Jacobsen 1

Allison Jacobsen
Simone Suddreth
English 1010
16 December 2015
Self-Assessment
For my Issue Exploration Project, I chose the topic of the Death Penalty. It is a major part
of the criminal justice system in the United States, and other major countries, and I think that it
should be abolished. I believe that the death penalty is unfair, biased, and not helpful with our
society today.
I picked the topic of the death penalty because I have never realized the side I took on the
argument. I had never fully done research on it, and I didnt know where I stood. There are cases
every day involving someone being put to death, and I think it is important for people to realize
where they stand. I didnt have a very large opinion on the death penalty. I thought it was
appropriate for certain cases, but didnt know a lot of the facts of capital punishment. Its
completely arbitrary and the cons of it definitely outweigh the pros. The chance of someone
being innocent also brought me to realize that we should eliminate the death penalty in the
United States. Killing a killer doesnt erase the fact that he committed murder.
I really liked the discussions we had in English 1010. Although I am pretty soft spoken in
front of groups of people, I feel like I really grew in the end, and was able to share my opinions
without being judged. We mostly talked about the book, Between the World and Me, which
has a lot of opinions about race. I had a hard time at first talking about that subject because I felt
like I wasnt informed enough to have a real opinion about race. There isnt a lot of diversity in
Utah and growing up here was hard to get perspective about race. By the end of the semester and

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after reading Between the World and Me, I definitely had a better understanding and was able
to voice opinions freely.
Im grateful for this class because I truly believe it allowed me to grow in my opinions of
current issues. I was able to learn how to speak in front of others without feeling like I was being
judged. I really learned a lot about current issues that we are facing every day. I will continue my
college career with a better understanding about how to do research and have fun learning about
new things.

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Works Cited
AuthorLastName, FirstName. Title of the Book Being Referenced. City Name: Name of
Publisher, Year. Type of Medium (e.g. Print).
LastName, First, Middle. "Article Title." Journal Title (Year): Pages From - To. Print.