Instruction: This Assignment is designed be a more formal Persuasive Speech. You should pick a side of the issue and work to persuade your audience, through outside research, why they should support that side of the issue. 1. Students are to research the topic of the death penalty and are to choose a side to argue. If a student decides to argue for the continued application of the death penalty they should argue their points and their reasoning for the death penalty, pointing out the positive aspects and the benefits of such a sentence. I am choosing to argue to keep the death penalty.