. . Concept Paper . .
� Research Paper - a research paper uses outside information to support a
thesis or make an argument. Research papers are written in all disciplines
and may be evaluative, analytical, or critical in nature. Common research
resources include data, primary sources (eg., historical records), and
secondary sources (eg., peer reviewed scholarly articles). Writing a research
paper involves synthesizing this external information with your own ideas.
� Position Paper - A position paper is an essay that expresses an author’s
view on a particular topic and uses evidence to support their stance. While
you might learn to write a position paper for a high school or college class,
professionals in many industries write these resources as a part of their daily
work. In a college class, you might write a position paper to fulfill an
instructor’s prompt, but in your career, you might write a position paper
about a topic that relates to your industry.
The purpose of a position paper is to persuade the audience that your
viewpoint is valid and worth hearing. It is critical to ensure that you are
covering crucial aspects of the issue and presenting it in a way that your
audience can grasp. A position paper should not only be well written, but it
should also be concise without being vague or ambiguous.
4 General Kinds of Position Paper . .
� Expository Writing - Consists of summarizing or setting out the ideas of a
given philosopher in your own words, in order to help the reader to
understand material that is otherwise obscure or hard to follow.
� Comparative Writing - Setting out the arguments and positions of your
own words. Requires you to defend your claims of commonality and
difference.
� Evaluative Writing - If a position seems to contradict what we know, or if
we can find a case which contradicts the position , that’s a mark against the
position.
� Constructive Writing - Less directly concerned with pre-existing positions
or arguments.
� Research Paper - a research paper uses outside information to support a
thesis or make an argument. Research papers are written in all disciplines
and may be evaluative, analytical, or critical in nature. Common research
resources include data, primary sources (eg., historical records), and
secondary sources (eg., peer reviewed scholarly articles). Writing a research
paper involves synthesizing this external information with your own ideas.
� Position Paper - A position paper is an essay that expresses an author’s
view on a particular topic and uses evidence to support their stance. While
you might learn to write a position paper for a high school or college class,
professionals in many industries write these resources as a part of their daily
work. In a college class, you might write a position paper to fulfill an
instructor’s prompt, but in your career, you might write a position paper
about a topic that relates to your industry.
The purpose of a position paper is to persuade the audience that your
viewpoint is valid and worth hearing. It is critical to ensure that you are
covering crucial aspects of the issue and presenting it in a way that your
audience can grasp. A position paper should not only be well written, but it
should also be concise without being vague or ambiguous.
4 General Kinds of Position Paper . .
� Expository Writing - Consists of summarizing or setting out the ideas of a
given philosopher in your own words, in order to help the reader to
understand material that is otherwise obscure or hard to follow.
� Comparative Writing - Setting out the arguments and positions of your
own words. Requires you to defend your claims of commonality and
difference.
� Evaluative Writing - If a position seems to contradict what we know, or if
we can find a case which contradicts the position , that’s a mark against the
position.
� Constructive Writing - Less directly concerned with pre-existing positions
or arguments.
