EAPP 2

• Position paper


  • Presents the writer's position or stance on an issue
  • Provides arguments and evidence to support the position
• Position papers can be written for various situations, such as international policy discussions or organizational meetings
• Steps in writing a position paper

  1. Understand the topic

  2. Ensure the topic is arguable

  3. List the advantages and disadvantages of both sides of the argument

  4. Develop a thesis statement

  5. Organize the paper with an introduction, body, and conclusion

  6. Support the position with evidence
• Thesis statement

  The main argument or position that the paper will defend
• A good position paper topic should have almost equal points on both sides to encourage healthy discussion
• Position papers should be well-researched and provide credible evidence to support the writer's position
• Rational

  (in classical economic theory) economic agents are able to consider the outcome of their choices and recognise the net benefits of each one
• Rational agents will select the choice which presents the highest benefits
• Consumers act rationally by

  Maximising their utility
• Producers act rationally by

  Selling goods/services in a way that maximises their profits
• Workers act rationally by

  Balancing welfare at work with consideration of both pay and benefits
• Governments act rationally by

  Placing the interests of the people they serve first in order to maximise their welfare
• Rationality in classical economic theory is a flawed assumption as people usually don't act rationally
• Marginal utility

  The additional utility (satisfaction) gained from the consumption of an additional product
• If you add up marginal utility for each unit you get total utility
• When analysing markets, a range of assumptions are made about the rationality of economic agents involved in the transactions
• The Wealth of Nations was written

  1776
• Groups assumed to act rationally

  • Consumers
  • Producers
  • Workers
  • Governments
• Manifesto

  A written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer
• Analyzing an argument

  Breaking it down into its components in order to determine whether or not it is strong or weak, effective or not
• Parts of an argument

  • Claim/Conclusion
  • Reasons/Premises
• Claim/Conclusion

  • What do you want the reader to believe? It summarizes the main idea. It is not just your opinion, it is what you think is true about a topic.
• Reasons/Premises

  • Why should the reader accept your claim? It is the importance of your claim. It includes the evidences that comes in various forms, including specific examples, quotes and ideas from other scholars, statistics, data, testimonies, narratives and facts.
• Ways authors develop arguments

  • Logos (logical appeal)
  • Pathos (emotional appeal)
  • Ethos (ethical appeal)
• An argument is different from the "real world" meaning where it denotes "fight" or "conflict"
• A position paper is a document which contains statements about a one-sided arguable opinion on a certain subject or issue
• Writer's argument

  A group of statements or reasons used to persuade the readers that what he/she believes is true
• Audience

  It is essential to develop the skill to evaluate whether an argument used by the author is good or bad; whether it supports the assertion sensibly or it is presented in a confusing and illogical way
• Parts of an argument

  • Claim/Conclusion
  • Reasons/Premises
• Claim/Conclusion

  What the writer wants the reader to believe; it summarizes the main idea and is not just an opinion, but what the writer thinks is true about a topic
• Reasons/Premises

  Why the reader should accept the claim; it includes the evidence that comes in various forms, including specific examples, quotes, ideas from other scholars, statistics, data, testimonies, narratives and facts
• Ways authors present an argument

  • Reasoning
  • Evidence
  • Appeal
• Deductive argument

  Proceeds from general ideas/facts to specific inferences
• Inductive argument

  Derives from specific observations that lead to a general conclusion
• Identifying arguments

  1. Read the paragraph

  2. Ask, "What is the paragraph about?"

  3. Summarize the content in your own words

  4. Find the sentence within the paragraph that best matches the summary. This is the stated claim of the paragraph.
• The story of Disney's "The Lion King" draws direct inspiration from Shakespeare's "Hamlet"
• Analyzing arguments


  Look at the evidence presented, then ask questions like "Based on the evidence, is there a different explanation or claim possible?", "Is the evidence convincing and sound?", "How does the argument/evidence compare with others you've read?"
• Arguments in the two passages

  • Universal health care gives doctors the opportunity to focus on care over insurance concerns
  • Doctor flexibility is decreased in a universal health care system due to government policy
  • Universal health care gives everyone the opportunity for regular checkups, no matter the cost
  • A universal health care system forces the healthy to subsidize benefits for those needing care due to smoking or obesity
• What an argument consists of

  • Statements or reasons
  • To prove a claim
• Parts of an argument

  • Claim or conclusion
  • Reasons or premises