Capital Punishment

Select the topics below for your essay. Do not simply give your opinion or write an informative
essay—this must be an argument essay in which you state the point you will make in your thesis and
support it with powerful paragraphs. Remember to prove your thesis using textual evidence from three
sources from the Opposing Viewpoints database. Use MLA format including in-text citations and a Works
Cited page.
You may select from any of these categories, but remember to focus on a specific aspect of the
topic, rather than trying to cover all there is to say about any one topic. It is far better to write indepth about one aspect, than to gloss over the whole topic. Learn something new and share that
with your reader.
 Business and Economics
 Energy and Environmentalism
 Health and Medicine
 Law and Politics
NOTE: Please avoid topics that have been overworked unless you bring a fresh approach to
these topics. Here is a list of topics that we would prefer you avoid:
 Abortion
 Gun Control
 Legalizing Marijuana
 Gay Marriage
 Capital Punishment
 National Debate Topic
 Science, Technology, and Ethics
 Society and Culture
 War and Diplomacy
ENC1101 Page 2
Step 3: Revising for Content
You will work on this paper in three steps:

1. In the first step is to evaluate the sources you will use to support your claim in an annotated
   bibliography.
2. In the second step you will write a draft of your essay that incorporates the evidence you have
   selected.
3. In the third step you will revise the content of your essay for clarity and cohesion.
   Step 3: Revising for Content
   In this assignment you will submit a one-page document of your essay with revisions to your content to
   create cohesion. In order to better learn how to do this, you will use review a peer’s essay as well as your
   own essay.
   Objectives:
    select reputable and reliable academic data sources
    evaluate sources to include in an essay
    select quotes to incorporate into your essay
    incorporate evidence from outside texts to support main points in an essay
    cite outside texts using MLA formatting guidelines