Media


 * Graduation Project Annotated Bibliography**
 * Student Name: Brigid Clark**
 * Annotation #1**

MLA Citation: will eventually be done, I promise!

INFORMATION: Author’s credentials: none found, on either google search or on the Washington Post site, but journalist for Washington Post.

Scope and purpose of the work: This article acts as an persuasive report, intended to persuade the audience that the death penalty does deter crime, despite contrary arguments.

Intended Audience: The article appears to have been written with simplistic wording, and reduces medical terms to understandable definitions. Because it appears in a non scientific/medical newspaper, it is probably written for a general audience. It is understandable and useful to the average person.

SUMMARY Thesis or main idea: Tanner thinks that, the death penalty would dramatically decrease the death penalty, stating: “The counted between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer”. Summary of main arguments: Tanner uses two arguments to persuade the reader: that the general opinion against the death penalty is irrational because it relies on heavily on moral reasoning, and studies do prove that the death penalty is effective as a deterrent, but they have little impact on the public, citing many case studies and academic studies recently composed.

EVIDENCE Summary of evidence: Tanner references various statistics, including an analysis of the studies done by professors at Emory University, a statistical analysis of crime in 1975 and 2001, accounting for the death penalties in each year. EVALUATION Evaluation of research: The article seems very well researched, as the author support each argument with facts, and it is presented in a neat and logical fashion. The source is not necessarily unreliable, but it does not claim automatic reliability.

Evaluation of scope:

Evaluation of author bias: The author supports his belief that the death penalty is effective. He cites many reliable sources, yet because the reader does not know the author’s background and reliability, and must acknowledge that the source is from a popular, rather than academic source, a reader must be wary and well-versed in recognizing biases in able to interrupt this article. REFLECTION: This source is directly related to my subject, as it deals with the exact same topic. Furthermore, it supports my thesis that the death penalty is effective, so I will definitely use this information in my final project.

media type="custom" key="9430890" Citation:Swarja, Sushma, host. "Is Capital Punishment a Deterrent for Rapists?." //Daily// //Motion//. NDTV. 27 Feb. 2011. //NDTV//. Web. 15 May 2011. .

So Dr. Valenza said we had to state why we chose the video, and not do a whole annotation: I chose this video because it is a subject that is very closely linked to my topic. While I am focusing more on crime deterrence in general, capital punishment plays an important role in that subject because capital punishment is the most heavly debated form of deterrence. This video argue for capital punishment's use as a deterrent, and interviews people whose family members have been raped and murdered by rapists. The program seems to be run by a more conservative group, so it is interesting to see how another culture views rape and crime detterrence, as I previously thought they held the woman responsible. By adding this video to my final project, I present a more personal touch to a subject I am not connected with, and elaborate on ideas I briefly presented earlier. I justify the fact that video s not 100% related because it still provides valuable statistics an information from various experts in the field. As a women says in the video: "No, the death penalty and crime deterrence are not the same thing, but they are very closely related, are they not?" I think she is right.