write a “position paper,” also known as an argumentative essay. You will be stating and defending YOUR position on the issue listed above of ethical significance and of personal interest. . Remember that an issue is any claim that can be called into question, and in most cases, there are two clear sides of the issue: pro and con.
Issue:
- Is there a reliable way for a person to rationally and effectively determine the ethically right thing to do in most cases of human behavior and decision-making?
To begin: The position will be expressed in your thesis statement, which serves as the central idea or key element around which your paper is constructed. Your thesis is your considered opinion, so in this sense, you must provide justification for why you have this opinion or hold this point of view on the issue. Providing this justification or rationale is the main point of writing a position paper. The presentation of your “reasons why,” in other words, the sum of evidence you find to support your position, plus a statement of the position itself, comprises what philosophers call an “argument.” A philosophical argument is simply giving reasons (the premises of the argument) for why a particular claim (the conclusion of the argument) should be accepted as true.
The introductory paragraph should present the issue in question and include a clear and precise statement of your thesis (your position on the issue).Another essential element of the position paper or argumentative essay is a consideration of at least one alternative position on the same issue, and this is typically an opposing view. So in this paper, you will assert and defend your own position, and you will also consider an opposing or alternative position on the issue and the argument(s) in support of that view. Finally, you will show why you reject the opposing or alternative position and instead hold the one you do.
There are several different ways of organizing the paper, with the most common being a presentation and defense of your own position followed by the objections and replies section. Sometimes, the opposing viewed is fairly presented first, followed by an explanation of your understanding of the issue, after which your position on the issue is asserted and defended, showing it to be superior to the opposing view. This can be done in “block” or “point-by-point” fashion: use the organizational style that best suits your purposes. Whichever pattern of exposition you follow, always start out by stating your thesis in the introduction.
Your conclusion will later re-state your “expanded” thesis, setting it back into its more general framework with a look forward toward related concerns. Your conclusion should be brief, but it should leave the reader with the belief that your position satisfactorily addresses the issue, offers a meaningful solution to the problem at hand, and leads to a better state of affairs. You may also want to use descriptive headings for each of the major sections of the paper, but avoid using the section heading, “Introduction” above your introductory paragraph: the title of your paper serves that purpose. And for the conclusion, don’t use the word, “Conclusion” by itself: Instead, describe or give a snapshot of your final position. You need not use the word at all if your section header is effectively crafted.
Format & Length: For your Research in Ethics paper assignment, write a “position paper”: this is a research paper in which you will address a particular issue introduced in the topic of the paper. It should be written in a formal style and be in the third-person voice, and it should present your original, considered solution or unique approach to solving the problem or settling the issue in question.