SHORT PAPER

If you want to think critically, learn to think clearly and express yourself well. Everybody, no matter how well he or she writes, can improve. The two best ways to improve are to read and analyze the good work of other writers and then to practice writing yourself. Finding the right topic can be the most difficult part, so here is one provided for you.

Your assignment is to write a short essay of two to three double-spaced pages on the item presented below.

Here are the steps.

1. Clearly identify the argument (or arguments) in the passage.
2. State your own position on the case (or a hypothetical position if you do not already have one).
3. Give at least one good reason in support of your position in the form of an essential claim premise.
4. Anticipate one objection to your position (the best one if you think of several), and state how you would respond reasonably to the person making the objection.

This will be a controversial topic, so it is important to write a well-reasoned assignment rather than an emotionally driven one.

Here is the item for your assignment:

On February 11, 2003, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the State of Arkansas could force death row prisoner Charles Laverne Singleton to take anti-psychotic drugs to make him sane enough to execute. Singleton was to be executed for felony capital murder but became insane while in prison. "Medicine is supposed to heal people, not prepare them for execution. A law that asks doctors to make people well so that the government can kill them is an absurd law," said David Kaczynski, the executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.

Reference Kaczynski, D. (2011). The Director's Corner. NYADP Journal, Vol 1. Retrieved from https://nyadpjournaldotorg.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/nyadpjournal2.pdf