On The Island of Dr. Moreau:

1) Dr. Moreau is usually seen as a mad scientist/monster or a forerunner of Dr. Mengele, but my view is that Wells wants us to take his benevolent intentions seriously and see him as a benefactor of humanity who has, tragically, failed to accomplish goals which the writer finds to be nonetheless noble.

On Darwin's Origin of Species:

2) The common view of Darwin is that he presented a tragic vision of natural history as a battlefield of unceasing conflict, a place where the martial law of "survival of the fittest" rules. Yet, surprisingly, Darwin takes a relatively optimistic view of the operation of natural selection in evolution.

On your own topic:

3) Choose an issue about which you know something. Briefly sketch out the common view of this issue then argue a "surprising" view of the issue that runs against the common view. If you need to cite secondary sources, you may do so. For online links to The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and other indexes, or for links to online journals and magazines, see http://www.public.asu.edu/~dbivona/Links.html.