POSITION PAPER

What is a Position Paper?

• A position paper is a type of academic writing that presents one’s
stand or viewpoint on a particular issue. He main objective of writing
a positon paper is to take part in a larger debate by stating your
arguments and proposed course of action.
 PARTS OF A
POSITION PAPER
Introduction
• Uses a lead that grabs the attention of readers.
• Defines the issue and provide a thorough background.
• Provides a general statement of your position through a thesis
statement.
Body
• States your main arguments and provide sufficient evidence (e.g.,
statistics, interviews with experts, and testimonies) for each
argument.
• Provides counterarguments against possible weaknesses of your
arguments.
Conclusion
• Restates your position and main arguments.
• Suggests a course of action.
• Explain why your position is better than any other position.
• Ends with powerful closing statement (e.g., a quotation, a challenge,
or a question).
Choosing an Issue
1. The issue should be debatable. You cannot take any position if the
topic is not debatable.
2. The issue should be current and relevant.
3. The issue should be written in a question form and answerable by
yes or no.
4. The issue should be specific and manageable.
 Guidelines in
Writing a Position
Paper
• Begin the writing process with an in-depth research about the issue at
hand.
• Be aware if the various positions about the issue and explain and analyze
them objectively.
• Reflect on your position and identify its weaknesses.
• Establish your credibility by citing reliable sources.
• Present a unique way of approaching the issue.
• Limit your positon paper to two pages.
• Analyze your target readers and align your arguments to their beliefs,
needs, interests, and motivations
• Summarize the other side’s counterarguments and refute them with
evidence.
• Define unfamiliar terms at first mention.
• Use an active voice as much as possible. This will make your tone
dynamic and firm.
• Arrange your evidence logically using an inductive or deductive
approach.
• Check your paper for fallacies and revise accordingly.
• Use ethical, logical, and emotional appeals. Ethical appeals relate to
your credibility and competence as writer; logical appeal refers to the
rational approach in developing an argument; emotional appeals
pertain to feelings evoked during arguments. Make sure to check your
appeals to ensure that they are not fallacious.
 GUIDE
QUESTIONS FOR
PEER CRITIQUING
Content
• Does the paper clearly state the position of the writer?
• Does the opening statement capture the reader’s interest?
• Is the issue debatable, fresh, relevant, and somehow original?
• Do the arguments reflect a higher level of thinking?
• Does the paper use evidence from reputable sources?
• Are there sufficient pieces of evidence to support the claim?
• Does the paper consider all possible counterarguments?
• Does the paper refute the opposing arguments?
• Does the paper align the arguments to the target readers’ beliefs,
attitude, values and motivations?
• Does the paper employ appropriate methods in presenting
arguments?
• Does the paper consider logical, ethical, and emotional appeals?
• Is the paper free from logical fallacies?
• Does the conclusion restate the position?
• Does the conclusion present a feasible course of actions?
• Is the closing statement powerful?
Organization
• Does the paper use an organizational pattern and structure
appropriate for the genre?
• Are cohesive devices effectively used?
• Are the pieces of information logically arranged and easy to follow?
• Is the flow of ideas smooth and easy to read?
Style
• Does the paper showcase the writer’s voice?
• Does the paper use a variety of sentence structures?
• Is the paper free from sexist language?
• Does the paper use language appropriate to context?
• Is the paper free from wordy expressions?
Barreyro, John Miko D.
STEM 12 – 1 Descartes