ENGAPP Lesson 1&2

• Position Paper


  A formal, usually detailed written statement, especially regarding a single issue, that articulates a position, view point, or policy
• Argument


  A process of reasoning; series of reasons; a statement, reason, or facts for or against a point
• Opinion


  A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge
• Logical Appeal


  A reasonable approach in developing an argument
• Ethical Appeal


  Your credibility or believability and competence as a writer
• Emotional Appeal


  Uses arguments in a way that evokes or uncovers feelings
• Fallacies


  Errors in reasoning; a false or mistaken idea
• A position paper presents the writer's stand or viewpoint on a particular issue
• A position paper is a more complex version of a persuasive essay, but it is not an essay
• The goal of a position paper is to convince the audience that your opinion is valid and defensible
• It is important to support your argument with evidence to ensure the validity of your claims, as well as to refute the counterclaims
• Structure of a Position Paper

  1. Introduction

  2. Body (explain your arguments and provide evidence)

  3. Conclusion (summarize and restate your position)
• The strongest/best argument should be the last
• The conclusion should focus on what your results may imply after careful consideration, not just a brief repetition of your results
• Criteria for assessing whether a source is suitable for academic purposes

  • Relevance
  • Authority/author's qualifications
  • Currency/date of publication
  • Contents/accuracy of information
  • Location of sources
• Relevance of the source


  • You can check the title, table of contents, summary, introduction or headings of the text to have a sense of its content
  • How well does the source support your stand?
• Authority/author's qualifications


  • Is the author's name identified?
  • Is the author's background, education or training related to the topic?
  • If the source does not have an author, think twice before using it
  • Legitimate academic texts must include citations
• Currency/date of publication


  • In most fields, the data from the older publications may no longer be valid
  • Date of publication should be at most five years earlier
  • What is the date of the publication?
• Contents/accuracy of information


  • You do not want to use source that is disputable, so make sure to verify your findings with multiple sources
  • Does the author have a lot of citations in his or her text and/or bibliography or works cited section?
• Location of sources


  • Where was the source published? Was it published digitally or in print?
  • Is it a book, an academic journal or a reputable news source as www.nytimes.com or www.economist.com?
  • Does it provide complete publication information such as author/s, editor/s, title, date of publication and publisher?
  • What is the URL of the website?
  • Avoid using blogs or personal homepage and wiki sites (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquotes)
  • If the URL includes the top-level domain .edu, then that means that it has been published by an academic institution such as university
  • Common URLs include .gov (government), .org (organizations), .com (commercial sites) and .net (network infrastructures). In academic writing, reputable sites are those with .edu, .gov, .net and .org in URL
• Report


  Any informational work made with an intention to relay information or recounting certain events in a presentable manner
• Reports


  Communicate information which has been compiled as a result of research and analysis of data and of issues
• Technical writing


  A form of writing technical communication that helps people understand a product or service
• Technical writing


  • End user documentation like user manuals that accompany cellular phones, personal computers
• Field reports


  Require the student to analyse their observations of phenomena or events in the real world in light of theories studied in the course
• Field reports


  • Assigned with the intention of improving understanding of key theoretical concepts by applying methods of careful and structured observation
  • Opportunity to obtain evidence through methods of observing professional practice that contribute to or challenge existing theories
  • Conduct research based on data generated by the act of designing a specific study, deliberate observation, synthesis of key findings, and interpretation of their meaning
• Scientific reports


  Use a standard scientific report format describing methods, results and conclusions to report upon an empirical investigation
• Scientific reports


  • Need to explain why you are testing a hypothesis, what methodology you used, what you found, and why your findings are meaningful
  • Require a clear link between your introduction and your analysis/discussion
• Ad hominem

  It occurs when someone attacks directly the person making an argument rather than criticizing the argument itself.
• Straw Man

  When someone attacks a distorted version of the original argument that they themselves created.
• Appeal to Authority

  Asserting that something must be true because it is backed up by someone wo is (allegedly) an authority on the subject
• Slippery Slope

  Taking an argument from the first, sensible premise to an undesirable or extreme conclusion via a number of hastily connected steps.
• Bandwagon

  The fallacy occurs when something is said to be true or good simple because it is popular.
• Appeal To Ignorance

  When it is said that an argument must be true if it cannot be proven false, or false if it cannot be proven true.
• False Dilemma

  This occurs when two choices are presented as the only possible options when, in fact, other alternatives exist.
• Hasty Generalization

  This logical fallacy happens when a general conclusion is drawn based on a sample size too small.
• Red Herring

  This occurs when someone deliberately attempts to move the issue under discussion to a new, irrelevant topic.
• Appeal to Tradition

  When one claims that something must be good or true because it has been practiced for a long time (that is, traditionally).