Mr Bigg's RPE blog

Hi 9s,

As promised here’s a load of information to get you started on the homework, the title of which was:

“Killing is never acceptable”

Your task is to respond to this statement in a way that shows me that you’re aware of the ethical issues involved.

Suggested structure:

This is a possible outline for the essay. You don’t have to follow it, but if not make sure you include all of the points…

• Introduction: The purpose of the introduction is to make clear to the reader what the essay is going to be about. Assume they know nothing about the topic. It should include:
  1. An explanation saying what the statement is trying to say. You basically need to put the statement in your own words so you are clear about what it means. (“The key statement above is trying to express the idea that…”)
  2. Thinking about the key term: killing.. Make it clear what you mean by these terms. Give some examples of different types of killing (war, self-defence, meat for food, hunting, murder etc) and explain them. (“Some key terms in the statement are… They mean that…”)
  3. Explain that there is a difference between absolute and relative truth. Give examples.
  4. Finally, you might like to state the conclusion you will come to. You don’t have to explain it here, but it helps if the reader knows where you are going. This means you need to PLAN! Before you write your introduction you need to know what your conclusion will be… Make sure you have thought about this before you start writing. Possible conclusions could be that you disagree with the statement, that you agree with the statement, or perhaps you think it is a relative truth.
• Sections: Different types of killing: Each paragraph should explain how a different “type” of killing relates to the statement. Why might some people think that meat for food is acceptable, or killing in war? You need to put these ideas across for the reader. However, for level 6 you need some analysis. Make sure you think about the pros and cons of the arguments you are putting across. Are these good reasons for agreeing/disagreeing with the statement? If so, why? If not, why not? Look at the resources section below for extra information.
• Conclusion: This part is essential for level 7. Once you have done your level 6 analysis in sections one and two you need to draw it all together into a conclusion. This means that, given all your analysis, is that statement true or false (or something else)? You need to show that you have enough evidence to back up your argument, including not only why your opinion is good but why the other option is not so good. Please leave a comment if you want to think about level 8…

NOTE: The key thing to remember the whole way through is that the concept of “killing” is broad. You cannot talk about murder in the same way as killing animals for food. You will need to treat different ideas of killing in different ways.

Resources:

• Writing Frame : Some sentence starters in case you get stuck
• 'Killing is Never Acceptable' Level Guidance
• Controversial Killing Case Studies

Presentation:

As we discussed, you have a choice in how you present your work. It could be:

• An essay (recommended – people usually do best in this format
• A poster
• A PowerPoint
• A newspaper article
• A film
• Anything else you can think of (recommend you ask me first though)

However you choose to present your work make sure you include all the key features! Don’t spend ages on presentation and then forget about information.

Due Date:
For 9I: 20th October
For 9B: 17th October

Good luck! Please leave a comment if you have any questions!

I’ve spent about an hour typing all this up for you – please pay me back by producing some excellent work… It is due 20th October for 9I. It will NOT be good enough to turn up next week with an excuse.