Tarquin MacManus
Research Proposal
English 102
Ordover
My research project will endeavor to investigate the issue of the Legal drinking age in the United
States, and to explore the pros and cons of it being reduced from 21 to 18. I will eventually
conclude that reducing the legal drinking age is a beneficial and logical change. It will also
encompass the issue of binge drinking and identify it as the problem that ends lives rather than
underage drinking.
The issue of the legal drinking age is not one which has just risen during the recent presidential
campaign or even in the last couple of years; it has been a topic of debate since the day the age
was changed to 21 in so many states across the United States some twenty odd years ago. The
law has taken both scrutiny and praise from many different parties and individuals incorporating
many different variables into their rationale of for or against. Because everyone has an opinion
on this topic, my target audience will be the people. Everyone has an opinion on the legal
drinking age despite whether they are within the controversial 18-20 age or older and eventually
the decision to either reduce the drinking age or leave it be is one which will be determined by
the public.
I feel that the best form of publication to get the documented argument across to the general
public is through newspapers and magazines, if I was to make this a scholarly article and put it in
some form of journal I feel that my argument wouldn’t get across the enough of my target
audience to make any real impact on the eventual decision, 18 or 21? With this in mind the
argument will take on the role of a popular article.
Research Questions
- Is Underage drinking really the problem or is it binge drinking?
- What’s the difference between an 18 year old drinking for the first time and a 21 year old
drinking for the first time?
- Why are so many other countries at 18 and what have the results in these countries shown?
- Should there be federal laws that penalize states that have a drinking age under 21?
- Ratio between drink driving accidents and sober driving accidents?
- Should kids be introduced to alcohol at a younger age and taught to enjoy rather than abuse?
- Would better transportation cause people to welcome a legal drinking age reduction?
- How can an 18 year old be allowed to go to war but not allowed to have a beer?
- Why does everyone want the age reduced before they are 21 but not after?
My research to date has had many different points of view and articles identifying different areas
of the situation. One topic that came up frequently was the 100 college presidents calling for a
debate on reducing the legal age. Many sources identified the issue of binge drinking and the
serious affects it has on drinkers both underage and legal. Drink driving is also frequent when
researching the topic usually identifying underage drinking as large contributor. Also many
sources tackled the issue of drinking with your kids and can early introduction to alcohol
promote safer practices among youths.
I definitely want to research deeper into drink driving and try to find if 21 is saving lives. I will
also research into a federal law which penalizes states which have a drinking age under 21 by
way of road funding. Other than that I will try to get a better understanding for underage drinking
from both sides of the fence, good and bad so as to present a well rounded argument, and then
manipulate the material to my point of view pro legal age reduction. I think that with statistical
analysis and reasoning reducing the drinking age is continually blown out of proportion as being
the worst thing that could happen. I want to be able to use the three different aspects of
persuasion and rhetorical analysis being pathos, ethos and logos. A significant amount of my
research from now will go into finding viewpoints of well read scholars that match my own
viewpoint so as to elevate myself into the heights of these scholars.
This issue is highly important, since its introduction it has been one of the most hotly debated
legal topics. There are so many different points of view, and so many different variables that
influence individual’s decisions to think whether a legal drinking age reduction is good or bad.
The issue also affects a serious chunk of the population in one way or another and has been up in
the air for far to long without a fair trial. This is why I have chosen to research this topic and
prove that the reduction from 21 to 18 is a fair and just decision.