THE POSITION PAPER

LESSON 7: DEFINING AND ANALYZING

THE POSITION PAPER
LEARNING COMPETENCIES:

• To be able to define what a position paper is;

• To be able to identify situations in which a position paper may
be effectively used in our present society;
• To be able to articulate your insights on the significance of
expressing one’s position; and
• To be able to analyze samples of position papers
THE NATURE OF A POSITION PAPER
A position paper, also called an argumentative paper or a
manifesto, is an essay that presents a person’s or group’s position
or stand on a particular issue. Its goal is to convince the reader of
the acceptability of the writer’s position and it does so by:
• presenting rational support to a writer’s position, through the
use of evidence;
• presenting counter-evidence to or flaws in the arguments of
the opposing position; and
• using emotional appeals.
Uses of a Position Paper:
• Requirement in schools
• International relations
• Politics

A position paper does more than expressing a group’s or a

person’s sentiments on an issue; it also helps others to become
more aware of certain problems in society and possibly become
more involved in finding solution to it.
Parts of a Position Paper:
According to McWhorter (2001), a position paper contains the following
elements: an issue, a claim on this issue, reasons to explain, support for the
reasons, and opposing viewpoints.
1. Issue – An issue is an idea or question over which people are divided; it’s also
called a controversy. That means people have different points of view on the
matter. Some ideas are not debatable – people have the same views about it
(i.e. allowing a suffering or terminal patient to decide when and how to end his
or her life).
2. Thesis – Your thesis, also called the claim, is a statement that expresses your
stand or position on an issue. This expresses how you feel about an issue: are
you in favor of or against it? Is your position somewhere in between?
3. Reasons – A position paper seeks to persuade readers to have same position
on an issue as the writer does. Thus, it’s important for the writer to state the
reasons in order to explain to the reader why his or her position is logical,
acceptable, and believable. Another term for reasons is arguments.
4. Support – Support refers to evidence or ideas to substantiate the reasons.
Support may be classified into the following types:
a. Facts – figures and the writer’s own observations or reports from
scholarly studies
b. Comparisons – similarities or differentiation between two ideas,
concepts, or situations
c. Examples – real-life demonstrations of an idea
d. Opinions – the author’s feelings or generalizations
5. Opposing viewpoints or counterarguments – Opposing viewpoints, also
know as counterarguments, give the arguments opposing your stand. Your
goal in presenting these is to refute or discredit them, so that any opposition
in the reader’s mind is dealt with. You refute by showing weaknesses in the
counterargument.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT…

How open are you to hearing opinions that are contrary

to your own position? When you read different position
papers, you may encounter opinions that run counter to
your own. Some of these may challenge things that are
central to your views of the world. Would you be willing
to expose yourself to such texts? And what do you
think might be the dangers and benefits of doing this?
REFERENCES:

• Miciano, Mishima Z., and Miciano, Remedios Z. The Position

Paper. English for Academic and Professional Purposes.