Project Four:

Researched Position Paper (Proposal)

Description:

For this assignment, you will compose what our textbook refers to as a "Researched Position Paper." More specifically, in this assignment you are to advocate that something should be done to address or alleviate a problem. Your aim is to convince your audience that a situation is a problem and that a certain action should be taken to respond to that problem.

Your starting point might well be something that bothers you and that you feel should be changed. Of course, you might have to convince your readers that it is a problem for them too, if that is not obvious (and then devote the balance of the paper to advocating your plan for dealing with that problem). You will be required to write a short proposal for this project early in your research stage, so we will have an opportunity to discuss questions of audience, genre, and possible publication venues early on in this unit of the course.

Invention:

As with many of our other assignments, it would make sense to pick a topic that has already gained your attention for one reason or another, but you should also work toward addressing the most specific "version" of that topic (the most concrete occurrence or opportunity for change as well as a specific and appropriate audience to address in regards to your chosen issue).

For instance, You might evaluate some aspect of current politics: the quality of a current policy, the importance of a recent Supreme Court decision, or a hometown issue worthy of attention. You might also evaluate a particular trend or more general decision that has been made by governmental entities. Alternately, you might evaluate the policies or procedures of non-governmental entities, such as those of a professional sports association, a school, or anything other organization that impacts a significant number of people. In either case, however, you want to make sure that you have done your diligence in preforming the necessary research to back your proposal and in making the strongest case possible in supporting whatever recommendation you will be forwarding.

More specifically, you will develop criteria for evaluating the proposal under discussion, and then present supporting details to show how it does or does not fit the criteria. Exploring what others have said or are saying about the topic—testimony and authority—will improve your credibility and the effectiveness of your proposal. 

As you work out the rhetorical situation for this writing, pay particular attention to the audience for your proposal. You should be able to specify an actual audience and forum for which you would present the proposal. Consider what your purpose is—to convince your audience to take some kind of direct action or to create grassroots support for an action that someone other than the audience would take (such as motivating an elected official to perform some action). Your audience should be asked either to undertake the action proposed or to support the action proposed.

As you develop your argument, make effective use of all the strategies of invention that we have been practicing in earlier papers, including the stasis questions, value topics, sources of argument, testimony and authority. You may want to find out how similar policies are enacted in similar situations. You will certainly need to be aware of alternative positions and competing proposals. Support the feasibility of your proposal may require investigating implementation, procedure, cost and enforcement, amongst other practical issues.             

Composition:

Your position paper might take the form of an editorial for your local newspaper or a post to a blog or website that attends to the topic or issue you are engaging. Consider carefully how differences n audience and forum will influence the specific kind of thesis and support you need to present. n composing this argument, you may decide to use the conventional arrangement, presenting the problem first, demonstrating its nature and negative consequences, then moving to your proposed solution, demonstrating its nature and beneficial consequences, and finally dealing with matters of feasibility. However, all the options for arrangement that we have been practicing in earlier essays are available to you. Audience accommodation in all aspects of composing—in invention, arrangement, and style—is essential to an effective proposal.