Essential Academic Writing Skills

Question 1

Singapore Country Review (2013) reported that the gratuitous use of the death penalty has resulted in Singapore’s dubious distinction as the country with the highest per capita execution rate in the world — exceeding the record of Saudi Arabia. The application of the death penalty is an additional element spurring critique of Singapore’s justice system. Making matters worse has been the application of the death penalty in cases where violent crime is not a factor. For example, two men of African background were executed for drug smuggling in 2007 despite the fact that global human rights groups launched massive appeals for clemency. The case highlighted Singapore’s draconian methods of dealing with narcotics- related crimes.

There has been much debate in the Singapore Parliament and public sphere with regards to the complete abolition of the death penalty. The two articles provided reflect the debate regarding the issue of death penalty in Singapore.

Do you think that the Singapore government should completely abolish the death penalty?

In about 1000 words, write a persuasive argumentative essay defending your position in order to argue for your particular stance on this issue. Other than providing supporting arguments for the position you take on this issue, you MUST anticipate objections and provide counterarguments to write the paper. Relevant information for you to gather would be:

•  Definition & types of death penalty
• Singapore’s laws on the death penalty
• Issues (moral, ethical, and etc.) surrounding the death penalty
• Arguments for the death penalty
• Arguments against the death penalty

(100 marks)

Guidance Notes

1. Your reasoning must be good.

2. Strengthen your argument by using examples and illustrations.

3. You may include any additional but relevant information to the ideas that have already been given in the scenario and articles.

4. You should use at least 7 research sources to help you write your essay. The given articles are considered as a separate research source each and can count towards the 7 research sources.

5. You are to use credible and reliable sources to help you write this essay. Marks will be deducted for non-credible and unreliable content.

6. Remember to use accurate grammar, correct sentence structures and a tone appropriate to academic writing. Marks will be deducted for poor English.