Position Paper Overview

Position Paper

• A position paper presents a stance on an issue.
• Its goal is to persuade the audience that the position is valid.
• Format varies from simple to complex.
• Essential for advocating social change.
• Published in academic, political, and legal settings.
• States a specific opinion (e.g., a political party's viewpoint).
• Presents only one side of a debatable issue.
• Supported by substantial evidence.
• Conclusions are drawn from evidence, though interpretation can be influenced by author bias.
• Position papers are inherently subjective.
• Focuses on the stance the writer is asserting.
• Flexible format.

Position Paper Structure

• Introduction: Introduces the topic, provides background, and asserts the thesis (the writer's viewpoint).
• Counter Argument: Outlines opposing arguments, summarizes them, and refutes them with supporting evidence.
• Supporting Argument: Presents the author's claims and provides evidence.
• Conclusion: Restates the argument and suggests a plan of action (without introducing new information).

Writing a Position Paper

• Topic Selection: Choose a debatable topic you can argue effectively.
• Stance: Take a clear stand.
• Argument Development: Develop strong arguments with supporting evidence.
• Organization: Structure the paper logically with an introduction, arguments, and a conclusion.

Position Paper Citation and Referencing

• Avoid plagiarism by properly citing sources.
• Credit ideas, opinions, statistics, and quotations.
• Use APA 6th Edition format.

Critique Paper

• Summarizes and evaluates books, articles, or artworks.
• Critically analyzes strengths and weaknesses.
• Includes a critical evaluation of the subject matter.
• Usually focuses on one piece of work.
• Reaction papers, reviews, and critiques are specialized forms of evaluation.

Critique Paper Structure

• Introduction: Briefly introduces the subject, author, artist or creator.
• Summary: Briefly describes the main points of the work.
• Review/Critique: Analyzes the methods, arguments or ideas, providing strengths, weaknesses and suggestions for improvement.
• Conclusion: Summarizes the reviewer's main points and impressions.

Critique Paper Guidelines

• Understand the work deeply.
• Relate the work's content to prior knowledge.
• Focus on the work's treatment of the topic, not the topic itself.
• Cite relevant theories from the writer or creator.
• Evaluate if findings are supported and if ideas are connected.
• Offer improvement suggestions (reasoning, explanation or presentation ideas).
• Compare the views with other experts.
• Point out any missed points by the original author or artist.