TOPIC: IS GLOBAL WARMING REAL?
Like a debate, 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. Ideas that you are considering need to be carefully examined in choosing a topic, developing your argument, and organizing your paper. It is very important to ensure that you are addressing all sides of the issue and presenting it in a comprehensible manner. Your job is to take one side of the argument and persuade your audience that you have well-founded knowledge of the topic being presented. It is important to support your argument with evidence to ensure the validity of your claims, as well as to refute the counterclaims.
Issue Criteria
To take a side on a subject, you should first establish the contentious nature of a topic that interests you. Ask yourself the following questions to ensure that you will be able to present a strong argument:
Is it a real issue, with genuine controversy and uncertainty?
Can you identify at least two distinctive positions?
Are you personally interested in advocating one of these positions?
Is the scope of the issue narrow enough to be manageable?
I will provide you with a list of possible topics, but I encourage you to come up with your own. That said, you must get my approval regarding your invented topic.
Consider your audience
For any piece of writing, considering your audience is essential. To schedule seeing the next Avengers movie with your friends, a text full of exclamation points, poop emojis, shorthand, and inside jokes is perfect. For your next English assignment, that sort of writing would lead to you repeating the class. For the case of this class, you know these things about your audience (the instructor):
Well educated, but not necessarily about your chosen topic
Values precision of language
Expects you to utilize ethos and logos nearly exclusively
Expects your sources to be scholarly ones from databases
Your rhetorical strategies will change for specific audiences and make sure to cater to them.
Minimum Requirements
500-800 words
Follows MLA formatting guidelines
Includes a Works Cited
Minimum of three sources- all three must come from the database
Third person narrative
Contains an argumentative thesis and supports it
