
• Obama Speech: Rhetorical Analysis and Evaluation In his speech, Obama starts by making reference to Martin Luther King Jr. He highlights the important role Luther played in the fight for the liberation of the Black Americans.
• “The King’s Speech” Movie and Anxiety Disorder Although several movies depict persons with social anxiety disorder, “The king’s speech” tends to do it particularly well.
• Pathos, Ethos, and Logos in Steve Jobs’s Speech at Stanford University In Steve Jobs’s speech at Stanford University, the combination of ethos and pathos captured the audience from the very beginning of the speech.
• Why is Martin Luther King Jr. Speech “I Have a Dream” Still Important after 40 Years? Martin Luther king’s Speech, “I Have a Dream” is still relevant today because it reflects the main problems and social issues affected modern society.
• Rhetorical Analysis of Steve Jobs Commencement Speech In his commencement speech presented to the Stanford graduates of 2005, Steve Jobs provided the audience with parallels regarding the college setting and his education and career path.
• Speech: On the Importance of Blood Donation This article is a detailed outline of a compelling speech about the benefits and critical importance of regular blood donation.
• Student’s Rights: Freedom of Speech Institutional laws depend on the guidelines of student’s constitution while state laws outline individual’s different forms of freedoms.
• “Enemies From Within” the Speech by Joseph McCarthy McCarthy made it clear that the threat was real and the enemy was already within. The politician fueled people’s fears making them irrational and vulnerable.
• Theodore Roosevelt’s “Who Is a Progressive?” Speech In his 1912 captivating speech, Theodore Roosevelt discusses the meaning of progressivism coupled with highlighting the basic characteristics that progressives should embody.
• Iron Curtain Speech: History, Facts and Impact When Churchill gave his speech, the U.S. was expanding its influence in various Western European states and other countries around the world.
• Informative vs. Persuasive Speeches Though persuasive speeches tell the audience what to do with the knowledge, Informative speeches do not have a call to action.
• Persuasive Speech: Chat Rooms Are Unsafe for Underage Users Online chat rooms on various platforms require regulation in order to create a safer environment for underage users.
• “The Perils of Indifference” Speech Analysis The rhetoric of the Perils of Indifference included Weisel’s personal experience of the Holocaust and the theme of indifference during the 20th century.
• Roosevelt and Obama: Critical Analysis of Two Speeches The most interesting concept of freedom is the one introduced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his famous speech. The concept of the freedom of fear deserves closer speculation.
• Analysis of Special Occasion Speeches The purpose of the following paper is to critique special occasion speeches using the provided speech evaluation form.
• Phoenix’s Speech in Book 9th of the Iliad The long speech of the phoenix in the ninth book of the Iliad is an important section in the vital subject of the poem. It is an ethical statement, and a minimum share of critical scrutiny is given in its opening part.
• C. Joseph’s “I Will Fight No More Forever” Speech Chief Joseph’s speech conveyed a powerful message to the American government, which had betrayed the people of the Ned Perce.
• How a Blender Works: Commercial Speech A blender is a beneficial kitchen tool that can speed up the process of preparing food and help in coming up with new recipes since the possibilities of its use are endless.
• Their Finest Hour: Winston Churchill’s Speech The speech that is delivered to the people must include components to achieve the desired effect. A great example is Winston Churchill’s speech entitled “Their finest hour.”
• “The Soft-Hearted Sioux” and “Tecumseh’s Speech to the Osages” The paper analyses Zitkala-Sa’s story “The Soft-Hearted Sioux” and “Tecumseh’s Speech to the Osages” which have certain similarities and differences.
• Freedom of Speech and Censorship One of the most critical aspects of fighting against cybercrime involves a proper balance between the preservation of people’s right to free speech and censorship.
• Nelson Mandela’s Tribute Speech: Content, Structure, and Delivery The tribute speech to be analyzed was delivered by Barrack Obama during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, it will be analyzed in terms of content, structure, and delivery.
• Pericles’ “Funeral Oration”: Speech Analysis Delivered in 431 B.C., Pericles’ “Funeral Oration” speech praises Athenians’ sacrifices and inspires other citizens to be proud of their city and keep fighting for it.
• Jacket’s “Indian Speech” and Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” This paper will address the aspect of symbolism in relationship with nature as suggested in Jacket’s Indian Speech and Franklin’s Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America.
• Myra Walters’ Speech: Benefits of Doing Yoga The informative speech delivered by Myra Walters aims to demonstrate the physical and psychological benefits of doing yoga.
• Muhammad Ali and His Legacy: Informative Speech At the age of 12, Muhammad Ali started training as an amateur boxer under a police officer in Louisville, Joe Martin. At the Summer Olympics in 1960, he attained a gold medal.
• The Speeches “Is it a Crime to Vote?” by Anthony and “We Should All Be Feminists” by Adichie This paper analyzes Susan Anthony’s speech “Is it a Crime to Vote?” and Chimamanda Adichie’s speech “We Should All Be Feminists” and identifies the elements of a political speech.
• Speech of Ralph Waldo Emerson “The American Scholar” The current paper explores and reflects on the various external influences on scholars and scientific thought in the United States.
• King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Analysis I Have a Dream is a short utterance in which Martin Luther King believes that blacks and whites will be equal and can get rid of prejudices.
• The School Board Candidacy Speech The article presents a Speech to the School Council on Hiring, which talks about the motives and personal qualities of the candidate.
• Angelina Jolie’s Rhetorical Speech on Female Empowerment Angelina Jolie delivered a powerful message to her colleagues to inspire them to fight for female empowerment through art.
• Hegemony vs. Counter Hegemony: Power & Speech Hegemony is commonly defined as a method of subordinating another population by forcing consent to domination and a foreign ideology.
• Little Speech of Liberty and Mayflower Compact The Little Speech of Liberty and the Mayflower Compact expresses the practice of classical conservatism in society. They both value the stability of society.
• Analysis of Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural Speech Ronald Reagan’s inaugural speech of 1981 is a speech of recognition, namely a speech of introduction or acceptance, and an inspirational speech to a certain extent.
• The Speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King This essay focuses on how King used literary devices such as rhetoric, pathos, ethos, logos, personification, and hyperbole to achieve his purpose of the speech “I Have a Dream”.
• The Impact of Martin Luther King’s Speech King’s speech was meant for the black community but also called for like-minded Caucasians to join the fight in ensuring equal treatment for everyone in America despite their skin color.
• Types of Dialects, Speech Communities, Perception and Regional Variation in American English To find out how people make use of both standard and non-standard dialects, I made a decision to observe the conversation between a teacher of English and a student.
• Informative Speech On Business Performance Management In the troubled days of economic crisis and recession the only way companies have to survive economic uncertainty is by making good use of business “performance management”.
• Freedom of Speech and Restrictions: Pros and Cons Freedom of speech, being naturally controversial, dramatically benefits from balancing its two extreme states – absolute freedom and absolute restriction.
• George W. Bush’s Speech: Rhetorical Analysis The speech under analysis is delivered by former US president George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. The speech’s aim was to outline the US policy.
• Our Loss of Wisdom, Speech of Barry Schwartz The purpose of this paper is to analyze and describe the speech of Barry Schwartz and outline the connection to Georg Simmel and George Hervert Mead’s theories in the context of this issue.
• Fast Foods Lead to Fast Death: Informative Speech The fast-food industry has expanded at a rapid pace during the past half-century. The consequence has been the rapid expansion of the nation’s collective waistline.
• “The Date of Infamy”: Roosevelt’s Speech Analysis “The Date of Infamy” is the designation for the date on which the Japanese Empire’s air force attacked Pearl Harbor, the leading U.S. naval base.
• Speech Regulation on Social Media As the public relies heavily on social media to express and receive information, speech regulation should be implemented in a limited capacity to prevent evident abuses.
• Argumentation Essay on J.F. Kennedy’s Inauguration Speech During the rise of the Cold War, John F. Kennedy vowed to reinforce American military powers and guaranteed an intense position against the Soviet Union.
• Elements of “CPR Demonstration Speech” by Myles Odermann In the “CPR Demonstration Speech,” the elements of a practical demonstration were found: logic, confidence, and explanation of the order of actions.
• Habilitation in Speech Pathology Practice In speech-language pathology (SLP), habilitation most often concerns children whose speech abilities are not developed to the level they usually form at that age.
• How to Cite Sources for Informative Speech Informative speech has to involve appropriate citations from credible sources to be trustworthy, hence persuasive, and to avoid ethical issues, notably, plagiarizing.
• Stella Young’s Speech: “I Am Not Your Inspiration” This essay analyses Stella Young’s speech “I am not your inspiration,” her capability to deliver it effectively, and the expected reactions from her audience.
• Speech about COVID-19: Data and Statistics COVID-19 is a dangerous pathogen that affects our body on the cellular level. It presents a challenge for contemporary medical professionals and governments.
• Mind Mapping and Learning: A Persuasive Speech This paper is a persuasive speech on the topic of mind mapping with the purpose to persuade the audience to take steps to improve people’s learning experience.
• Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech Rhetorical Analysis Steve Jobs, one of the founders and shareholders of Apple, is famous for introducing unique strategies that tend to evoke general interest to his model of business.
• Freedom of Speech in British Universities This report recommends for modern UK students to develop free debates and peaceful demonstrations in specific zones and prove that young minds have to be open.
• Mikhail Gorbachev’s Famous Speech at the United Nations Conference Mikhail Gorbachev chose the United Nations as his forum for his famous 1988 speech because it gave him a vantage arena whereby the whole world was the audience.
• Speech Disorders in English Language Learners The development and acquisition of language skills and speech by children have always been of particular interest for linguists.
• Jules Ferry’s Speech “On Colonial Expansion” The paper will provide an outline of developments in world trade that Jules Ferry is concerned with, his answers to critics, and non-economic reasons for imperialist expansion.
• “I Have a Dream” Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King There are numerous historical examples of how words can be a powerful instrument for influential and moral people who want to inform or persuade others.
• The “Speech Genres and Other Late Essays” Book by Bakhtin The book “Speech Genres and Other Late Essays” by Mikhail Bakhtin is centered on the question of what constitutes genres in terms of the specific types of utterances.
• Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech Analysis A prominent figure, such as Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, has the potential to change a person’s life in the most extraordinary ways.
• Homage to the Trainer Speech Example Hello, dear friends! I am called upon to tell you how my coach helped me to become better, stronger and taught me to live. My story began two years ago when I came to my coach with a dream to become stronger and more resilient. At that time, I was…
• Confederate Constitution and “Cornerstone” Speech Both the Confederate Constitution and the speech demonstrate the eagerness to secure slavery and incorporate its ideological justifications into the political fabric of the law.
• The Tone of Voice When Giving a Speech The tone of voice is vital when giving a speech since it helps engage and interest the audience and guarantees clear transmission of ideas.
• Free Speech Regulation on Social Media Even though some countries actively support the position of freedom of speech for their citizens, it should still be monitored and regulated in social networks.
• Mia Mottley’s Speech at the Opening of the #COP26 World Leaders Summit Mia Mottley’s speech is powerful as she warns nations of the impending catastrophe for all countries if the COP26 summit doesn’t elicit a plan to deal with climate change.
• Conflict of Interest in Speech Therapy Conflict of interest in clinical practice and especially in speech therapy is a phenomenon emerging due to the presence of varying perspectives of personal and professional nature.
• John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech Analysis This paper will provide an analysis of Kennedy’s inaugural address and discuss the rhetoric used by the speaker in order to convince his audience.
• Martin Luther King Speech Reflection King as an excellent public speaker was familiar with principles and techniques of winning the support of his listeners. One of such techniques is ethos.
• Issues on Internet: Privacy and Freedom of Speech Two of the issues, namely, privacy and freedom of speech with regards to the Internet have been discussed in this article.
• Overcoming Communication Barriers: Complete Loss of Speech Complete loss of speech is a serious barrier that prevents individuals from communicating with others properly.
• Language Processing and Speech Mistakes Language processing and word formation constitute the major dilemma for psycholinguistic and neuro-linguistic research.
• Freedom of Speech Peculiarities The paper describes that as much as people exercise their freedom of speech, they have to be censored to protect the interest of those that may be affected by such acts.
• Language and Sexuality: Hate Speech Language can be used in a very negative manner which may lead to hate speech which obviously destroys friendship and cultural ties and this represents discriminatory language.
• Drug Use and Heroin Addiction: Informative Speech The illegality of drugs makes it impossible to research the actual numbers of people using drugs and situations making these persons initiate drug abuse and harm their health.
• Hitler’s and Roosevelt’s Inaugural Speeches This paper aims to compare Hitler’s and Roosevelt’s inaugural speeches in order to find similarities and differences in their political courses.
• Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler: Inaugural Speeches This paper analysis the two leaders’ Inaugural address to see the differences and similarities of their paths chosen to save their nations. The paper discusses Roosevelt and Hitler.
• Law: Freedom of Speech and the Right to Offend The current paper aims at evaluating the video with several people discussing the right of the press to offend people and the right of the readers to use bloody techniques to solve their discontents
• Freedom of Speech: The Basic Human Right Freedom of speech allows everyone to receive and impart information. People and communities should articulate their thoughts and ideas without fear of any form of intimidation.
• Tecumseh’s Historical Speech and Sherman Alexie’s Poems: Comparative Analysis While Tecumseh’s historical speech is filled with pride and even cruelty, Alexie’s poems are perceived more difficult and less obvious.
• Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech The diversity in people’s views, mentalities, and cultures might precondition the clash of visions. The rights of people might serve as the source of conflicts.
• McCarthyism and Anti-Communist Campaigns: The Role of Senator McCarthy’s Speech and Red Scare Senator McCarthy’s speech was of significant impact in America through his allegations of communist support among citizens and leadership of the country, leading to the Red Scare.
• King’s Speech “I Have a Dream”: Neo-Aristotelian Critique In 1963, Martin Luther King proclaimed his famous speech that was aimed at emphasizing the fact that, despite all the difficulties, African Americans could achieve their goal.
• Health Science Professions: Speech Pathology Speech pathology refers to the study of problems regarding speech, mastery of language, voice development as well as the passage of solid food through the throat.
• President Obama’s United Nations General Assembly Speech President Obama is critiqued and praised as an exemplar of liberalism in international relations. His approach can also be viewed as an expression of Constructivist thinking.
• Auburn’s, Chopin’s and Updike’s Figurative Speech The use of figurative speech is considered a bon ton. David Auburn, Kate Chopin, and John Updike have used this technique in their work.
• Hate Speech: The Negative Implications Hate speech is used for expressions of hatred, abuse, harassment, discrimination, insults, inciting violence, and intimidation against people that fall into a specific category.
• Rhetoric: Different Types of Speeches Good speech builds support, which can be used to develop future interactions with the audience. Informative and persuasive speech types are aids in this endeavor.
• Constitutional Law: Freedom of Speech The court’s decision to uphold Sarah Sampson’s right came from case laws whose interpretation of the Constitution clarified the legality of expressions.
• Rhetoric Tactics in The King’s Speech Film The King’s Speech showcases the strategies used by the ascendant monarch of the British Empire to overcome his own fear of public speaking.
• Language and Speech Development in Children At 2-3 years, children can form simple sentences that consist of approximately 3-4 words and are better at saying words.
• Joe Biden’s 2021 Speech: Rhetorical Analysis Joe Biden, the current President of the US, gave a speech on the coronavirus pandemic on March 11, 2021. The speaker deployed various rhetorical strategies and devices.
• Censorship as a Way to Limit Freedom of Speech A simple example of censorship is when some people impose their political or moral values ​​on others by suppressing words, images, or ideas they find offensive.
• Free Speech in the United States Free speech is a critical part of the United States, and punishing it is counterproductive to the peaceful development of ideas, discussions, and the liberal society at large.
• Washington’s and DuBois’ Speeches Comparison I read the writings of two of the great spokesmen for the Black rights movement, Washington and DuBois, and tried to choose which of them made the best case.
• Freedom of Speech: Restrictions in Social Networks Actions by the US government to influence free speech on Facebook, Twitter, and other such networks are acceptable, but only if they are related to national security.
• Obama’s and Clinton’s Speeches Rhetorical Analysis This article presents a rhetorical analysis of the speeches of the following historical figures: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
• The Quarterly Journal of Speech’s Areas of Focus The aim of this report is to discuss the current areas of focus of the Quarterly Journal of Speech and the significance of the journal to rhetoric.
• Speech of Gubernatorial Candidate of Minnesota This is a speech by a gubernatorial candidate of Minnesota, addressing poor urban conditions for challenged people, pollution, and the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses.
• Example of Speech About Personal Views on Independence and Personal Development Exposition Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here today to share with you a very personal event that has had a significant impact on how I view independence and personal development. It was a pivotal moment in my life when I boldly decided to leave my hometown’s familiarity and venture into the…
• Restrictions on Freedom of Speech on Social Networks Social networks control modern restrictions on freedom of speech in many ways, affecting all aspects of people’s lives to reduce the existing imbalance and avoid open hatred.
• Kleon’s “Steal Like an Artist” Speech Analysis The speech “Steal like an Artist” has a provocative name and may seem controversial or offensive to some people.
• Aaronson’s and McCue’s Speeches on Terrorism Aaronson and McCue have had their chance to deliver their speeches at TED regarding the problem of terrorism. The speakers shed light on the issue from quite a unique perspective.
• The Main Points of George Washington’s Farewell Speech George Washington’s Farewell Address left an enormous cultural impact on the country’s political life. His ideas were reflected in future American history.
• The Public Speech “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King The paper analyzes the public persuasive speech “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King based on centering audience, arguments, and verbal delivery.
• Speeches by Jim Carrey and Chris Do
• President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech Analysis
• The Fundamental Human Rights Speech
• Schenck v. United States as Free Speech Issue
• American History in the Entirety of Trump’s Speech
• The Art of Rhetoric for an Effective Speech
• Freedom of Speech: The Adequate Restrictions
• Lincoln’s, Obama’s, Biden’s Speeches Analysis
• “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.: Methods of Speech Delivery
• Sources on Mark Zuckerberg’s Speech in Congress
• Athenian Values in Pericles’ Speeches
• 7 Principles for Building Better Cities Speech by Calthorpe
• Abraham Lincoln’s “The Emancipation Proclamation” Speech
• The Speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass
• Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” Speech
• Ethical Relativism and Freedom of Speech
• Pierre Trudeau’s War Measures Act Speech
• The Self-Introduction Speeches and Their Analysis
• “The Perils of Indifference” Speech by Elie Wiesel
• “Stress Test for Free Speech” by Lincoln Caplan
• Significance of the Speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King
• Coverage Story on Thunberg Speech
• Gary Haugen’s Speech on Violence and Poverty
• Washington’s Farewell Speech: Discovering the American Purpose
• Importance of Freedom of Speech to American Citizens
• Douglass’s Speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
• The Emancipation Proclamation and Fredrick Douglass’s Speech
• Creating a Successful Informative Speech
• Cohen’s “The King of World We All Want” Speech
• Immigrants in USA: Speech to Influence Thinking
• John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration Speech Aspirations
• Types of Speech Used in Everyday Life
• Freedom of Speech Despite Life Risks
• Rhetorical Analysis of Steve Jobs’ Speech
• Medical Liability Speech
• Reflection on Hume’s Speech and Lecture
• Nelson Mandela: Ceremonial Speech
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Inaugural Speech
• Barack Obama’s Speech on Race in Philadelphia
• Inaugural Speech of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• The Connection Between Obama’s Comment and Garvey’s Speech
• Donald Trump’s Twitter and Free Speech
• Analysis of President George W. Bush’s Speech to the Nation on 9/11
• Speech on Mother Teresa: Poverty and Interiority in Mother Teresa
• Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech Analysis: The Main Message
• The Democrat and the Dictator: Roosevelt’s and Hitler’s Speech
• Brownmiller on Free Speech and Pornography
• Argument of Definition: Hate Speech
• Civil War Resolutions, Party Platforms and Speeches
• John Anderson’s Sustainability Speech at Berkeley
• Barrack Obama’s First Speech as the US President
• Sustein and Tocqueville: Two Opinions on Freedom of Speech
• Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” Speech
• How to Structure a Persuasive Speech
• The Rationale and Impact of President George W. Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ Speech in January 2002
• Anti- and Southern Elements in Reagan’s Speech
• Frontier Discourses: The Speech of Senator Hammond
• Speech of Persuasion. Pursuit of One’s Goal
• Phonological Representations in Speech Role
• Mary Fisher’s 1992 National Convention Speech
• Truman’s Speech on Fear of Communism and Islam
• Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Speech
• Adolf Hitler’s 1933 Speech Mobilizing the Masses
• Female Speech Community in the University
• History: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
• Eric Schmidt’s Speech on Google Inc.’s Future
• The Speech of Thomas Friedman
• Global Food Security: UN Speech
• Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 UN Speech: The Significance of the Message
• Speech Differences in Bilinguals and Monolinguals
• Free Speech and First Amendment
• African Leader’s Speech on Independence and Future
• Barack Obama’s Speech on State of the Union
• Mikhail Gorbachev’s Speech in 1988 in the USA
• Barrack Obama’s Speech on the Oil Spill Crisis
• Sinews of Peace: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
• Texas v. Johnson: Flag Burning and Free Speech
• Language and the Brain: Speech Mechanics Discovering
• Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech for American Audience
• Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 United Nations Speech
• Free Speech and National Security Controversy
• Inaugural Speech of Donald Trump and Other Republicans
• Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 UN Speech
• Music and Speech in Deutsch’s and Levitin’s Views
• The Speech of Gorbachev in the United Nations in 1988: A Significant Role in a Foreign Policy
• Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech Analysis
• Iron Curtain Speech: Winston Churchill’s Famous Fulton Speech
• Winston Churchill’s Speech and Cold War
• Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
• Learning Disabilities: Speech and Language Disorders

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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 257 Speech Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/speech-essay-topics/

"257 Speech Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 9 Sept. 2021, studycorgi.com/ideas/speech-essay-topics/.

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StudyCorgi . "257 Speech Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/speech-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "257 Speech Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/speech-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Speech were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 9, 2024 .

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

• Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
• Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
• How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
• How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
• How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

• What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
• How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
• How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
• Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
• What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
• What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
• How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
• How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
• What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
• What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
• What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
• Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
• Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
• Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
• Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
• Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
• Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
• How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
• Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
• What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
• How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
• What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
• Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
• Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
• Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
• How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
• Should graduate students be able to form unions?

• What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
• How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
• How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
• How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
• Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
• Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
• Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
• Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
• Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
• Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
• Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
• Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
• Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
• How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
• What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
• What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
• Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
• What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
• What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
• Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
• Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
• How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
• Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
• What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
• How does stress affect the body?
• Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
• What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
• How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
• Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
• What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
• What were the causes of the Civil War?
• How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
• Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
• What caused Hitler's rise to power?
• Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
• What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
• How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
• What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
• Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
• How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
• How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
• What are the pros and cons of fracking?
• What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
• What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
• How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
• Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
• Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
• What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
• What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Why Free Speech Is An Important Freedom Argumentative Essay

Introduction.

Freedom of speech is synonymous with freedom of expression. These two terms do not only explain the ability to speak or voice opinions without limitation or interference, but also the use of other means in communicating or impacting information.

This includes the use of expressions, music and art like painting, photography, and performing. In many countries, this freedom is provided for in as a basic freedom. Under the Universal Declaration of human rights in the United Nations there is a provision for this freedom. There are many genuine reasons why free speech is an important freedom.

Expressing oneself is a basic and important aspect of life and is also part of the basis for communication; it is more instinctive than learned. Throughout childhood and life, freedom of speech supports the learning of an individual through the acquisition of new views, ideas, concepts and theories in scientific, social and other fields of education.

One is able to participate in healthy debates and discussions, learn how to win and persuade in arguments and tolerate or even accept other people’s perceptions and ways of thinking. When an individual is able to express their ideas and opinions, it enables them to relate with others, participate in and enjoy interaction and bonding with other members of a group, team and community.

The main importance of speech learning and development is to facilitate expression and help an individual to live in harmony with other people in society, making sure that there needs are met and their rights, values and principles are not violated. Limiting or interfering with the freedom to speak and express oneself is a big violation of the basic rights of an individual and it restrains an individual from living a normal, productive and independent life.

Freedom of speech is an important aspect of social life in a civilized and democratic society. It enables people to make decisions on their rulers, systems of development and administration and initiate debates and discussions on important issues that concern public policy and governance.

People can voice their concerns over any problems or issues on accountability, responsibility and transparency of leadership. Freedom of speech is essential in the maintaining of law and order and making sure that there are checks and balances on individuals or groups which violate the law.

Although there has been debate on the justification of freedom of speech, it is important to realize that society cannot develop or advance when imparting of and access to information is impeded. In some instances privacy, control and protection of information is required but this does not mean that information should be completely barred from the public.

Freedom of expression is also important where social and cultural issues are concerned. When people are at liberty to express their opinions on critical issues concerning social values, norms and standards, social harmony and order is achieved.

In order to facilitate effective change which is inevitable, sensitive Issues concerning social life, like abortion, aesthesia, divorce, parenting, marriage etc. should be open to debate whether there is consensus or not. It is obviously clear that not all forms and means of freedom of expression that supported and defended but in order to prevent social tension and chaos people should be free to speak.

There are many reasons why free speech is an important freedom. Most societies agree that there should be clearly set guarantees on protecting and defending of this freedom without very little limitation except when it is very necessary and there has been general consensus on taking action against disbursement of information.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Why Free Speech Is An Important Freedom." November 25, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/why-free-speech-is-an-important-freedom/.

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Controversial Topic: Censorship and Freedom of Speech

The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights protects the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religious expression, and the right to a free press against government restriction. As a key component in the very first article of the Bill of Rights, free speech is among the most cherished and frequently-cited protections built into the U.S. Constitution. However, because the content of that speech and expression may itself provoke sharp disagreement, this controversial topic usually concerns differing ideas about what constitutes “protected speech” as well as the methods that should or shouldn’t be used to limit free speech. This underscores the debate around Freedom of Speech and Censorship. The ongoing public controversy over free speech this a popular persuasive essay topic.

Key Takeaways

• Freedom of speech enables people to express their opinions without restraints or censorship. While this component of democracy has been practiced since immemorial, some individuals still fail to see where to draw the line when practicing this freedom.
• Individuals need to understand that freedom of speech still has limitations. While the First Amendment doesn’t specifically identify what is and is not protected, the Supreme Court ruled that some forms of speech are not allowed.
• The only drawback of censorship is violating one’s freedom of speech. To prevent harmful information, censorship tends to restrict legitimate data. Therefore, people should know and understand censorship’s pros and cons.

In a sense which differentiates this topic from many other controversial topics, advocacy for free speech knows no specific political affiliation. This core principle of America’s founding-that the government shall make no law restricting or prohibiting free speech-is one shared by most Americans. And yet, there is an ongoing push and pull over how to interpret, protect, or limit free speech. The free speech debate topic in the U.S. concerns:

Advocacy for free speech knows no specific political affiliation. This core principle of America's founding-that the government shall make no law restricting or prohibiting free speech-is one shared by most Americans” – @AcademicInflux TWEET POST

• The unfettered exercise of First Amendment rights;
• Government efforts to place what are posited as approach limitations on such exercise; and
• Efforts by political groups, citizen groups and activists to confront and silence speech that it deems offensive.

The goal of this discussion is to examine the various perspectives shaping the public discussion over Censorship and Freedom of Speech, and to provide you with a look at some of the figures past and present who have influenced this discussion. The figures selected may not always be household names, but are instead selected to provide a nuanced look at the public discourse on this subject, and in some cases, even to provide you with a list of individuals to contact as part of your research.

A Brief History of The Issue

On December 15th, 1791, the first 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights were ratified as part of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This amendment has had a far-reaching impact on the formation of public life in America, from our practice of religion and our expression of art to our political affiliation, modes of protest, and our expectations of a free and fair press. The freedoms and protections implicated by the First Amendment are held as fundamental principles of the free and democratic society intended by the U.S. Constitution. First Amendment protections inform an array of rights that have been challenged and upheld over the course of more than two centuries.

The freedoms and protections implicated by the First Amendment are held as fundamental principles of the free and democratic society intended by the U.S. Constitution.” – @AcademicInflux TWEET POST

Though the First Amendment itself is held as fundamental, the reach of its protections has been frequently challenged, most notably by way of:

• Judicial precedent;
• State-sponsored censorship; and more recently,
• Public pressure campaigns aimed toward “cancellation” of figures perceived to be guilty of offensive speech.

These challenges represent the various ways that both those in positions of authority and portions of the public can advocate for limitations on the protections accorded in the First Amendment. In some cases, these limitations are not only advocated for, but accepted as legal precedent.

Limitations on Free Speech

While the First Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws to stifle free speech, court precedent has upheld the placement of certain limitations on modes of free speech. These exceptions to the First Amendment underscore the interpretative nature of this fundamental right, as well as the impetus to use limitations and modes of censorship for the declared purpose of protecting public safety. Wikipedia notes that “Numerous holdings of [the Supreme] Court attest to the fact that the First Amendment does not literally mean that we ‘are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship.’”

The most consequential legal challenges surrounding freedom of speech do not question the basic premise of this freedom, but have instead centered on disputes around what should or should not be considered restricted speech.

• Inciting a Riot: The most famously-cited example of restricted speech comes from the 1919 case of Schenck v. United States , in which Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. analogized that the First Amendment does not make lawful the act of “falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” This assessment informed a 1969 decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio that forms of speech may be restricted if it may be proven that this speech is directed toward, or likely to incite, a riot.
• The Fighting Words Doctrine: In the case of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire , 315 U. S. 568 (1942), the court found that “Under New Hampshire’s Offensive Conduct law (chap. 378, para. 2 of the NH. Public Laws) it is illegal for anyone to address ‘any offensive, derisive or annoying word to anyone who is lawfully in any street or public place... or to call him by an offensive or derisive name.’” Case law has repeatedly confirmed this basic doctrine while substantially narrowing the definition of fighting words to the extent that a wide range of potentially offensive or hateful forms of speech remain protected as long as they are demonstrably public, and not personal, in the nature of their attack.
• Obscenity: Obscenity is perhaps the most debated area of free speech in the public forum. Obscenity is, by admission of the courts themselves, a difficult quality to define. However, precedent finds that forms of speech and expression which can be identified as obscene are not protected by the First Amendment, According to Roth v. United States , 354 U. S. 476 (1957), there is no protection for speech or expression which is “utterly without redeeming social importance,” and that, to “an average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest.” In the most famous affirmation of Roth v. U.S., Justice Potter Stewart noted in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) , that “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced... [b]ut I know it when I see it.” This highly subjective standard opens the floor for ongoing legal challenge and discourse over what is defined as obscene.
• Defamation: Defamation is a form of speech which is not protected by the First Amendment. Statements in public spaces or in print (and increasingly, on social media) may not be slanderous or libelous. However, the case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan , 376 U. S. 254 (1964) found that there should be exceptions to the reach of defamation claims for those who are American public officials. The findings of this case denote that a statement must be proven to have been made with “actual malice”, meaning that the defendant either knew the statement was false or recklessly disregarded whether or not it was true. In 1967, the case of Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts extended that exception to all “public figures.”

Censorship in Media

In addition to the judicial limitations placed on First Amendment protections, there are ways that the U.S. government may place limits on the expression of free speech. These limits are referred to as censorship. Censorship is a function-typically performed by a government agency or an industry watchdog group-of identifying, preventing, and/or altering the scheduling or content contained in print or broadcast media. The stated goal of censorship is to prevent the public display of obscene material, or to prevent the exposure of indecent material to select audiences such as minors.

The standards around censorship have fluctuated over time, as has the level of strictness in the enforcement of these changing standards. The following are some prominent examples of how censorship occurs in various media sectors:

• The Hays Code: The Production Code -also called the Hays Code after the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) at the time-was a set of rules governing content in cinema. Adopted in 1930, and enforced with increasing strictness through the 1930s, the Hays Code determined “what was acceptable and what was unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States.” Filmmakers were required to meet the rigid standards set by the Production Code Association (PCA), which had a profound impact on film production by restricting sexual content, edgy language, and even political ideas. Though the PCA was not a government agency, Hollywood studios vested the PCA with its authority in order to be insulated from the threat of government fines and censorship. Increasing resistance and changing social mores led to the replacement of the Production Code, in 1968, with the MPAA film rating system that we know today. Rather than restricting content, this structure provides age advisories for certain content.
• Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) : Popular music has also been a source for debate over censorship. In 1985, a bipartisan group of women who were married to prominent Washington figures formed the PMRC with the mission of “increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related or sexual themes via labeling albums with Parental Advisory stickers.” Identifying objectionable content in music by artists like Prince, Def Leppard, and Cyndi Lauper, the PMRC pressured record companies and broadcast outlets to disassociate with offensive artists and content. Their efforts culminated in a Senate hearing, where musicians Frank Zappa, Dee Snyder, and John Denver spoke on behalf of the music industry’s First Amendment rights. The outcome of these hearings was the industry-wide adoption of Parental Advisory stickers, warning consumers of the potentially explicit, sexual, or violent content within certain music releases. Major retailers like Wal-Mart adopted a policy thereafter of refusing to sell releases bearing this sticker, such that the PMRC’s efforts would have a direct economic impact on many artists.
• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) : Unlike the Production Code Association and the Parents Music Resource Center, the FCC is a government agency with the power to issue fines and other penalties for violations of its standards. Though the FCC is tasked with the duty of censorship in broadcast media, it also expresses its duty to the First Amendment while outlining the judicial precedent justifying certain limitations on this Constitutional right.

Political Correctness and Cancel Culture

The First Amendment refers exclusively to the role of Congress where free speech is concerned. However, the present-day debate about freedom of speech is a bit more complex. Technically, the First Amendment protects a political figure’s right to express an unpopular opinion in a public forum, a celebrity’s right to say something offensive, or a journalist’s right to pen a racially insensitive blog post. Inherent to the First Amendment is the premise that the U.S. government may not create laws infringing on these rights.

However, this premise does not give the speaker immunity to the consequences of their speech. Unpopular speech may not incur government intervention, but it may provoke a response in the public space. Today, that public space includes the sprawling world of the internet, and by extension, social media. Online forums give every individual a public forum for free speech, but they also give broad cross-sections of the public an extremely powerful set of instruments for responding to unpopular speech.

The First Amendment refers exclusively to the role of Congress where free speech is concerned. However, the present-day debate about freedom of speech is a bit more complex.” – @AcademicInflux TWEET POST

The internet plays host to a perpetual tug of war between these two interests, and conflicts often produce real-world consequences:

• On one side of this divide are those who argue that controversial, offensive, and potentially hateful ideas should be met with debate, academic inquiry, and intellectual rigor.
• On the other side of this divide are those who view certain forms of speech as inherently destructive, and who therefore employ various forms of in-person and online activism to silence and punish offending speakers as a means of preventing the proliferation of potentially dangerous or injurious speech.

Many staunch First Amendment advocates argue that silencing offending ideas is contrary both to the spirit of the U.S. Constitution, and to the aims of honest academic inquiry. Some argue that a form of extreme “political correctness”-the policing of thoughts, ideas, and speech through public and social pressure-is counter-democratic. Those who hold this view accuse activists of using “cancel culture”-public, online campaigns aimed at shaming offending speakers and having them stripped of status, employment, and public speaking platforms. Numerous journalists, comedians, and university professors who are accused of offending speech have been subjected to this form of cultural “cancellation.”

Activists who undertake these public campaigns argue that their methods are not meant to restrict free speech, but to bring negative attention to those who use their freedom of expression for hateful, dangerous, or destructive purposes. The aim of “cancellation”, its advocates would argue, is to demand greater accountability from individuals who use public platforms to discriminate or otherwise exclude marginalized groups, as well as the organizations that provide such speakers with those platforms.

The aim of “cancellation”, its advocates would argue, is to demand greater accountability from individuals who use public platforms to discriminate or otherwise exclude marginalized groups, as well as the organizations that provide such speakers with those platforms.” – @AcademicInflux TWEET POST

Using our own backstage Ranking Analytics tools, we’ve compiled a list of the most influential figures concerning the issue of free speech in the U.S. between 1900 and 2020. This list is vetted to exclude political heads of state. The remaining figures are a combination of free speech activists, Supreme Court Justices who have made consequential rulings on the matter, and authors or thinkers who have produced content challenging limitations on free speech.

Using our own backstage Ranking Analytics tools, we’ve compiled a list of the most influential books on the topic of free speech in the U.S. between 1900 and 2020. This list is vetted to exclude religious scriptures, and is largely comprised of both texts about the topics of free speech and censorship, and books whose content has ignited debate over free speech and censorship.

The Current Controversy

This controversy is unique in that few participants in the debate would characterize themselves as opponents of free speech:

• Those rendering judicial rulings placing limitations on First Amendment protections would argue that they do so for reasons of public safety.
• Those performing in an official capacity as government-sponsored censors would argue that they are responsible for protecting the public from unwanted exposure to indecency and obscenity.
• Those engaging in social activism aimed at hateful speech would argue that they are working to make public speech less dangerous and more inclusive.

Those who perform these functions argue that such limitations are critical to the preservation of the First Amendment. And yet, in each case, there are also many First Amendment advocates who argue that our protections extend beyond these attempts at limitation.

All of this underscores the complexity surrounding the current controversy. Most of the influencers identified here-with just a few exceptions-would characterize themselves as advocates for free speech. Therefore, this is not merely a dispute between the supporters and opponents of censorship. Instead, there is a far more nuanced conversation here about what constitutes protected speech, and how different figures, both past and present, have either exercised their rights, protected the rights of others, or advocated for limitations of free speech.

A Quick Overview of Our Methods

Our goal in presenting subjects that generate controversy is to provide you with a sense of some of the figures both past and present who have driven debate, produced recognized works of research, literature or art, proliferated their ideas widely, or who are identified directly and publicly with some aspect of this debate. By identifying the researchers, activists, journalists, educators, academics, and other individuals connected with this debate-and by taking a closer look at their work and contributions-we can get a clear but nuanced look at the subject matter. Rather than framing the issue as one side versus the other, we bring various dimensions of the issue into discussion with one another. This will likely include dimensions of the debate that resonate with you, some dimensions that you find repulsive, and some dimensions that might simply reveal a perspective you hadn’t previously considered.

For a look at how we handle the risk of spotlighting a potentially repulsive influencer, check out Influence and Infamy: The Case of Osama bin Laden .

Our InfluenceRanking engine gives us the power to scan the academic and public landscape surrounding the free speech issue using key terminology to identify consequential influencers. As with any topic that generates public debate and disagreement, this is a subject of great depth and breadth. We do not claim to probe either the bottom of this depth or the borders of this breadth. Instead, we offer you one way to enter into this debate, to identify key players, and through their contributions to the debate, to develop a fuller understanding of the issue and perhaps even a better sense of where you stand.

For a closer look at how our InfluenceRankings work, check out our methodology .

Otherwise, read on for a look at influencers associated with an array of key terms.

Anti-Censorship

First amendment advocates, first amendment rights, free speech, freedom of speech.

• Obscenity Law
• Film Censors
• Political Correctness
• Cancel Culture

Individuals dedicated to anti-censorship are figures who have used activism, literature, journalism, and other public platforms to resist forms of government censorship, to support the legal and technical efforts of those impacted by what they view as unjust government censorship, and to help marginalized individuals and groups achieve equal opportunities for freedom of expression.

Influencers:

• Bennett Haselton is the founder of Circumventor.com and Peacefire.org, two US-based websites dedicated to combating Internet censorship. Peacefire.org is focused on documenting flaws in commercial Internet blocking programs. Circumventor.com is dedicated to distributing anti-censorship tools to users in countries such as China and Iran, and as of 2011 has over 3 million subscribers through distribution channels including email and Facebook pages.
• Avedon Carol is an American-born British feminist, anti-censorship, and civil liberties campaigner and a researcher in the field of sex crime, residing in England. She is a member of Feminists Against Censorship, and as part of their publishing group co-edited Bad Girls & Dirty Pictures . She is the author of Nudes, Prudes & Attitudes , and has also worked on other books by Feminists Against Censorship. On her own website, “Avedon’s Sideshow”, she publishes and compiles links to a wide array of stories and events.
• Jane Vance Rule, CM, OBC was a Canadian writer of lesbian-themed works. Her first novel, Desert of the Heart , appeared in 1964, when gay activity was still a criminal offence. It turned Rule into a reluctant media celebrity, and brought her massive correspondence from women who had never dared explore lesbianism. She did not, however, support gay marriage. Rule became an active anti-censorship campaigner, and served on the executive of the Writers’ Union of Canada.

First Amendment advocates are those who undertake efforts through journalism, activism, and legal advocacy to advance free speech rights for individuals impacted by censorship or government-sponsored silencing.

• Lawrence G. Walters is an American First Amendment attorney and anti-censorship advocate. He is the head of the Walters Law Group, focusing on First Amendment and Internet Law, and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida.
• Zechariah Chafee Jr. , was an American judicial philosopher and civil rights advocate, described as “possibly the most important First Amendment scholar of the first half of the twentieth century” by Richard Primus. Chafee’s avid defense of freedom of speech led to Senator Joseph McCarthy calling him “dangerous” to America.
• Vanessa Leggett is a freelance journalist, author, lecturer, and First Amendment advocate who was jailed by the U.S. Justice Department for 168 days for protecting sources and research notes for an independent book about a federal murder-for-hire case. At the time, it was the longest contempt-of-court imprisonment of a journalist in United States history for protecting sources.

The various judicial rulings surrounding the First Amendment have helped to define the Constitutionally-protected rights of Americans and the limitations on those rights. Civil rights attorneys and activists have had a particularly profound influence in this area, helping to produce legal decisions that have at once expanded and more clearly defined these rights.

• Ron Coleman is an American lawyer and journalist who is an expert on First Amendment and intellectual property rights, especially pertaining to the Internet. Coleman, general counsel for the Media Bloggers Association, wrote in 1995 the first article on intellectual property rights and the Internet published in the American Bar Association Journal. In 1998, Coleman represented Brodsky in the cybersquatting dispute Jews for Jesus v. Brodsky and defended The National Debate’s online parody of The New York Times’s corrections page. In 2015, Coleman represented Simon Tam in In Re Tam, a trademark.
• Carla Gericke is an author, activist, and attorney. Born in South Africa, she immigrated to America in the mid-Nineties after winning a green card in the Diversity Visa Lottery. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000. Gericke practiced law in South Africa, and California, working at Apple Computer, Borland, Logitech, and Scient Corporation. Gericke is President Emeritus of the Free State Project. In 2014, she won a landmark First Circuit Court of Appeals case that affirmed the First Amendment right to film police officers.
• Alexander Peter Allain became one of the United States’ most adamant fighters for the freedom of expression though his work as a lawyer and library advocate. His career was devoted to securing First Amendment rights for libraries.

Referring to the exercise of the First Amendment, free speech has frequently been challenged and tested, particularly when it runs contrary to mainstream views of decency. For this reason, many prominent disputes over free speech have involved representatives of the adult film industry, the artistic avant garde, or advocates of religious liberties.

• Gloria Leonard was an American pornographic actress who became the publisher of High Society magazine. As a board member of Adult Video Association and its successor the Free Speech Coalition, Leonard was an outspoken advocate for the adult film industry and free speech rights.
• Susan Benesch is an American journalist and scholar of speech who is known for founding the Dangerous Speech Project. Benesch is a free speech advocate, recommending the use of counterspeech rather than censorship to delegitimize harmful speech.
• Steven Gey was an American legal academic and one of the leading US scholars on religious liberties and free speech. He was David and Deborah Fonvielle and Donald and Janet Hinkle Professor at Florida State University College of Law. His scholarship includes Cases and Materials on Religion and the State and dozens of articles on religious liberties, free speech, and constitutional interpretation. Gey was an active participant in national debates regarding the teaching of evolution in public schools and he served as a regular commentator on legal issues for ABC News in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. In 2007, he received the “Friend of Darwin Award” from the National Center for Science Education, recognizing his tireless advocacy for the teaching of science in schools.

The phrase “freedom of speech” carries a Constitutional overtone, and implies the shared understanding that this is an inalienable right protected by the First Amendment. Those affiliated with the phrase are often political science scholars, legal scholars, and civil rights attorneys who have helped to more explicitly define what the First Amendment intends through this protection.

• Murray Dry is an American political scientist specializing in American constitutional law, American political thought, political philosophy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, federalism, separation of powers, and the American founding. He is perhaps most noted for having helped to compile The Complete Anti-Federalist with his former teacher Herbert Storing. He is currently the Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College, having earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Storing and Leo Strauss, among others. For the 2009-2010 academic year, he was a Visiting Professor at Yeshiva University. His current area of research is in the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, and he recently published a book on that subject.
• Harriet Fleischl Pilpel was an American attorney and women’s rights activist. She wrote and lectured extensively regarding the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and reproductive freedom. Pilpel served as general counsel for both the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. During her career, she participated in 27 cases that came before the United States Supreme Court. Pilpel was involved in the birth control movement and the pro-choice movement. She helped to establish the legal rights of minors to abortion and contraception.
• Judith Fingeret Krug was an American librarian, freedom of speech proponent, and critic of censorship. Krug became director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association in 1967. In 1969, she joined the Freedom to Read Foundation as its executive director. Krug co-founded Banned Books Week in 1982.

Obscenity Law/Film Censor

Though the key term search yielded zero influencers who were identified as “pro-censorship,” the terms “obscenity law” and “film censor” yielded some examples of those who, through their official capacities in law enforcement or public administration, placed limitations upon the conditions of free speech.

• Roy Early Blick was the director of the Morals Division of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia in the United States during the mid-twentieth-century. He oversaw investigation of and apprehension for offenses related to burlesque, pornography, child pornography, and other obscenity and indecency, prostitution, crimes of “sex perversion” including homosexuality, and gambling. Even before becoming director of the Morals Division, during his preceding career with the MPD, he was consulted by US federal lawmakers, testified before Congress on several occasions, and worked with the FBI on related law enforcement matters. Freedom of Information Act lawsuits in the twenty-first century revealed previously-classified documents indicating frequent meetings and correspondence between the Central Intelligence Agency and Blick during his service as a police official.
• Lloyd Tilghman Binford was an American insurance executive and film censor who was the head of the Memphis Censor Board for 28 years.
• Joseph Ignatius Breen was an American film censor with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America who applied the Hays Code to film production.
• John Trevelyan, CBE was Secretary of the Board of the British Board of Film Censors from 1958 to 1971.

Political Correctness/Cancel Culture

These phrases are often wielded satirically or derisively to characterize those who would place limitations on free speech through forms of grassroots activism aimed at shaming or punishing those they view as being guilty of offensive, hateful, or marginalizing speech. These terms did not yield evidence of influencers who are opposed to free speech, but instead, yielded a group of influencers who tend to invoke controversy through their exercise of free speech, and who are derisive of these forms of activism.

• Milo Yiannopoulos , or pen name Milo Andreas Wagner, is a British far-right political commentator, polemicist, public speaker and writer. Through his speeches and writings, he ridicules Islam, feminism, social justice, and political correctness. Yiannopoulos is a former editor for Breitbart News , a far-right media organization. Leaked emails have shown that his book Dangerous and many of his Breitbart articles were ghost-written by a Breitbart colleague.
• Scott Norvell is a blogger and columnist for the Fox News Website, having run a column there since 2001. Norvell’s blog and column at Fox News, entitled “Tongue Tied”, details incidents of what he considers extreme “political correctness”. He is also the primary author of the former website www.tonguetied.us which deals with similar issues of language use, American politics, and international politics. The top of the site quotes the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• Kathy Shaidle is a Canadian author, columnist, poet and blogger. A self-described “anarcho-peacenik” in the early years of her writing career, she moved to a conservative, Roman Catholic position following the September 11 attacks, and entered the public eye as the author of the popular RelapsedCatholic blog. Citing some points of friction with her faith, Shaidle relaunched her blogging career under her current FiveFeetofFury blog. Her views on Islam, political correctness, freedom of speech, and other issues have ignited controversy.
• Mona Charen Parker is a columnist, journalist, political commentator, and writer in the United States. She has written three books: Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First , Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help , both New York Times bestsellers, and Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense . She was also a weekly panelist on CNN’s Capital Gang until it was canceled. A political conservative, she often writes about foreign policy, terrorism, politics, poverty, family structure, public morality, and culture. She is also known for her generally pro-Israel views.

Influential Organizations Involved in the Censorship and Freedom of Speech Controversy

If you would like to study this topic in more depth, check out these key organizations...

• Federal Communications Commission
• Parents Music Resource Center
• The Motion Picture Association (MPA)

Free Speech Advocates

• American Civil Liberties Union
• First Amendment Coalition
• National Coalition Against Censorship

Interested in building toward a career on the front lines of the Censorship and Freedom of Speech? As you can see, there are many different avenues into this far-reaching issue. Use our Custom College Ranking to find:

• The Most Influential Law Degrees
• The Most Influential Communications Degrees
• The Most Influential Political Science Degrees

A Further Examination of the Debate For and Against Freedom of Speech and Censorship

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in a democratic society! Freedom of speech allows free expression thru the free exchange of ideas, information, and opinions, thus allowing people to come up with their own opinions on issues of public importance.

Free speech supports a free and independent press, transparent functioning of the state, and informed citizenship.

Conversely, censorship suppresses one’s ideas, words, or images that some people might find offensive to them. For thousands of years, censorship has been a part of human society.

Today, not only lawmakers but agencies keep our right to speech protected or safeguarded, such as the Federal Communications Commission! Specific rules and regulations are set when it comes to restricting spoken words and written information, such as in the case of crafting hate speech and communicating what could be categorized as sexual conduct!

Freedom of Expression Pros and Cons

Freedom of expression pros.

It protects everybody from the influence of special interests: When people hold power, they have this innate feeling that they can do whatever they can to hold on to that power for as long as possible.

This may include a government constitution change, a private media company favoring their Board of Directors, or the suppression of some minority groups that harms the people involved.

With the freedom of speech, this power can be significantly reduced because people are allowed to express what they truly feel about those who are in power. There is nothing to fear of losing personal freedom because everybody’s opinion will contribute to the conversation.

It eliminates compelled actions. When people have freedom of expression, the government cannot compel their actions in a way that they need to speak a specific message. You control what you want and how you want to express those words.

Granting that the government does attempt to change your words to its advantage, you will still have the chance to address the issue and correct the ‘mistakes’ that others create in your work.

Freedom of Expression Cons

Freedom of Expression does not mean you have the freedom to practice “ALL” speech: Freedom of speech allows you to express what you want in a way that does not create legal consequences for you.

Even if your comments are rude or unsavory, you still have the right to express them. However, there are four types of speech in the US that are not allowed under the First Amendment:

• You cannot express any authentic threats against somebody.
• Defaming, including slander and libel, are illegal.
• Plagiarizing any copyrighted materials is now allowed.
• You cannot share obscene materials, like child pornography.

Freedom of Expression can breed false information: Because of the rise of the Internet, some people tend to abuse freedom of speech. They can easily spread false information and still get away with it.

Interested in diving into another one of our controversial topics? Check out The 30 Most Controversial Topics Today!

For study starters, influential books, and much more, check out our full collection of study guides .

Or get tips on studying, student life, and much more with a look at our Student Resources .

Thirty years of research into hate speech: topics of interest and their evolution

• Open access
• Published: 30 October 2020
• Volume 126 , pages 157–179, ( 2021 )

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• Alice Tontodimamma 1 ,
• Eugenia Nissi 2 ,
• Annalina Sarra 3 &
• Lara Fontanella 3  

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The exponential growth of social media has brought with it an increasing propagation of hate speech and hate based propaganda. Hate speech is commonly defined as any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristics such as race, colour, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion. Online hate diffusion has now developed into a serious problem and this has led to a number of international initiatives being proposed, aimed at qualifying the problem and developing effective counter-measures. The aim of this paper is to analyse the knowledge structure of hate speech literature and the evolution of related topics. We apply co-word analysis methods to identify different topics treated in the field. The analysed database was downloaded from Scopus, focusing on a number of publications during the last thirty years. Topic and network analyses of literature showed that the main research topics can be divided into three areas: “general debate hate speech versus freedom of expression”,“hate-speech automatic detection and classification by machine-learning strategies”, and “gendered hate speech and cyberbullying”. The understanding of how research fronts interact led to stress the relevance of machine learning approaches to correctly assess hatred forms of online speech.

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Introduction

In recent years, the ways in which people receive news, and communicate with one another, have been revolutionised by the Internet, and especially by social networks. It is a natural activity, in societies where freedom of speech is recognised, for people to express their opinions. From an era in which individuals communicated their ideas, usually orally and only to small numbers of other people, we have moved on to an era in which individuals can make free use of a variety of diffusion channels in order to communicate, instantaneously, with people who are a long distance away; in addition, more and more people make use of online platforms not only to interact with each other, but also to share news. The detachment created by being enabled to write, without any obligation to reveal oneself directly, means that this new medium of virtual communication allows people to feel greater freedom in the way they express themselves. Unfortunately, though, there is also a dark side to this system. Social media have become a fertile ground for heated discussions which frequently result in the use of insulting and offensive language. The creation and dissemination of hateful speech are now pervading the online platforms. As a result, countries are recognising hate speech as a serious problem, and this has led to a number of International and European initiatives being proposed, aimed at qualifying the problem and developing effective counter-measures.

A first issue, for the identification of a content as hateful, is that there is no universally accepted definition of hate speech, mainly because of the vague and subjective determinations as to whether speech is “offensive” or conveys “hate” (Strossen 2016 ). A comprehensive overview of different definitions can be found in Sellars ( 2016 ) who derives several related concepts that appear throughout academic and legal attempts to define hate speech as well as in attempts of online platforms. The identified common traits refer to: the targeting of a group, or an individual as a member of a group; the presence of a content that expresses hatred, causes a harm, incites bad actions beyond the speech itself, and has no redeeming purpose; the intention of harm or bad activity; the public nature of the speech; finally, a context that makes violent response possible. Sellars ( 2016 ) stresses, however, how the identified traits do not form a single definition, but could be used to help improve the confidence that the speech in question is worthy of identification as hate speech.

In addition to the ambiguity in the definition, hate speech creates a conflict between some people’s speech rights, and other people’s right to be free from verbal abuse (Greene and Simpson 2017 ). The complex balancing between freedom of expression and the defence of human dignity has received significant attention from legal scholars and philosophers and, according to Sellars ( 2016 ), the different approaches to define hate speech can be linked to academics’ particular motivations: “Some do not overtly call for legal sanction for such speech and seek merely to understand the phenomenon; some do seek to make the speech illegal, and are trying to guide legislators and courts to effective statutory language; some are in between.” Advocates of the free speech rights invoke the principle of viewpoint neutrality or content neutrality, which prohibits bans on the expression of viewpoints based on their substantive message (Brettschneider 2013 ). This protection extends even to speech that expresses ideas that most people would find distasteful, offensive, disagreeable, or discomforting, and thus extends even to hate speech (Beausoleil 2019 ). According to Strossen ( 2016 , 2018 ) hate speech laws not only violate the cardinal viewpoint neutrality, but also the emergency principles, by permitting government to suppress speech solely because its message is disfavoured, disturbing, or feared to be dangerous, by government officials or community members, and not because it directly causes imminent serious harm. On the other hand, Cohen-Almagor ( 2016 , 2019 ) insists that it is necessary to “take the evils of hate speech seriously” and that “certain kinds of speech are beyond tolerance.” The author criticizes the viewpoint neutrality concept arguing that a balance needs to be struck between competing social interests because freedom of expression is important as is the protection of vulnerable minorities: “people must enjoy absolute freedom to advocate and debate ideas, but this is so long as they refrain from abusing this freedom to attack the rights of others or their status in society as human beings and equal members of the community.” An alternative remedy to censoring hate speech could be to add more speech, as suggested by the UNESCO study titled “Countering On-line Hate Speech” (Gagliardone et al. 2015) which argues that counter-speech is usually preferable to the suppression of hate speech.

The rising visibility of hate speech on online social platform has resulted in a continuously growing rate of published research into different areas of hate speech. The increasing number of studies on this subject is beneficial to scholars and practitioners, but it also brings about challenges in terms of understanding the key research streams in the area. Previous surveys highlighted the state of the art and the evolution of research on hate speech (Schmidt and Wiegand 2017 ; Fortuna and Nunes 2018 ; MacAvaney et al. 2019 ; Waqas et al. 2019 ). The survey of Schmidt and Wiegand ( 2017 ) describes the key areas that have been explored to automatically recognize hateful utterances using neural language processing. Eight categories of features used in hate speech detection, including simple surface, word generalization, sentiment analysis, lexical resources and linguistic characteristics, knowledge-based features, meta-information, and multimodal information, have been highlighted. In addition, Schmidt and Wiegand ( 2017 ) stress how a comparability of different features and methods requires a benchmark data set. Fortuna and Nunes ( 2018 ) carried out an in-depth survey aimed at providing a systematic overview of studies in the field. In this survey, the authors firstly pay attention to the motivations for studying hate speech and then they conveniently distinguish theoretical and practical aspects. Specifically, they list some of the main rules for hate speech identification and investigate the methods and algorithms adopted in literature for automatic hate speech detection. Also, practical resources, such as datasets and other projects, have been reviewed. MacAvaney et al. ( 2019 ) discussed the challenges faced by online automatic approaches for hate speech detection in text, including competing definitions, dataset availability and construction. A throughout bibliographic and visualization analysis of the scientific literature related to online hate speech was conducted Waqas et al. ( 2019 ). Drawing on Web of Science (WOS) core database, their study concentrated on the mapping of general research indices, prevalent themes of research, research hotspots and influential stakeholders, such as organizations and contributing regions. Along with the most popular bibliometric measures, such as total number of papers, to measure productivity, and total citations, to assess the relevance of a country, institution, or author, the above mentioned research uses mapping knowledge tools to draw the structure and networks of authors, journals, universities and countries. Not surprisingly, the results of this bibliometric analysis show a remarkable increase in publication and citation trend after year 2005, when social media platforms have grown in terms of influence and user adoption, and the Internet has become a central arena for public and private discourse. Furthermore, it has emerged that most of the publications originate from the discipline of psychology and psychiatry, with recurring themes of cyberbullying, psychiatric morbidity, and psychological profiling of aggressors and victims. As noted by the authors, the high representation of psychology-related contributions is mainly due to the choice of WOS core database, which excludes relevant research fields from the analysis, being its coverage geared towards health and social science disciplines rather than engineering or computer ones.

Based on these previous studies, and especially on that of Waqas et al. ( 2019 ), our research intends to enlarge the mapping of global literature output regarding online hate speech over the last thirty years, by relying on bibliographic data extracted from Scopus database and using different methodological approaches. In order to identify how online hate scientific literature is evolving and understand what are the main research areas and fronts and how they interact over time, we used bibliometric measures, mapping knowledge tools and topic modelling. All the above methods are traditionally employed in bibliometrics analysis and share the idea of using a great amount of bibliographic data to let emerge, in an unsupervised way, the underlying knowledge base. In particular, topic analysis, based on the Latent Dirichlet Allocation method (LDA; Blei et al. 2003 ) is gaining popularity among scholars in diverse fields (Alghamdi and Alfalqi 2015 ). A topic model leads to two key outputs: a list of topics (i.e. groups of words that frequently occur together) and a lists of documents that are strongly associated with each topic (McPhee et al. 2017 ). Accordingly, this approach is useful for finding interpretable topics with semantic meaning and for assigning these topics to the literature documents, offering in such way a probabilistic quantification of relevance both for the identification of topics and for the classification of documents.

Our study exploits the main strengths of each method in drawing a synthetic representation of the research trends on online hate and adds value to previous quoted works, by taking advantage of topic modelling to retrieve latent driven themes. As highlighted in Suominen and Toivanen ( 2016 ), the key novelty of topic modelling, in classifying scientific knowledge, is that it virtually eliminates the need to fit new-to-the-world knowledge into known-to-the-world definitions.

The remainder of this work is structured as follows. Section “Materials and methods” describes the data source and the methods used. Section “Results” presents the bibliometric results, focusing on the yearly quantitative distribution of publications and on the latent topics retrieved through LDA. This section provides useful insights into the temporal evolution of the topics, their interactions and the research activity in the identified latent themes. A conclusion and future perspectives are given in “Conclusion” section. Finally, we report additional information on the bibliographic data set and the topic analysis results, in the online Supplementary Material.

Materials and methods

Bibliographic dataset.

For the analysis, we use a bibliometric dataset, covering the period 1992–2019, retrieved from Scopus database. This bibliographic database was selected because it is one of the most suitable source of references for scientific peer-reviewed publications.

In the same vein of Waqas et al. ( 2019 ), we focus on online hate and, for our search, we built a query that, in addition to the exact phrase “hate speech”, combines terms related to offensive or denigratory language (“hatred”, “abusive language, “abusive discourse”, “abusive speech”, “offensive language”, “offensive discourse”, “offensive speech”, “denigratory language”, “denigratory discourse”, “denigratory speech”) with words linked to the online nature (“online”,“social media”, “web”, “virtual”, “cyber”, “Orkut”, “Twitter”, “Facebook”, “Reddit”, “Instagram”, “Snapchat”, “Youtube”, “Whatsapp”, “Wechat”, “QQ”, “Tumblr”, “Linkedin”, “Pinterest”).

We have not considered specific terms linked to cyberbullying because, although if this phenomenon overlaps partially with hate speech, it encompasses a broader field. The exact query can be found in the Supplementary Material.

The bibliographic data was extracted by applying the query to the contents of title, abstract and keywords. The data for each resulting publication was manually exported on December 15, 2019.

All types of publications were included in the search, and 1614 documents related to hate speech, published in 995 different sources, were identified. This high number indicates a wide variety of research themes, and the multidisciplinary character of the subject which involves a plurality of disciplines. In particular, the top publication fields include Social Sciences, Computer Science, Arts and Humanities and Psychology. Looking at the document type, the majority is article, conference paper and book chapter.

Information about document distribution by research field is given in the Supplementary Material, along with the document distribution by source and the ranking of the most productive countries and authors.

Conceptual structure map

To investigate the structure of research on hate speech, we firstly consider an exploratory analysis of the keywords selected by the authors. The analysis was carried out through the R package Bibliometrix (Aria and Cuccurullo 2017 ), which allows to perform multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) (Greenacre and Blasius 2006 ) and hierarchical clustering to draw a conceptual structure map of the field. Specifically, MCA allows to obtain a low-dimensional Euclidean representation of the original data matrix, by performing a homogeneity analysis of the “documents by keywords” indicator matrix, built by considering a dummy variable for each keyword. The words are plotted onto a two-dimensional map where closer words are more similar in distribution across the documents. In addition, the implementation of a hierarchical clustering procedure on this reduced space leads to identify clusters of documents that are characterised by common keywords.

Topic analysis

To gain a deeper understanding of the topics discussed in the published research on hate speech, we have applied Latent Dirichet Allocation, which is an automatic topic mining technique that enables to uncover hidden thematic subjects in document collections by revealing recurring clusters of co-occurring words. The two foundational probabilistic topic models are the Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (pLSA, Hofmann 1999 ) and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (Blei et al. 2003 ). The pLSA is a probabilistic variant of the Latent Semantic Analysis introduced by Deerwester et al. ( 1990 ) to capture the semantic information embedded in large textual corpora without human supervision. In the pLSA approach, each word in a document is modelled as a sample from a mixture model, where the mixture components are multinomial random variables that can be viewed as representations of topics. The pLSA model allows multiple topics in each document, and the possible topic proportions are learned from the document collection. Blei et al. ( 2003 ) introduced the LDA which presents a higher modelling flexibility over pLSA by assuming fully complete probabilistic generative model where each document is represented as a random mixture over latent topics and each topic is characterized by a distribution over words. LDA mitigates some shortcomings of the earlier topic models. Specifically, it has the advantage to improve the way of mixture models of capturing the exchangeability of both words and documents. LDA assumes a probabilistic generative model where each document is described by a distribution of topics and each topic is described by a distribution of words. The set of candidate topics are the same for all documents and each document may contain words from multiple different topics. The generative two-stage process of each document in the corpus can be described as follows (Blei 2012 ). In the first step a distribution over topics is randomly chosen; in the second step for each word in the document a topic is randomly chosen from the distribution over topics and a word is randomly chosen from the corresponding distribution over the vocabulary. Following Blei ( 2012 ), it it is possible to describe LDA more formally. Let assume that we have a corpus defined as a collection of D documents where each document is a sequence of N words, \(w_d=(w_{d,1},w_{d,2},\dots ,w_{d,N})\) , and each word is an item from a vocabulary indexed by \(\{1,\dots ,V\}\) . Furthermore, we assume that there are K latent topics, \(\beta _{1:K}\) , defined as distribution over the vocabulary. The generative process for LDA corresponds to the following joint distribution of the hidden and observed variables

The topic proportions for the d th document are \(\theta _d\) , where \(\theta _{d,k}\) is the topic proportion for topic k in document d . The topic assignments for the d th document are \(z_d\) , where \(z_{d,n}\) is the topic assignment for the n th word in document d . Both the topic proportions and the topic distributions over the vocabulary follow a Dirichlet distribution. Since the posterior distribution, \(p \left( \beta _{1:K},\theta _{1:D},z_{1:D}|w_{1:D}\right) \) , is intractable for exact inference, a wide variety of approximate inference algorithms, such as sampling-based (Steyvers and Griffiths 2006 ) and variational (Blei et al. 2003 ) algorithms can be considered.

In our analysis, we implement LDA to model a corpus where each document consists of the publication title, its abstract and the keywords. To exctract the relevant content and remove any unwanted nuisance terms, we performed a cleaning process (tokenization; lowercase conversion; special characters, and stop-words removal) of the text documents using the function provided in the Text Analytics Toolbox of Matlab (MATLAB 2018 ). For the analyses, the tokens with less than 10 occurrences in the corpus have been pruned. LDA analysis was performed through the fitlda Matlab routine available in the same Toolbox.

The results of this study involved different analyses. Firstly, we concentrated on the yearly quantitative distribution of literature, then we examined the conceptual structure of hate speech research. Next, we combined the results of topic and network analysis for highlighting the emerging topics, their interactions over time, the most influential countries and the academic cooperations in the retrieved themes.

Research activity

The evolution over time of the number of published documents shows a remarkable growth, highlighting the increased global focus on online hate. See Fig.  1 , in which the number of publications per year is displayed.

Since 1992, it is possible to distinguish between two different phases. During the first phase from 1992 to 2010, a slow increase in publications occurred. A higher growth rate characterises, instead, the second phase, from 2010 to 2019, testifying the growing interest. This is consistent with Price’s theory on the productivity on a given subject (Price 1963 ), according to which the development of science goes through three phases. In the preliminary phase, known as the precursor, when some scholars start publishing research into a new field, small increments in scientific literature are recorded. In the second phase, the number of publications grows exponentially, since the expansion of the field attracts an increasing number of scientists, as many aspects of the subject still have to be explored. Finally, in the third phase there is a consolidation of the body of knowledge along with a stabilisation in the productivity; therefore the aspect of the curve transforms from exponential to logistic.

To verify the rapid increase in the trend of research literature related to online hate speech, we fit an exponential growth curve to the data (Price 1963 ). According to this model the annual rate of change is equal to \(20.5\%\) . Therefore, it can be said that hate speech research is in the second phase of development: an increasing amount of research is being published, but there is still room for improvement in many aspects.

Number of publications on hate speech per year: observed and expected distribution according to an exponential growth

Conceptual structure of hate speech research

The conceptual structure of the research on hate speech is represented in Fig.  2 , where authors’ keywords, whose occurrences are greater than ten, are represented on the two dimensional plane obtained through Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA).

Conceptual map of hate speech research

The two dimensions of the maps which emerged from the MCA can be interpreted as follows. The first, horizontal, dimension separates keywords emphasizing social networks and communities and hate speech linked to religion (on the right), from those related to the political aspects of the hate speech phenomenon (on the left). This dimension explains the \(39.61\%\) of variability. The second, vertical dimension, considers machine learning techniques and accounts for the \(13.55\%\) of overall inertia. In Fig.  2 are also displayed the results obtained through a hierarchical cluster analysis carried out adopting the method of the average linkage on the factorial coordinates obtained with the MCA. A very important fact is evident from the conceptual map: three clusters represent the three major areas of research involved in the matter of hate diffusion. The blue cluster shows words as “abusive language”, “cyberbullying”, “deep learning”, “text classification”, “sentiment analysis”, “social network”, terms that bring out the problem related to automatic detection. The green cluster shows words as “human rights”, “democracy”, “incitement”, “blasphemy”, words that bring out the problem related to the legal sphere. The red cluster, the most numerous, shows words as “social network analysis”, “privacy”, “youtube”, “facebook”, “online hate”, “cyberhate”, words that bring out the problem related to social sphere and social media.

Research topics in hate speech literature

Topic modelling, performed via LDA technique, provides an additional insight in structuring the online hate research into different topics. As known, LDA algorithm needs to specify a fixed number of topics, implying that the researchers should have some idea of the possible bounds of latent features in the text. In fact, there is no unique value, appropriate in all situations and all datasets (Barua et al. 2014 ). Of course, the LDA model produces finer-grained aggregations by increasing the number of desired topics while smaller values will produce coarser-grained, more general topics. On the other hand, a higher number of topics may cause the progressive intrusion of non-relevant terms among the most probable words, affecting the semantic coherence of the retrieved themes.

In our study, we run the LDA analysis by setting the number of desired topics, in turn, equal to 10, 12, 14 and, in the end, we adopted the twelve-topic solution which guarantees a fair compromise between topic interpretability and a detailed analysis.

Topic interpretation

In LDA, the topics are assumed to be latent variables, which need to be meaningfully interpreted. This is usually achieved by examining the top keywords in each topic (Steyvers and Griffiths 2006 ). Figures   3 and   4 show the most relevant words for each topic, where relevance is measured normalizing the posterior word probabilities per topic by the geometric mean of the posterior probabilities for the word across all topics. Topics are sorted according to the estimated probability to be observed in the entire data set. The most relevant terms, along with their relevance measures are provided in Section 2.1 of the Supplementary Material.

The twelve identified topics reveal important areas of online hate research in the past thirty years. They can be synthetically described as dealing with the following themes.

Word clouds for topics 1–6

Word clouds for topics 7–12

Topic 1 includes words such as “speech”, “hate”, “free”, “harm”, “freedom”, suggesting a broad discussion on the debate “hate speech” versus “free speech”. The constitutional right of freedom of expression is considered also in Topic 3, mainly characterised by words like “freedom”, “law/laws”, “rights”, “expression”,“constitutional”. Topic 2 is strictly linked with the political aspects of the hate speech phenomenon and contains terms such as “political/politics/politician”, “discourse”, “democracy”, “elections”. Topic 7 covers hate speech related to religion and extremism and is described by words such as “terrorism/terrorist”, “religion/religious”, “muslim/muslims”, “violence”, “global”,“war”, “extremism/extremist”.

The online aspect of hate is clearly highlighted in Topics 4, 6, 8 and 10. In particular, Topic 4 is related to research on social networks and communities, especially Facebook and Youtube, which are large social media providers whose inner mechanisms allow users to report hate speech. Studies in Topic 8 refer to Twitter, and it is possible to stress how they make use, above all, of content and sentiment analysis. Topic 6 covers the aspect of information diffusion on the Internet, including terms like “internet”, “information”, “media”. Finally, Topic 10 considers the problem of online deviant behaviour and cyberbullying, in which relevant words are: “online”, “exposure”, “crime/crimes”, “behavior”, “cyberbullying”, “cyberhate”.

Interestingly, the distinct hate speech targets are disclosed by Topics 5 and 11. Topic 5 deals with issues on racism, as indicated by the following sets of words: “racism”, “racist”, “race”, “racial”,“white/whiteness”, “black’; in that topic we also find, among the top scoring words, some terms associated with feminism (i.e.“feminist”, “women”, “misogyny”). Topic 11 refers to hate speech linked to gender and sexual identity since the most relevant-used words are: “sexual/sexuality”, “gender”, “gay”, “trasgender”, “lesbian”, “lgbt/lgbtq”.

Finally, Topics 9 and 12 deals with methodological aspects of hate speech analysis. In particular, Topic 9 refers to the analysis of discourse and language, as suggested by the most relevant words contained in it (“comments”, “discourse”, “language”, “emotions”, “linguistic”,“corpus”). On the other hand, Topic 12 considers machine learning techniques, in fact, within this specific topic, the terms “learning”, “detection”, “classification”, “machine”,“text” are those with the top scoring.

Topic temporal evolution

To further analyse each of the topics, we focus on their dynamic changes over the years. As previously pointed out, LDA algorithm estimates each topic as a mixture of words, but also models each document as a mixture of topics. Therefore, each document can exhibit multiple topics on the base of the words used. The estimated probabilities of observing each topic in each document can be exploited to assign one or more topics to the documents of the analysed bibliographic dataset. Specifically, in this study, we decided to assign the topics with the top three highest document-topic probabilities to each document, provided the probabilities are greater than 0.2.

The temporal evolution of the scientific productivity for each topic can be captured through Fig.  5 , where the exponential growth model has been fitted considering the number of documents published since 2000.

Number of publications for each topic: observed and expected distributions according to an exponential growth

The temporal trend of most topics agrees with an exponential growth. However, looking at Topic 1 and Topic 3, we notice how the number of publications in the last period falls below the number expected according to the exponential law considered by Price ( 1963 ) with regard to the second phase in the development of scientific research on a given subject. We saw that the content of Topics 1 and 3 is associated with generic themes of online hate speech, thus the lesser amount of related publications in the last period reflects the interest of research community in identifying new research fronts. Conversely, the number of published documents for Topic 8 shows a sudden rise starting from 2018. This conclusion holds, even if to a lesser extend, for Topic 9 where the observed productivity rises above the expected one.

The notable case in Fig.  5 regards Topic 12, dealing with the application of the dominant and new theme of machine learning algorithms to online hate speech. In the last two years, this topic exhibits an explosive growth as for the related publication volumes. A relatively more contained rise in the size of publications is recorded for Topics 10 and 11, whose contents are associated with the specific themes of cyberhate and gendered hate.

Overall, these temporal patterns seem to suggest a shift in hate speech literature from more generic themes, about the debate on freedom of speech versus hate speech, towards research more focused on the technical aspects of hate speech detection and methodologies and techniques included in the fields of linguistics, statistics and machine learning. The appearance and development of new fields of interest and innovative ideas in the research activity on hate speech is confirmed by the heatmaps provided in the Supplementary Material, which show the number of documents, by years, assigned to the identified topics.

Topic interactions

After exploring the features of the identified topics in online hate speech research, we quantitatively model their interactions and build a topic relation network. In particular, given that each document has been assigned to multiple topics, we can exploit the topic co-occurence matrix in order to understand the connections among the different themes developed in this field of research.

In Fig.  6 , we display the topic network. In the graph, the nodes are coloured according to their degree and the edges are weighted according to the co-occurences: the wider the line, the stronger the connection. Moreover, the edges whose weight is lower than the average co-occurence number have been removed. Details on the connections are provided in Section 2.3 of the Supplementary Material.

Topic co-occurence network for the publication on hate speech from 1992 to 2019

From the analysis of the links it is possible disclosing interesting relations between research fronts, which underline the multi-disciplinary nature of online hate research and the crossbreeding between different disciplines and research subjects. The strongest connection is between Topics 1 and 3, dealing respectively with the broad debate of hate speech versus free speech and the constitutional right of freedom of expression, respectively. This relation reflects the fact that both the topics are related to the boundaries of freedom of expression; accordingly, it is obvious to observe an overlapping of these two themes among documents. Through the network visualization, we see that Topic 1, being a general theme, is connected with the majority of the nodes. Other most connecting nodes are referred to the topic dealing with the questions of free speech (Topic3 ) and to the activities of hateful users on online social media (Topic 4). An interesting clique shows how closely connected are also Topics 4, 8 and 12. The interactions of this subgroup of nodes reveal the relation between computer sciences and social sciences disciplines.

The importance of the retrieved topics in the network of connections can be inferred considering the degree centrality measures shown in Fig.  7 .

Node centrality measures

Besides, closeness and betweenness centrality scores, displayed also in Fig.  7 , are of interest to quantitatively characterize the topography of the topic co-occurrence network. Specifically, closeness centrality measures the mean distance from a vertex to other vertices (Zhang and Luo 2017 ), whereas the betweenness centrality of a node measures the extent to which the node is part of paths that connect an arbitrary pair of nodes in the network (Brandes 2001 ); put in other way betweenness measure quantifies the degree to which a node serves as a bridge. It results that the thematic topics such as “social networks and communities” (Topic 4), “religion and extremism” (Topic 7) and “cyberhate” (Topic 10) are ranked first. These findings suggest that those research areas are more effective and accessible in the network and form the densest bridges with other nodes.

We also built the topic co-occurrence networks distinguishing three different stages in the historical development of online hate speech research, as displayed in Fig.  8 . The initial development stage refers to 1992–2009 and accounts for 227 publications; then there was the rapid development stage (2010–2015 years), when the results of research have been rapidly emerging with more than 450 scientific contributes published. Finally, we move into the last three years-period (2016–2019), when more than 300 papers are being published every year. As before, the connections in the network maps represent the interactions between the different research fields and, in each network, the edges whose weight is lower than the average co-occurrence number for the corresponding temporal interval have been suppressed.

Topic co-occurence networks

It can be seen that as new topics emerge, the network structure becomes richer in terms of connections, showing the most important footprints of the related research activities. Through a qualitative analysis of Fig.  8 , we observe that with advances in computer technology, especially developments in data or text mining and information retrieval, research on online hate speech based on computer sciences continues to receive more and more attention. In fact, from the analysis of links in the co-occurrence topic network, it was possible to identify, in the last period, interesting relations especially between Topics 8 and 12.

Overall, in the last thirty years, topics related to online hate research tend to arrange into three main clusters (Fig.  9 ). The fast greedy algorithm implemented in the R package igraph (Csardi and Nepusz 2006 ) was used to group the topics. The first meaningful cluster includes six topics that bring together basic themes of hate speech, covered by Topics 1,2, 3, as well as online speech designed to promote hate on the basis of race (Topic 5) and religion and extremism (Topic 7). At this group belongs also Topic 9, associated with analysis of discourse and language. In the smallest group, we find that cyberhate and gendered online hate are clustered together. Finally, Topics 4, 6, 8 and 12, in the last group, reveals that publications in this cluster deal with machine learning techniques and hateful content on online social media.

Topic clusters

Research activity in the identified topics

Influential countries in the identified topics.

Table  1 summarises the top-ten countries’ share of publication in the study of online hate speech for each of the identified clusters. Actually, for the themes of the first group (Topics 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9), owing to the presence of ex-fair scores, are displayed the first 11 publisher countries. Not surprisingly, the Anglo-Saxon States are very involved in research dealing with the general debate of “hate speech” versus “freedom of expression”. In fact, in these countries, especially in the United States, the constitutional protection of freedom of speech is vigorously defended. Conversely, other countries, mainly European countries, prohibit certain forms of speech and even the expression of certain opinions, such those to incite hatred, but also to publicly deny crimes of genocide (e.g., the Holocaust) or war crimes.

United States and United Kingdom holds the largest share of publications in the other two domains, suggesting that both these countries had a pioneering role and the strongest impact in the new strands of research focused on machine learning algorithms and text classification as a viable source for identification of hate speech as well as on investigating cyberbullying and gendered hate behaviours. Interestingly, research on automatic identification and classification of hateful languages on social media using machine learning methods emerges as an important component also in the Italian, Indian and Spanish research activity on hate speech. Finally, for the third cluster (Topics 10 and 11), we see that a not negligible number of publications on themes linked with cyberbulling and gendered hate originated from Finland, which occupies the third position in the correspondent ranking, followed by Italy and South Africa.

Country cooperation in the identified topics

The preliminary analysis in the previous subsection depicts the overall landscape of countries contribution to the studies on online hate speech. Moving forward, by taking into account authors’ affiliation, it is possible to analyse the level of cooperation between countries. It is worth noting that country research collaboration is a valuable means since it allows scholars to share information and play their academic advantages (Ebadi and Schiffauerova 2015 ), and is deemed the hallmark of contemporary scientific production. To highlight the country research collaboration in the online hate speech research field, we constructed the countries cooperation network, displayed in the Supplementary Material. In what follows, we take into account the cooperation with respect to each of the clusters identified in the “Topic interactions” section. The characteristics of international cooperation between different countries in each domain of online hate research can be argued from the network maps visualised in Figs. 10 ,   11 and   12 . We see that the United States is the major partner in international cooperation in the field of online hate speech, in all identified topic clusters. Academic cooperative connections among countries, generating research on Topics 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9, primarily originate from the Unites States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Sweden and Spain. The top ranked countries by centrality, for the cluster that embraces Topics 4, 6, 8 and 12, are Unites States, United Kingdom, China, Italy, Spain, Germany and Brazil. Finally, for the research related to the remaining Topics 10 and 11, we discover a wider scientific collaboration, mainly, among United States, Spain, South Korea, Czech Republic and Germany.

Country cooperation network for topics 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9

Country cooperation network for topics 4,6,8,12

Country cooperation network for topics 10,11

In the last years, the dynamics and usefulness of social media communications are seriously affected by hate speech (Arango et al. 2019 ), which has become a huge concern, attracting worldwide interest. The attention payed to online hate speech by the scientific research community and by policy makers is a reaction to the spread of of hate speech, in all its various forms, on the many social media and other online platforms, and to the pressing need to guarantee non-discriminatory access to digital spaces, as well.

Motivated by these concerns, this paper has presented a bibliometric study of the world’s research activity on online hate speech, performed with the aim of providing an overview of the extent of published research in this field, assessing the research output and suggesting potential, fruitful, future directions.

Beyond the identification and mapping of traditional bibliometric indicators, we focused on the contemporary structure of the field that is composed of a certain variety of themes that researchers are engaging with over the years. Through topic modelling analysis, implemented via LDA algorithm, the main research topics of online hate have been identified and grouped in categories. In contrast to previous researches, designed as qualitative literature review, this study provides a broader and quantitative analysis of publications of online hate speech. In this respect, it should be noted that although topic models do not offer new insights on representing the main area of the research, it gives to our knowledge, for the first time, the possibility of discovering latent and potentially useful contents, shape their possible structure and relationships underlying the data, with quantitative methods.

As pointed out by different authors (see, among others, Yau et al. 2014 ), the combination of topic modelling algorithms and bibliometrics allows the researcher to feature the retrieved topics with a number of topic-based analytic indicators, other than to investigate their significance and dynamic evolution, and model their quantitative relations.

Our analysis has systematically sorted the relevant international studies, producing a visual analysis of 1614 documents published in Scopus database, and generated a large amount of empirical data and information.

The following conclusions can be drawn. The volume of academic papers published in a representative sample, from 1992 to 2019, displays a significant increase after 2010; thus, in the main evolution of online hate speech research, it has been possible to identify an initial development stage (1992–2010) followed by a rapid development (2011–2019). Many countries are regularly involved in publishing in this research field, even if the majority of studies have been conducted in the context of the high-income western countries; in this respect, it is notable the research strength of United States and United Kingdom. Also, the empirical findings provide evidence for the capability of countries to build significant research cooperation. The topic analysis retrieves twelve recurring topics, which can be characterised into three clusters. Specifically, the contemporary structure of online hate literature can be viewed as composed by a group dealing with basic themes of hate speech, a collection of documents that focuses on hate-speech automatic detection and classification by machine-learning strategies and, finally, a third core which focuses on specific themes of gendered hate speech and cyberbullying. Once the groups have been created and identified, the next step is to understand the evolutionary process of each of them over the years. Looking chronologically at online hate research development, we have a trace of an overall shift from generic and knowledge based themes towards approaches that face the challenges of automatic detection of hate speech in text and hate speech addressed to specific targets. The combination of topic modelling algorithms with tools of network analysis enabled to clarify topics relation and has made clear and visible the interdisciplinary nature of the field. The confluence of online hate studies into hate-speech automatic detection and classification approaches stresses how the problem of hate diffusion should be studied not only from the social point of view but also from the point of view of computer science. In our opinion, the main reason driving the shift from conceptually oriented studies to more practically oriented ones is that there is a growing demand for finding statistical methodologies to automatically detect hate speech and make it possible to build effective counter-measures. It is worth noting, however, that the observed shift does not remove the subjective nature of hate speech denotation, given that automatic detection and classification methods need ultimately to rely on a specific definition of what communication should be interpreted as offensive, dangerous and conveying hate. Moreover, supervised techniques require an annotated set of social media contents that will be used to train the algorithms to better detect and score online comments but interpretation of hatefulness varies significantly among individual raters (Salminen et al. 2019 ). There is also evidence highlighting how people from different countries perceive hatefulness of the same online comments differently (Salminen et al. 2018 ). The authors of these studies suggest that online hate should be defined as a subjective experience rather than as an average score that is uniform to all users and that research should concentrate on how incorporate user-level features when scoring and automating the processing of online hate.

An other interesting field worth of investigation is related to the producers of online hate speech. While the online behaviour of organized hate groups has been extensivily analysed, only recently attention has focused on the behaviour of individuals that produce hate speech on the mainstream platforms (see Siegel 2020 , and references herein). Finally, future study should continue to investigate tools devoted to effectively combat online hate speech. Since content deletion or user suspension may be charged with censorship and overblocking, one alternate strategy is to oppose hate content with counter-narratives (Gagliardone et al. 2015 ). Therefore, a promising line of research is the exploration of effective counterspeech techniques which can vary according to hate speech targets, online platforms and haters characteristics.

We think that this work, based on solid data and computational analyses, might provide a clearer vision for researchers involved in this field, providing evidence of the current research frontiers and the challenges that are expected in the future, highlighting all the connections and implications of the research in several research domains.

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Tontodimamma, A., Nissi, E., Sarra, A. et al. Thirty years of research into hate speech: topics of interest and their evolution. Scientometrics 126 , 157–179 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03737-6

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Navigating the murky waters of antisemitism, free speech, and academic freedom.

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Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University.

Unlike the presidents of Penn, Harvard, and MIT , Columbia University president Minouche Shafik’s testimony unequivocally condemned antisemitism on the New York City-based campus. Shafik also issued an essay in The Wall Street Journal the day before her April 17 hearing, proclaiming: “ Antisemitism and calls for genocide have no place at a university .”

Representative Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) noted that Shafik was able to condemn antisemitism without the phrase “it depends on the context” — a term often used by the presidents who testified in December. However, Bean and other Republican representatives were not entirely satisfied. They claimed that the words stated in the hearing did not match the lack of action on Columbia’s campus.

Much of the concern pertained to Joseph Massad , a tenured professor in the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia. Massad published an article titled “Just another battle or the Palestinian war of liberation?” in The Electronic Intifada on October 8, 2023. In the article, he referred to the Hamas attack on Israel one day earlier as a “resistance offensive” and stated, “regardless of who comes to power in Israel, nothing will change the nature of Israeli settler-colonialism and racism toward the Palestinians.” The Republican lawmakers objected to these statements.

Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) both challenged Shafik, asking what the university had done to condemn Massad’s statements and how he had been reprimanded. Shafik was quick to say that she condemned Massad’s statement but when asked what the repercussions were, she replied, “He was spoken to by his Head of Department and Dean.” She also noted that he has not repeated the behavior. The Republican lawmakers were not happy with the answer, with Stefanik firing back: “Does he need to repeat stating that the massacre of Israeli civilians was ‘awesome’?” Massad used the word “awesome” in his article mentioned above. Of note, Massad told the Associated Press that he was not reprimanded and claimed that his comments were taken out of context.

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After considerable grilling, Shafik stated, “On my watch, faculty who make remarks that cross the line in terms of antisemitism, there will be consequences for them. I have five cases at the moment who have either been taken out of the classroom or dismissed.”

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education professor Jonathan Zimmerman , an expert on free speech and academic freedom, stated: “Yesterday was a sad day for academic freedom in the United States. A major university president told a Congressional committee that she intends to censor "antisemitic" speech. But reasonable people disagree about what that term means. And if we impose a singular definition of it, we will not be able to converse across our differences.”

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich) also questioned Shafik, inquiring if a statement like “from the river to the sea. Palestine will be free” is antisemitic. Here Shafik was nuanced in her response, stating “I hear [it] as such, some people don’t.” David Schizer , former dean of Columbia Law School and leader of the school’s antisemitism task force, disagreed and labeled the phrase antisemitic.

Despite the many arrows coming at her, Shafik was skilled in her approach, learning from the experiences of the presidents who testified last year. She spent hours preparing, was accompanied by two members of the Columbia board of trustees, and Schizer. One strategic move used by Shafik was focusing more on fighting antisemitism and less on free speech. She tried to make it clear that free speech is valued but that the presence of antisemitism and calls for terrorism and genocide are not.

Larry Moneta , an adjunct professor in higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, “It seems that the Columbia president avoided the pitfalls of her presidential colleagues (some former now) but may have created controversy for her[self] back on campus. I see nothing of value in these hearings related to the diminishment of antisemitism. All I see is blatant sexism, culture wars, and flailing presidents.”

Shafik’s testimony was consistent with her words from the night before, when she stated, “Most of the people protesting do so from a place of genuine political disagreement, not from personal hatred or bias or support for terrorism. Their passion, as long as it doesn’t cross the line into threats, discrimination or harassment, should be protected speech on our campus.”

When thinking about protests on college campuses around these types of volatile issues, Walter Kimbrough , the former president of historically Black Dillard University in New Orleans, LA, shared “My overriding thought is that members of Congress seem to expect even more than in loco parentis [universities acting in place of the parent].” Referring to the lawmakers questioning of Shafik about antisemitic flyers on Columbia’s campus, Kimbrough stated, “They expect schools to be able to limit what kinds of flyers students pass out on campus. It just seems like there are unreasonable expectations, which if fully executed, would lead to much greater costs. Schools would really be locked down.”

As the debate continues, it is crucial for all those involved to engage in constructive dialogue that respects diverse perspectives while actively working toward eradicating antisemitic beliefs and fostering inclusive environments within academic communities. As Moneta shared, “The hearings only focus attention to expressions of antisemitism not on antisemitism itself. Actually diminishing antisemitic beliefs requires far more work…work that seems unlikely as DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] is further demonized by conservatives.”

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243 Easy and Simple Speech Topics

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

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If time doesn’t allow for much preparation or research, what’s best is to stick with something you know. This will cut down significantly on your workload because you already know most of what there is to know.

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• Dogs are better pets than cats.
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• Euthanize dogs that have bitten more than once
• Ban slaughter houses for horses
• Why dogs are man’s best friend
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• Pit bulls aren’t the problem , it’s their owners

• Two child max rule should apply worldwide.
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• Legalize abortion for rape and incest cases.
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• Cosmetic surgery should be regulated.
• Equal punishment and less protection for celebrities who break the law
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• People on welfare should be drug tested to receive welfare, and at random to keep it
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• Red light cameras at every traffic light
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• The government is no longer “by the people and for the people”
• Impose stricter federal restrictions on internet content
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• The government shouldn’t censor information given online
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• Restrictions on garbage output to reduce pollution and carbon footprint
• Legal issues are the best sources to find suggestions for persuasive speech topics.
• There is a need for more prisons.
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• People need to visit dentists more often.
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• Calcium doesn’t make teeth stronger.
• Losing weight is easy, keeping it off is not.
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• Fat isn’t bad for you.
• Electronic cigarettes are harmful.
• Diet pills do not work.
• Balanced sugar-free nutrition is an effective treatment for ADHD.
• Hospitals should allow owners of pets to have their pets brought in
• Buying local goods is better for the economy and for our health
• The impact of consuming all organic foods on our bodies
• The benefits of alternative medicine vs. Western medicine
•  HIV and AIDS testing done annually for Health Care Professional 
• Fast food and the war on obesity
• Morbidly obese people should have to pay more for public transportation
• Healthcare should include a gym membership and nutrition counseling
• The negative implications of Facebook
• Television programs must be censored before broadcasting.
• Talking during movies at the theater is rude behavior.
• How the paparazzi hinders free press
• The good and bad when it comes to Google
• The paparazzi are the real stalkers.
• Celebrities get away with everything.
• Video games are not evil.
• Downloading copyrighted MP3s is piracy.
• Sex and violence on television is harmful to children.
• Ad spots in news programs should be banned.
• News media should give equal attention to all politicians.
• There is nothing real about reality TV.
• Social media should be blocked at work places.
• Fake news writers should be punished.
• Word of mouth will always be the best form of advertising.
• TV’s will soon be a thing of the past.
• Romantic movies set unrealistic standards.
• Ads aimed at children should be strictly regulated.
• Television has become the number two news source after the internet and tv will be further downsized.
• Beer advertisements promote irresponsible drinking and ought to be banned from the communal street views.
• Harry Potter books are popular even among adults.
• News reporters earn money because of people who make a mess of their lives.
• No news is good news!
• Books should never be burned in public.
• Advantages of having a three-day weekend instead of a two-day weekend
• Why everyone should visit Disney World
• Allow married women to enter Miss World and Miss Universe pageants.
• There couldn’t be enough beauty contests for children!
• Beauty contests degrade women.
• Some market toys provoke and promote violent behavior.
• Mac is better than PC
• Santiago de Chile tourists must be made aware of pickpocketers. (or another city)
• Love is far more powerful than hate
• Make free public wi-fi available
• Bike-sharing programs
• Stealing from the rich to give to the poor is not nobel.
• The morals behind lying
• Silly games like Candy Crush are making people less intelligent
• Using hands-free devices while driving
• Using lie detector tests for employment purposes
• What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
• Money can’t buy happiness
• Is Batman a real superhero?
• Why there aren’t more female construction workers
• Lie detector tests are inaccurate.
• Organic food tastes better.
• Alternative power is the answer to our energy crisis.
• It’s immoral to genetically design babies.
• Every property needs to have at least one tree.
• Nursery rhymes need to be looked at better.
• Hostels are not a place for children.
• Plant fruit trees on sidewalks.
• Religion and science can go hand in hand.
• Everyone should know how to swim.
• Not wearing a seat belt a personal choice.
• Opposites will always attract.
• Climate change is always changing.
• Not enough is done to end world hunger.
• Battery farming is unethical.
• People shouldn’t be paying for drivers licenses.
• Smokers make the most acquaintances.
• First impressions are always right.
• Cash should be abandoned completely.
• Allow mind reading during poker.
• Minimum wage is too low.
• Security cameras are an invasion of privacy.
• Clients don’t want birthday messages from businesses.
• Allow casual dress clothes in the workplace.
• Make public transport free.
• The welfare system doesn’t work.
• Organ donors should be paid.
• All kids on a winning team should get a trophy.
• Illegal immigrants don’t harm the economy.
• Humans are vegetarian by nature.
• Self-driving cars will cause fewer accidents.
• It is time to include internet slang to dictionaries.
• Teens are unfairly stereotyped.
• Group homes are better than foster care.
• Guns don’t kill people.
• Fracking is dangerous.
• Money isn’t the root of all evil.
• Being homeless is a choice.
• The school curriculum is too overloaded.
• Graffiti is art.
• Priests shouldn’t be giving marriage counseling.
• Everyone must be taught to do CPR.
• Juvenile crime is dealt with incorrectly.
• Older generations were crueler.
• Royal families are not needed in this day and age.
• Fame will always be bad for children.
• Prisoners must not be allowed tovote.
• Yearly HIV tests for all health professionals.
• Being skinny is no longer cool.
• Lego’s are not gender bias.
• The drought in Cape Town will happen in other parts of the world too.
• Employees know more than employers.
• Adoption records should be opened.
• Affirmative action is false competition in the workspace.
• Aids tests should be required in federal prisons – for all inmates and the prison guards too.
• The millimeter wave scanner at airports security zones strikes out all privacy that we fought for.
• Water management in our home really does matter.
• Why you should only buy fair trade.
• Hundred percent airline safety is an utopia.
• Helping runaways is a crime.
• Help addicted popstars immediately and save them.
• Hands free cell phone use in cars must be promoted better.
• Drivers quickly forget their drivers education.
• The driving age for teens should be raised to 18.
• The 1st Amendment is not a shield for hate groups.
• Reducing crime is a utopia.
• Impose trade and social sanctions on countries that do not prohibit child labor.
• More cold cases will be solved if investigators make use of DNA available.
• Ban the sale of guns at shops and stores.
• Saying what you want must not include hate speech.
• Immigrants must learn the language of the country they move to.
• Refund or rebate extra taxes collected plus interest on it to those who paid.
• Help the homeless down the streets and persuade them to look for work.
• Cell phone use is dangerous while driving.
• How Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas.
• History of our National Anthem and rituals.
• Paying off mortgage debt early is a good investment.
• Global awareness makes us responsible citizens of the world.

Nothing really stand out? No problem. Start by writing a list of things that interest you. Keep going until you find something you know a good deal about and that you could talk about forever. Choose something that will get your blood boiling, that you feel strongly about, even if others don’t. You’ll likely convert some people to your way of thinking just by the way you speak about your chosen topic.

No matter what topic you choose, always be credible and purpose-driven. Giving false facts is a big “no-no” and so is being wishy-washy with you speech. Give it meaning, give it purpose.

Just remember, what may be  easy speech topics to one person, isn’t always easily understood by someone else. So keep that in mind when persuading your audience.

613 Original Argumentative Speech Topics Ideas

The Best Microphone Stands and Desktop Boom Arms of 2022

8 thoughts on “243 Easy and Simple Speech Topics”

which topic is best topic in the world?

Thanks a lot It helped me in debate competition

Oof! that was quite a lot of reading, but it helped me greatly! I’m in a speech contest (middle grade, I’m in Canada).

Nice Idea to Easy and Simple Speech for Student Great Work well done

Thanks a lot it’s helpful

Last year I was super motivated to do a speech, and I came first in my school, with the topic of beach and ocean pollution. But know i’m not even motivated at all. Any suggestions of what I should do?

when your watching a movie with your parents and it gets to a sex scene and you tryna act cool: yes, the floor is very nice

My school has the best topics from this website UWU

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