Name: Date: Period:

Argument Prompt: Just Mercy

I. Introduction:

In states such as Mississippi, Florida, and South Dakota, “more than 2,500 children in the United States have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole” (264, 269). Most of these convictions occur when the youth commits a homicide. Is it just for our court system to allow juveniles to serve life sentences without parole?

In a well-written essay, develop your position on the value of life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders. Use appropriate evidence from your reading, experience, or observations to support your argument.

II. Remember the Following:

As you write your paper, remember the following details:

  1. Focus on your argument; consider compelling reasons to support your position.
  2. You may conduct outside research, if desired, but don’t spend too much time on outside sources. You should be able to heavily rely on your reading of Just Mercy.
  3. Prepare a thorough two page outline.
  4. Your essay should be five paragraphs and approximately four pages in length.
  5. Type your essay in MLA format.

III. Late Policy

No late work will be accepted with this essay. If you will not be in class, for example, it is your responsibility to email the document to Mr. Afram by the start of that class session.

IV. Due Dates:

Outline (see reverse):

Rough Draft:

Final Draft:

**Note: Late essays will be marked down 10% each day. **

Sample Outline

I.Introduction: Establish exigency (“Exigency” means a need, or demand. Think of making your issue urgent, important, and relevant to readers.)

State your thesis/argument in this section.

Note: You can write a hard or soft thesis. The hard thesis gives all the reasons up front, with the soft thesis just answers the prompt.

  1. Confirmation: The reasons and support for your position on the topic; each paragraph should state a reason or expand on a reason that supports your thesis (position) on your topic

A.Topic Sentence (write the main idea of the paragraph)

  1. Bullet point all evidence that will support the idea above with citations. Again, you will have to analyze this evidence later.

B.Repeat the directions above for each paragraph in this section

  1. Refutation—Optional: Acknowledge and refute opposing claims and/or evidence; while in the previous section you focused on proving your side correct, here you will focus on proving the opposition wrong.

A.Explain a counterargument against your position

  1. Briefly state your refutation to the above counterargument
  2. Bullet point all evidence that will support your refutation (remember that you will have to analyze each later)
  1. Conclusion: Answer the SO WHAT? (A. Do you want people to do something about this topic? If so, what? B. Are you providing a solution? What is it? Where is the audience in all this? C. Explain the greater implications for society because of what you’ve discussed.)

A.Topic Sentence (write the main idea of the paragraph)

  1. Bullet point some ideas that you will want to emphasize in this paragraph