What are your assumptions about capital punishment, and how do they compare to the facts?

Assignment Overview

Title: Socratic Wisdom. Be sure to put your
name, student ID, date, and the word count at the top as well. No title page;
just put these at the top of your first page, single spaced, Arial 12 pt font.
Topic: In this 7
paragraph paper, you will explore assumptions vs facts regarding two chosen
issues (from a list of four below) regarding capital punishment, based on some
careful web research, and you will use what you have learned to analyze the
results and reflect upon assumptions, bias, and fact-finding. This paper is NOT
about whether you are in favor of or opposed to the death penalty. See below
for detailed, paragraph by paragraph instructions.
Sources: At
least two factual, unbiased, detailed internet sources for each of the two
issues (so 2 x 2 = 4 sources total, plus your source for the paragraph on
Socratic wisdom). Don’t use the same 2 sources for both issues. Take
great pains to make sure that you are not just looking for things that prove
that you are right. If you look hard enough, you can always find
someone who agrees with you; however, the point is not that but rather to find
out what the preponderance of the best
research says on the subject. Your sources should be high quality,
reasonably current and reflect the research of leading scholars. Be sure to use
quotation marks when taking more than 3 words in a row from the text or any
source, even for definitions. Work on putting things in your own words to
demonstrate your understanding of the material, using no more than about 10%
quotations for the paper.

What are your assumptions about capital punishment, and how do they compare to the facts? Do some web research regarding capital punishment: You will choose 2 of 4 issues to research &
report your findings (mostly in your own words, although you can use quotes or
lists of data as needed). Try to find web sources that are as factual, authoritative & unbiased
as possible.

A. the cost of capital
punishment compared to life in prison
B. the history of how many
innocent people have been put to death
C. the deterrent effect of
capital punishment
D. racial bias in the death
penalty

Again, you will choose 2 of these 4 issues
to research.

Detailed,
paragraph-by-paragraph instructions

Here is the exact structure for your
paper:

1st
paragraph: Explain the
concept of Socratic wisdom in your own words. You may want to include a brief
quote or two. Explain to your reader that you’ll be applying the concept of
Socratic wisdom to 2 specific issues regarding capital punishment (out of the 4
choices listed above) and tell what those issues are. You could use chapter 1
of your textbook as your source. Please include this source as well as your
research sources in the references page.

2nd
paragraph: In about 4-6 sentences, briefly explain your initial
assumptions about the first issue you have chosen (of the four listed), and the
reasoning behind your assumptions. Simply be honest in your statement of your
initial assumptions; you are not being graded on how accurate your assumptions
were. However, I will expect to see some thoughtful reasoning to explain your assumptions.
Place your assumptions within the context of typical American assumptions about
the issue; you can do a little quick research to check that, if needed. If
you’ve already done research on one or both of the issues, for example in
another course, you could explain what your assumptions were prior to your
research.

3rd
paragraph: In about
4-6 sentences, briefly explain your initial assumptions about the second issue
you have chosen (of the four listed), and the reasoning behind your
assumptions. Place your assumptions within the context of typical American
assumptions about the issue; you can do a little quick research to check that,
if needed.

4th
paragraph: In a longer
paragraph, explain the facts you have discovered in your research regarding the
first issue you have chosen (the same issue you discussed in the first
paragraph). Just the facts—at this point, I don’t want to hear any reactions or
comparisons to your initial assumptions. Work
on putting things in your own words to demonstrate your understanding of the
material. Use no more than about 10%
quotes in the entire paper. Be sure to use quotation marks when taking more
than 3 words in a row from the text or any source (unless it’s the name of
something, such as The United States Supreme Court).

5th
paragraph: In another
longer paragraph, explain the facts you have discovered in your research
regarding the second issue you have chosen (the same issue you discussed in the
second paragraph). Again, work on putting things in your own words.

6th
paragraph: Give your personal
reaction to your research and compare the facts to your initial assumptions.
Discuss any surprises and the reason why any facts turned out to be different
than what you expected. You may also discuss whether the results reflect
typical American assumptions regarding the controversy. Explain the importance
of checking for facts and avoiding assumptions and bias; for example, what is
at stake if individuals and policy-makers vote or make laws based on their unresearched
personal biases, or if they only look for data that supports their own
pre-conceptions?

7th
paragraph: In your longer
final paragraph, move away from the capital punishment debate. Discuss the
importance of checking the facts in an unbiased way when it comes to moral,
social and political controversies in general. Discuss this in the context of a
single current controversy that is NOT related to capital punishment, such as
the handling of the covid-19 crisis, the climate crisis, racial justice (apart
from the death penalty), economic justice, or gun control. The end of this
paragraph will wrap up your findings in the paper regarding assumptions, bias
and fact-checking. Use a strong closing sentence, perhaps relating your findings
back to the concept of Socratic wisdom.

List of references:
See instructions for references on page 1. References can be a separate page
within the same document, or can just be at the bottom of the last page.

Stay
focused on the purpose of the paper. This paper is NOT about whether you
are in favor of or opposed to the death penalty, and it is NOT about your
reading of the text. The paper is about
learning Socratic wisdom by comparing your assumptions to carefully researched
facts, and drawing some general conclusions about the importance of checking
the facts in discussing controversial moral and social issues. You can earn
an A on this paper without ever stating whether you are in favor of, or opposed
to, capital punishment. You can do poorly on this paper by turning it into a
pro or con opinion paper. Your paper should have exactly 7 paragraphs, exactly
as described above; no more, and no less. Don’t change the order of the
paragraphs.
Your paper must be
submitted in .doc, docx or .rtf format. No PDF files, please. You can accomplish this using
any word processor by going up to file, then save as, then select either .doc,
docx or .rtf and type in your last name as part of the document name. Please submit your paper as a single
document. It
must be an attachment; do not paste into the comments box. If you submit any file type other than
.doc, docx, or .rtf and you don’t fix it before the assignment deadline, the
grade will be zero and you will not be able to resubmit. You’re responsible for
making sure to use one of the accepted file formats. Do not use special
characters such as & in your file name, or the document may not be
openable. I do not accept Google docs, pdf files, links to files within your
Dropbox or other cloud storage account, or documents that are password
protected. Any word processor including Google docs will have a way to “save
as” .rtf or .doc or .docx.
If you try to submit your paper
and eCampus is down, email me a temporary copy (to stop the late clock ticking)
and then post it when eCampus comes back up.
“Wups I submitted the wrong
document/blank document/rough draft” is not a valid excuse for resubmitting a
paper after the deadline, and neither is “I swear I submitted it but it’s not
there—Blackboard ate my homework!” Double check your submission before the
deadline by clicking on the green exclamation point in the eCampus gradebook.

Other Details:
Format, length, etc.

Length: Approximately 1200-1500 words, not
including quotes or the list of sources. Think of your word count as your
budget; it’s good to make the most of it, but not to go over by much. Stay
within 10% of the maximum. If you paste in charts or other numerical data, this
would not be included in the word count. No more than 10% quotations. If your
paper is well below the minimum word count, that’s an indication that you
haven’t gone into enough detail to do well.
Format: Single
spaced, 12 pt Arial font, 1″ margins all around, no extra space between
paragraphs, no separate title page. At the top, list the title of the paper
(which has been given to you), your name, student ID, date, and the word count.
Style: APA or
MLA style are not needed. You should use the 1st person (I, me), in
your first two paragraphs at least, since you are asked to talk about your
assumptions, and in a later paragraph you’re asked to talk about your
reactions, so the 1st person is also appropriate there.
Citations: When you are paraphrasing or quoting
a source, in parentheses, simply note which source it is. For example, if your
sentence or paragraph has been discussing information taken from The Innocence
Project website, at the end of that passage of your paper, put it in
parentheses like this (Innocence Project). URLs are not used in citations; if
the webpage doesn’t have a name, give it one. The URL will go in your reference
list, instead.
References list: At the bottom of your paper, write
the word References, and then list the exact URL for all of your
sources. This should not be a homepage such as
www.innocenceproject.org, but rather the exact URLs within the sites that you
used. When I click on your links, I should be taken straight to your source
data without any further searching. The references page does not need to be
fancy; it does not have to follow APA or MLA style, although it could if you
prefer.

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