(Sample Assignments) Position Paper: Opinion, What Can Be Done, Who Can Do It

Position Paper: Opinion, What Can Be Done, Who Can Do It



Guidelines and Writing Situation for Paper #6

As a result of your rigorous investigation of an issue for Paper #5, you are something of an expert on that issue--you probably know as much about it as many people working in your field. We will now apply the understanding that you have gained in three steps:
  1. What is your Opinion---you will take a position in regard to the issue you have examined--e. g. cooperative learning is the most productive way to teach; children's rights are a valuable concept, or female doctors should not limit themselves to a few predictable specialties.
  2. What can be Done--Once you have established your position, the next step is putting your opinion or judgment into action. Your stance should lead you to consider the changes you feel should come about as a result of your judgment about the issue. For example, curriculum should be "modernized" to include cooperative learning; the tenets of children's rights should be the guiding principle in schools/the legal system/the family, etc. You will decide where the changes you envision will be most effectively implemented. However, you must also determine the most realistic site for this change as well. For example, you could decided that every school in the country needs to adapt the cooperative learning model, but the chances that this will be accomplished anytime soon are very slim. On the other hand, altering curriculum policy at one school may be a feasible goal.
  3. Who can get it done--The next aspect of implementing the changes which you feel are important is determining who is in the best position, who has the power, to make these changes. This party will be the audience for Paper #6. You will shape a writing to persuade this person to implement the changes you seek. Therefore, determining and understanding your audience is a crucial aspect of this writing.

[The following information was added from another file because of its relevance to the assignment. It apparently reflects a class discussion or outside writing on the topic of persuasion--Weeden]

Persuasive Appeals

Because persuasive writing emphasizes the audience, the effective writer plans to balance three kinds of appeals, all of which are important to a good piece of persuasion.

CREDIBILITY APPEALS

In order to persuade an audience effectively, you must convince them of your credibility. You establish credibility by showing that
  1. you are knowledgeable about your subject
  2. you care about the audience's welfare,
  3. you know and respect their point of view, and
  4. you can argue fairly and intelligently about the subject.
In other words, you set up a positive image of yourself in the eyes of the reader. This appeal is extremely important because if you readers lack confidence in your knowledge, suspect that you are uninterested in them, or distrust your persuasive methods, they will pay little attention to you.

RATIONAL APPEALS

The second appeal is to your audience's reason. The audience needs convincing arguments--good reasons--in order to undergo the kinds of change you intend--to respect you judgment, to accept it as theirs, and to act on it. When you persuade, you discuss a subject about which no certainty exists. You need therefore to command a repertoire of informal logic skills.

AFFECTIVE APPEALS

The third appeal that must be integrated with the other two is the appeal to the attitudes, values, and emotions of your audience. No matter how well reasoned your argument may be, its power will be enhanced if you support it with appeals to the audience's affective side.

A well written persuasive paper controls all three of these appeals well. Persuasion is in is in essence a discourse which combines credibility, rational, and affective appeals.


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