This content provides a comprehensive guide on how to write a persuasive and confident position paper, emphasizing the importance of presenting a clear stance while respectfully acknowledging and addressing opposing viewpoints.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
hi and welcome to high value writing I'm
Ain leac thank you for being here and
many thanks to user fan 1000002 who made
a request for a video on how to write a
position paper for school and you know
you can always make a request at this
Channel and we'll bring out some videos
to help you with whatever you're writing
so use your f0002 is writing a position
paper for school this video will mostly
concern academic position papers however
I will be bringing in tips throughout
and another slide at the end to show how
you could use this information for a
professional position paper as well all
right so we're going to look at the
outlines the steps examples of each and
then we are going to talk about style
briefly at the end for this type of
writing in addition to sounding clear
and concise we also need to sound
confident so stay tuned for those tips
coming up let's get started by figuring
out the goals of this kind of writing
let's get started by talking about the
goals of this kind of paper again
usually written academically but I'll
bring in some ideas in the business
world as well we have two sets of goals
here okay we have our content goals of
what we need to say and then we also
have a goal of sort of how we want to
come off in this paper we want to sound
very confident about our position we
also do not want to sound dismissive of
other positions because that can
actually eat away at the confidence that
we are projecting believe it or not so
we're going to be fair and objective
about all views but really provide the
evidence for why our position is the
most feasible the most beneficial so at
the top here we have an outline of sorts
the next slide we'll put this into more
outline format but we are going to of
course say what our point of view is in
the beginning and support it why is it
desirable why is it feasible why is this
a possible idea
then though we need to be responsible
right we need to show that we are fair
and ethical by considering who will be
impacted by our position and who else
might have a different point of view and
again we don't really it sounds almost
counterintuitive but if we act sort of
dismissive or reductive about these
other views it can actually make us look
less self-confident so we want to be
clear concise confident all the way
even when we're talking about other
views in the end of course with number
five we're going to wrap up and show
well our view is the way forward to meet
the goals that we're after now below
that on the screen if you're in a
business setting but also kind of
thinking about at school what is your
teacher really wanting you to be able to
do it's not just the content but the way
we do it right we want to be able to
show that we can take a stance that we
can be persuasive
but that we can be fair when we do that
and you can imagine in school this is a
critical thought requirement right I am
able to think about different sides and
be fair you know your teacher is looking
for that critical thought if you're at
work this is showing that we can be good
with others and collaborative right we
can show our view and respect others so
we always need that sort of meta goals
where we're not only saying what we're
saying but it's about how we say it too
right and then making sure that we are
ethical provide evidence and I'll link a
few times in this video to other videos
where I've talked about maybe how to do
a thesis how to site a source Etc so
here's the content you as you start your
paper you want to be thinking about your
point of view what's good about it
what's feasible possible about it and
then how are you going to address these
other points of view graciously as well
in outline form here's something you can
follow especially in a school setting in
the introduction I'll point to another
video where we cover those steps but I'm
going to have an example in here too if
it's an intro for a position paper
specifically your body paragraph of
course you'll do that multiple times
often you'll see people dividing up
their body paragraphs based on different
benefits different reasons that your
idea is beneficial that's usually the
way we want to approach this or we can
divide it up different groups of people
or groups across the planet whatever it
might be that'll be benefited um
environmental benefits Financial
benefits societal benefits things like
that as well and then our conclusion
will again point to our solution as the
best one but in a way that acknowledges
others and then kind of brings everyone
together for our next steps moving
forward okay so the next three slides
we'll provide an example of each as well
as an extra slide with examples on
thesis statements so let's look at how
all those parts kind of want to look in
this type of paper for your introduction
and I'm going to put a link up here so
that if you'd like you can go watch the
video on writing an academic
introduction so you can use that here
similar steps what I do want to spend
more time on in this case though is that
idea of addressing multiple perspectives
is more important in a position paper
because you know going forward that you
are presenting a position and there may
people with other positions so we want
to be ready to debate ready to respect
but also ready to persuade so here we'll
see me using these three steps leading
up with an intro bringing in those
perspectives and then offering a thesis
that in this case needs to be quite
persuasive we are not writing an
informative thesis we are not writing a
thesis that sounds like a question we
are writing for a position paper a
thesis that sounds like a claim or an
argument that is debatable
here's an intro leading up to that as AI
becomes a more and more popular writing
tool students around the world will
start turning to AI with help for their
essays in some cases AI will help them
adding detail and helping the writer
explain examples however students using
Ai and essays also run the risk of
sounding inauthentic or too wordy in
their writing some people may not like
the idea students can succeed by using
AI to help generate ideas
but writing or revising on their own to
ensure their writing tone matches their
writing goals so we see those steps in
action let's look now what would a body
paragraph look like all right let's dive
in a little bit deeper on this one part
of our outline and introduction which is
that thesis statement few things to keep
in mind with a position paper our thesis
statement needs to sound confident and
it needs to be something that could be
debated we we cannot make a thesis that
says you know eating oatmeal every day
and lots of spinach is healthy that's
kind of just a fact right we need
something here that is a position
meaning someone else could have a
different position keep these three
things in mind in your thesis the most
important or the most often overlooked
anyhow that idea of relevance why does
this matter why is this crucial how does
this impact somebody and so you'll see
in the examples here in the pink
there is some relevance brought in and
so I'll just read these four aloud and
you can kind of listen for how they do
sound like they're taking some kind of a
stance that we could defend and that
someone could disagree on to help
students compete in today's economy
universities should provide training in
the fair use of AI could someone
disagree certainly Based on data from
the last decade further floods May
threaten this area making the need for
safety training
indispensable maybe somebody could not
argue or debate the data but they could
debate what we should do now that we
have this data that makes it a position
paper our organization here's a little
more of a business orientation our
organization supports open access to
information therefore we list all salaries
salaries
publicly and lastly to support our
clients better during the pandemic our
department suggests we open a hybrid
Lobby again more of a business example
again something I could bring to a
committee if I'm in that professional
setting to explain support what I'm
advocating and then someone could agree
or disagree and I could pursue this
further with my position paper so let's
look at what most of the paper is going
to look like the paragraphs in the
middle right the body paragraphs and
this is where in a position paper we are
consistently thinking about evidence and
examples we cannot claim something
without showing it and We are continuing
to think about tone how we want to be
confident and yet concise and we'll look
at some tips on that in a moment as well
but here's what I advise you include in
each paragraph your view the benefit
some benefit or factor that you're
looking at in this paragraph with your
evidence and examples and then see what
you can address in terms of other points
of view for that specific feature
component benefit that you're talking
about so here I go getting a little more
in depth with a paragraph
on AI use with students while some
students will use AI in their writing
regardless of requirements we can help
them do this responsibly by teaching how
to write with AI platforms like chat GPT
have found to help students have been
found to help students generate ideas on
first drafts this is where I would have
a citation here's a link to a video that
includes a packet and other information
on writing
citations by providing teach teaching on
these skills we can encourage
responsible AI use now I'm going to
address another point of view even
though it's not the one I'm advocating
here although some instructors have
urged the Banning of AI from student
writing teaching students to use AI
responsibly in their writing is both
more realistic and more effective coming
back to the central view that I'm
putting forward especially considering
that some will use AI writing once on
the job market so each paragraph is
doing that job of moving your point a
little bit forward because you've gotten
into one specific reason or detail and
you've brought in specific examples that
also help you counter these other
arguments that are coming in while still
treating them respectfully but showing
why they are not the optimal optimal way
to go forward now we'll conclude and
then we'll have a couple more slides to
look at number one on style and then
secondly if you are in more of a
business setting how can you tweak some
of this information so for the
conclusion we're looking again not just
restating our thesis but you know what
implementation is necessary we really
need this to move forward because of
these positive impacts which I will
restate and when relevant it's now my
job to suggest what might we do first we
don't want to leave our conclusion um
where the reader feels like so what
right okay you repeated what you're said
what you said what now so that so what
is often answered by what is one step
forward that we could feasibly make okay
I'm wrapping up my thoughts on AI in the
classroom although encouraging students
to use AI in their writing poses the
risk of increasing
plagiarism I'm addressing another point
of view here students must have the
skills to you use AI responsibly and
ethically in their future careers by
facing the issue and discussing it with
students we will get better results than
by simply attempting to ban AI use in
student writing and now I do feel like
like it's my job to suggest a Next Step
since I'm putting this forth to this end
we propose a new unit on writing with AI
in all semester level writing courses I
have not only stated my position but in
a way thought about how to get us
started moving to it and now some style
tips which are so important in this kind
of writing because we need to at the
same time sound respectful of All Views
and sound not at all wishy-washy about
our view being the one that's really the
best right so now we need to make sure
that in addition to being clear and
concise we are not using what I call
maybe language that's the kind of
language that's like well it's just an
idea I'm not sure but I thought maybe
right we want to just avoid that and
that is the type of language that can
make us sound less confident anyway so
we don't really want that language in
there so following these four
suggestions will actually make our
writing sound more confident and ensure
that we we don't sound insecure and that
our ideas don't sound insecure either
we're going to avoid that maybe language
use active voice where you say who's
doing something before they're doing it
avoiding slow leadin that actually eat
away at the confidence the writer um
puts forward right as I'm waiting as the
reader for the point I'm kind of like
well does this writer know what they
want to say or what right we do not want
to do a slow lead in when we're trying
to sound confident and then of course I
always Advocate writing with a who what
sentence structure this is the same as
active voice for people who aren't in
love with grammatical jargon putting who
and what in the beginning of your
sentence will make your sentence more
brief more concise and more bold and
confident here are some before and
afters you can see with the color coding
what I've changed in those areas it has
come to our attention that one idea is
to possibly consider looking at this
from the interview candidates
perspective which has been found to
often be
unaddressed found by whom I wonder
that's the problem with passive voice
here with the after I've adjusted those
four things we've historically
overlooked the interview candidate's
perspective let's look at that now I
sound confident and like I'm moving
forward however I'm not bashing or being
disrespectful either but I have not
reduced my own Respect by using maybe
language all right let's look at how to
put this into practice in a professional
setting and then we'll wrap up for those
of you writing in a professional or
business setting you can use everything
this video offers but I will suggest a
few areas of emphasis or what you want
to prioritize might be slightly
different than with an academic position
paper if you are stating the business of
your department your unit yourself your entire
entire
organization make sure you're
emphasizing internal data a little bit
more with the academic paper we're
looking for examples that support our
point but when we're advocating a
position in a team we have to be very
attuned to what impacts it might have in
the team so we want more internally
based data more internal stakeholders
what is going to happen to them when we
make this change who will be impacted
and considering units that will be
impacted negatively and then having a
plan for that right also use more
formatting headings bullets keep things
Ultra brief even more in a business
setting we want brief paragraphs it's
okay to use bullets in the middle of a
position paper and lastly you also want
to consider other resources here that
we're not considering in the academic
paper namely use of time use of
personnel potentially money and other
resources need to take a little bit more
of a front seat so when we talk about
examples and evidence you want more of
those to come from internally in a
position paper that's written for
business all right try out these tips
folks please let me know what questions
you have whether you're writing for
school or work I'll get back to you as
soon as I can and I wish you the best
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
