For this argumentative research paper my research question will be, "why should the use of performance enhancing drugs, such as human growth hormones and anabolic steroids, be prohibited in the sport of body building?" I chose this research question because there are many possible reasons as to why performance enhancing drugs should be prohibited in the sport of body building. The argument of whether or not performance enhancing drugs should be prohibited in the sport of body building is the driving argument behind the stance that I took in my research question; I chose the stance that performance enhancing drugs should be prohibited in body building. In response to the proposed research question for my argumentative research paper, a possible thesis statement that I may use could be: The use of anabolic steroids in the sport of body building should be prohibited due to health risks and dangerous side effects, the addictive nature of the drug, and the effect of steroid use in bodybuilding on the youth of America. 

I settled on this research question by first forming a possible thesis statement for my argument and based on the thesis statement, I formed a question that my thesis statement answered. My research that I conducted on the topic of steroids in the sport of body building only strengthened my opinion on the subject. I began my research process believing that performance enhancing drugs in body building should be prohibited and based on the information that I found on the use and abuse of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones I chose to stand by my initial stance. The sport of body building a fascinating competition in which men and women exercise and eat healthy year round in order to see who among them has the best physique in a competition, I am interested in this topic because health and physical fitness is a large part of my life today. I would consider myself a stakeholder in the topic of body building because I would say that anyone who is interested in the sport of body building or has been influenced by the work-out style or the health plan of the body builders themselves is indeed a stakeholder in the topic of body building. This research question relates to my personal values because I believe that the aspect of physical fitness should be directly united the aspect of health and wellness. The use of performance enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids and human growth hormones, have very many health risks which can put even someone in great physical condition in jeopardy of sickness and death. I came into this research project with bias toward eliminating performance enhancing drug use in body building. I can avoid my bias toward the subject while writing my argumentative research paper by proposing reasons why people may want to keep performance enhancing drugs in the sport of body building and acknowledging them as well proposed points. By stating that there are many valid reasons as to why performance enhancing drugs should not be prohibited in body building I will still be able to make my argument for the prohibition of steroids without coming off as biased. There are many things that I do not know about the topic of performance enhancing drugs in the sport of body building that I am hoping to discover throughout my research process. Throughout my research process I hope to discover an estimated percentage as to how much the anabolic steroid intake for body building competitors has increased throughout the years that the sport has existed. After I find that out I would then like to know if the increase in performance enhancing drug intake was due to the advances in science or the athletes' personal drive to just be bigger than the last guy. I would also like to research more about how much the use of performance enhancing drugs has been seen increasing in the youth of America throughout the years, whether in competitive school sports or in youth body building. Through research I would also like to find more personal testimonies from ex-body builders speaking on their time as a body builder and the role that performance enhancing drugs played in their careers. I would also like to look at the life spans of natural body builders versus commercial body builders. 

With my argument of why performance enhancing drugs such as human growth hormones and anabolic steroids should be prohibited from the sport of body building I hope to provide many valid reasons as to why the government should eliminate performance enhancing drugs from the sport. I hope to enlighten readers of the dangers of performance enhancing drugs while also persuading them to be against performance enhancing drugs in body building. I believe that I can effectively write an 8-10 page paper on why performance enhancing drugs should be eliminated from the sport of body building. There is a lot to say about why body building should be drug free and there is also a lot to say about how harmful steroids and human growth hormones are to the human body. In the sources that I have found so far many authors have written articles about why steroids are harmful and why they should be eliminated from the sport. With that being said I have also found many articles written agreeing that steroids may be bad for the human body but that steroids are simply a part of the sport of body building and that it should not be made otherwise. I may revise my research question as my research goes on by taking a more neutral stance if the evidence I find points to why steroids are not deadly and that body builders can take them if they want to risk it themselves, although I highly doubt that I am going to change my stance on the subject. I think that this question is very complex in the way that it has more than one route that can be taken to solve the issue at hand, and as far as controversial goes I believe that outside of the stakeholders in the subject people just care about the steroids part, but the topic is very controversial in the world of body building. 
