Term Paper on "Capital Punishment in 1966 Kenneth Mcduff"

Quoted Instructions for "Capital Punishment in 1966 Kenneth Mcduff" Assignment:

Please note that the numbers by each section are only for organizational purposes. They should not be taken to represent paragraphs in your paper. You should spend adequate time with each of these sections as you see fit. I will be doing my paper on death penalty and I am for death penalty.

1. What is an interesting way to introduce your issue? You might use a quotation or a story that will pull readers in. if you use a quotation, choose one that helps make your overall point or that is provocative and pertinent to your issue. How you begin your essay greatly influences your ethos. Explain right away how you are entering into the ongoing conversation concerning your issue and why this issue is compelling to you. In other words explain where you are coming from and why.

2. Next, as you locate yourself in the conversation, explain what, precisely, others have claimed about the issue. Or, what are the prominent positions people have taken on your issue? Give an accurate, compressed, paraphrased summary; use direct quotations but use them sparingly in this section.

3. After introducing the conversation about your issue, you will then explain in detail how you agree and or disagree with those positions. Give your claim about your issue and explain how you differ from others’ positions and where you fit with them based on your circumstances (to build ethos). You might use the following transition sentences: “Hence, I will argue that...” or “based on the preceding discussion, I will suggest that…” or “extended [so and so’s] position, I add… and argue that…” etc. Remember that there are many ways to write a claim, depending on the type of claim you want to write. Make sure you fine-tune your claim after your paper is finished. Sometimes, claims change because the paper itself went “elsewhere.” Also, here is where you should mention the articles and authors that you agree with the most and will use for support throughout the rest of your essay.

4. Consider the value of your paper: what value will the audience get from reading your argument? Talk about your claim’s value right after you state your claim. You might say, “this is valuable because…” or “seeing this issue from a different point of view is crucial because…” or “extending [so and so’s] argument is important because…”

5. After you state your claim and the value your claim carries, you will spend the rest of your paper giving evidence and support for the claim. Remember this first part of the paper, while extremely crucial, should not exceed one third of the length of the paper. The bulk of your paper should be devoted to supporting your claim with evidence. What is the most powerful evidence that you have? Why? Did it persuade you by way of ethos, pathos, logos, or a combination of all three?

6. Where will you put your most powerful evidence? (This makes a difference.) How will you present it (story, graph, explication, visual explanation, etc)? How will you incorporate quotations into your essay?

7. Where will you put the rest of your evidence?

8. Where will you directly acknowledge the opposing view? How will you deal with possible refutation by your audience?

9. You will also need to acknowledge “what’s been left out?” of your discussion or what is involved in your issue that you chose not to discuss. This is crucial for building your ethos, especially if you are working with a complex issue. You might say something like: “I realize that my discussion is limited to…”