Write down your thesis on a extra piece of paper using simple, concise language. Compile facts or cite famous incidents from history, which relate directly to your thesis. For example, if your thesis states that the death penalty is the only form of justice fitting for certain heinous crimes, you might mention the Holocaust and posit that few people would have been satisfied by the life imprisonment of Adolf Hitler for killing 6 million Jews.
State your main reasons for your thesis on your extra piece of paper. Circle the strongest ones. Begin your first paragraph stating this reason in bold, persuasive speech. Present evidence using court cases, articles and published academic papers to support your first reason.
Acknowledge the opinion of people who would disagree with your reason and state why their opinion is flawed. For example, you could state that someone might disagree by saying the death penalty doesn't adequately act as a deterrent to crime. In response, you could write that that's simply irrelevant as the death penalty was not invented for such a function but as a form of justice and punishment.
Continue stating all your reasons in separate paragraphs using relevant evidence, articles and research in the same manner.
Conclude your paper with an appropriate quote by someone who has had experience with the death penalty in some way. For example, for a pro-death penalty paper, you could cite the family of a murdered individual, saying how the death sentence of the killer of their family member finally gave them peace. Alternatively for an anti-death penalty paper you could cite the immorality of capital punishment by a member of the clergy.
Summarize your points and restate your thesis in your final paragraph using new words to make your points memorable, but so that you don't sound like you're repeating yourself.