How to make a

position paper
• A position paper presents one side of an arguable opinion about an issue.
The goal of a position paper is to convince the audience that your opinion
is valid and defensible.
• Position papers can use any of the other essay forms like definition,
description, and cause, evaluation, argument or problem solution.
However, the purpose of the paper is not to explore the issue, but to argue
a particular position about the issue.
Ex.: "Women are better employees than men"
Write a position paper to
•Organize and outline your viewpoint on an issue
•Formally inform others of your position
as a foundation to build resolution to difficult problems
•Present a unique, though biased, solution
or a unique approach to solving a problem
 Write a position paper to
•Frame the discussion in order to define the "playing
field."
•Establish your credibility.
•Let your passion be demonstrated in the force of your
argument rather than in the use of emotional terms
•Guide you in being consistent in maintaining your
position in negotiation
Qualities of a Convincing Position Paper
a. Contains a clear proposition or statement that must be defended
b. Assesses conflicting opinions or opposing views on the issue.
c. Takes a firm stand on the issue.
d. Lists arguments in an organized manner to defend the stand.
e. Presents factual evidence or proofs to support each argument.
Guidelines
•Format should be consistent with guidelines determined by the sponsoring
organization or committee
•Include topic, date, purpose, etc., and should readily identify you as the
author
•If the paper represents a group, organization, committee, do not write in the
first person (not I, my, mine, etc. but rather we, our, etc.)
•Limit yourself to two pages following the format established by previous
successful position papers
 Research
• Develop supporting evidence for both sides
• Identify the issues and prejudices keeping your
audience in mind
• Assume familiarity with basic concepts but define
unfamiliar terms or concepts that define your
position
Research
• Refer to those who agree with your position to assist
you in developing your argument
• Familiarize yourself with those who disagree with you
to prepare your defense.
• Summarize their argument and evidence, then refute
 Writing Steps
1. Decide on a topic.
2. Write your position idea.
3. Gather your sources.
4. Decide what sort of claim you are writing (fact,
definition, cause, value, policy).
5. Do prewriting about your audience
 Writing Steps
6, Outline: Use the information you have gathered and your pre-
writing about audience to write an outline using the information
"Writing your Outline."
7. Write your paper, including adding your author tags, evidence
and citations in APA style.
8. Do Peer Editing
9. Revise your draft using the information you got from your
reader(s).
10. Final Proofread.
Sample Outline

I. Introduction
___A. Introduce the topic
___B. Provide background on the topic to explain why it is important
___C. Assert the thesis (your view of the issue). More on thesis statements can be found below.
II. Counter Argument
___A. Summarize the counterclaims
___B. Provide supporting information for counterclaims
___C. Refute the counterclaims
___D. Give evidence for argument
III. Your Argument
___A. Assert point #1 of your claims
_____1. Give your educated and informed opinion
_____2. Provide support/proof using more than one source (preferably three)
___B. Assert point #2 of your claims
_____1. Give your educated and informed opinion
_____2. Provide support/proof using more than one source (preferably three)
___C. Assert point #3 of your claims
_____1. Give your educated and informed opinion
_____2. Provide support/proof using more than one source (preferably three)
IV. Conclusion
___A. Restate your argument
___B. Provide a plan of action but do not introduce new information
Hamburger Model
Top Bun-Introduction
Consider your audience:
• Start with a topic sentence or two that
attracts attention and summarizes the
issue
• Inform the reader of your point of view
Your introduction should:
Make the reader interested in this issue.
Convince the reader that this is an important issue.
Explain your point of view.
Introduction Ideas: unusual fact or statistic, intriguing statement,
anecdote, example, question, historical background, story, typical
scenario, conversation, interesting quotation, vivid description, a
list, explaining a process, an analogy, frame story (part of story in
the intro and the rest of the story in the conclusion).
Lettuce/Tomato/Burger (Body)
Development:
oFocus on three main points to develop
oEach topic is developed with
• a general statement of the position
• an elaboration that references documents and source data
• past experiences and authoritative testimony
• conclusion restating the position
Body
The body will focus on one particular sort of claim: fact,
definition, value, cause or policy. Your claim is what you
want your audience to believe and it should be stated in
one sentence. The claim can be placed in different points
in the paper but is usually at the end of the intro or the
first sentence of the body.
1. Sub-claims: Your sub-claims should be three or more reasons why the
reader should believe your claim.
2. Warrants/Backing (evidence to support warrants): Warrants are why you
believe this claim to be true. The reason you would do so is to draw your
reader into common ground with you. (Examples: on the issue of
abortion, both sides agree that reducing the number of abortions is
desirable; on the issue of war, everyone agrees that the goal is to allow
citizens to raise their families in peace).
3. Rebuttal: The rebuttal is a discussion of other positions on this issue and
explaining why your position is better. Again, you may use sources to
support your position and you may also use qualifiers (sometimes, if,
most of the time) to narrow your claim and encourage the audience to
agree with you.
Establish flow from paragraph to paragraph
•Keep your voice active
•Quote sources to establish authority
•Stay focused on your point of view throughout the essay
•Focus on logical arguments
•Don't lapse into summary
in the development--wait for the conclusion
Bottom Bun- Conclusion
•Summarize, then conclude, your argument
•Refer to the first paragraph/opening statements
as well as the main points
*does the conclusion restate the main ideas?
*reflect the succession and importance of the
arguments
*logically conclude their development?
Conclusion
Ways to conclude:
1. Make a final appeal to the reader and tell them what you want them to
think or do.
2. Depending on your topic, you may want to make an appeal to logic,
emotion or authority
3. Return to the intro and finish the frame story, or revise the story or
description or conversation to show how things would be better if your
proposal/claim is adopted.
4. If you haven’t done so in the body, you can sometimes use a countering of
other positions in the conclusion. Explain why your position is better.
5. If you started with a question, you may save your final claim thesis for the
end.
Hints
• Your introduction sentence should be an attention
grabber!!!
• You should use details to support your ideas
including quotes, statistics and references to
documents.
• Your conclusion should sum up and reflect the
importance of your arguments.
Plagiarism and academic honesty
Plagiarism is a form of stealing. The way to avoid plagiarism is to give
credit where credit is due. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit
whenever you use
- another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
- any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings--any pieces of information--that
are not common knowledge;
- quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words; or
- paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words.
Warning
• Absolutely no plagiarism will be accepted.
That means no copy-pastes from the
Internet.
• All research must be properly cited.
• Direct excerpts from a text must be in
quotation marks.