Position Paper

*Paper is to be 6-8 pages *focuses on a narrowly defined educational issue related to teaching and learning*

Develop a position paper that focuses on a narrowly defined educational issue related to teaching and learning and his specific discipline. Your issue should afford you an opportunity to develop an elaborate discussion and argument linked to educational psychology concepts and theories. Each candidate must strongly argue his/her stance on the selected topic issue, and support her claim and its validity with at least five (5) scholarly sources that should be referenced and cited in the paper. The paper should have a strong, argumentative thesis that is: developed in a logical manner, consistent throughout the paper, and culminates in an effective conclusion. The paper should consist of 6-8 pages not including the title, abstract and reference pages and utilize APA writing format. According to William C. Kashatus (2002) the following format should be utilized for an effective position paper: The introduction should clearly identify the issue and state your position. This introduction should be brief, usually no more than a significant paragraph. However, make sure that you clearly articulate what the purpose of the paper is, and what you intend to pose in your paper. The body of the position paper will consist of several paragraphs. Each paragraph should present an idea or main concept that clarifies a portion of the position statement and is supported by evidence or facts. Evidence can be primary source quotations or statistical data. The evidence should be paired with inductive reasoning, to support the main concept or idea presented in the paragraph. The body generally begins with some form of background information and should incorporate a discussion of both sides of the issue. Do not forget to incorporate primary sources to support your argument, NOT your personal experiences and opinions. In addition, you should also address the other side of the issue; arguing against the other side of the issue strengthens your own argument. The conclusion summarizes the main concepts and ideas and reinforces your position; however, the conclusion should not simply repeat the introduction or body of the paper. It should include suggested courses of action and possible solutions. Effective position papers should add something new to the discourse while highlighting existing literature. The following are hyperlinks that provide excellent supportive information on properly constructing a position paper:

 http://www.arthes.com/composition/position.htm 

http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~rmartin/teaching/spring06/cs553/position-assignment.html 

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/co301aman/pop8a1.cfm