Possible characteristics of a poor paper can be

Vagueness and wordiness

Explanation:

A paper that lacks clarity does not show that the writer clearly understood the text. Vague claims or general ideas that are not backed up clearly deteriorate the quality of a paper.

A wordy/repetitive paper is also a sign of a poor paper. Not only does it lack clarity, but it may seem like the writer is just running out of analysis and is using more words than necessary to make the paper longer.

the answer is a)   a sentence of death costs the state "almost three times as much as a sentence of life in prison" (delon 147)