Sample Research Paper Outline
When you hand in your Research Paper outline, you should present it like this example and include at least this much detail. Remember to use APA layout for the references and the introduction.

Topic: Death Penalty

Thesis: Death Penalty is not a valid means of punishment and should be abolished in the United States.
Alternative View: People whose family members have been murdered feel the need for vindication through the death penalty.

Argument One: Death penalty is a cruel and unusual means of punishment making it barbaric.

Code of Hamurabi, eye for an eye (Ancient idea of justice).
People who had family members that were victims of a crime enjoy seeing the criminal be put to death and that is barbaric. Examples guillotine in the middle ages, people would gather around the plaza and enjoy watching people die. That is barbaric.

Argument Two: Death Penalty is not an actual deterrent to commit crimes
Conversations with prisoners, prisoners stated they didn’t think about the punishment when they commit a crime. Statistics from countries that don’t practice death penalty compared to statistics with countries that do practice death penaltyExample: France and Canada vs The United States

Argument Three: Not everyone is given the same sentence for the same crime and this is unjust.
Serial killers who kill anywhere between 24-50 people get life sentences whereas black men from the south who robbed an old woman gets the death penalty.
Most sentences do not depend on the crime but on the amount of money a defendant can spend on a lawyer.

References

Babcock, S.(Spring 2007)The Global Debate on the Death Penalty.Human Rights. American Bar Association, . Vol. 34, No. 2.
Bonner, R.and Lacey, M. (September 13,2000). Reno Troubled by Death Penalty Statistics.New York Times.
Dieter, R.(October, 2003). International Influence on the Death Penalty in the U.S.ForeignService
Journal.Shapiro, B. (August 6, 2001). Dead Reckoning.Nation.