Position Arguments
Contexts for Position Arguments
A position argument starts with a desire to make your position known about an issue you
care about, feel invested in, or find intellectually stimulating. Your sense of exigency, or
motivated curiosity, drives you to learn more about the issue.
A position argument states a claim that reasonable people hold substantially different
opinions about. For example, people might use words indicating value judgments about
the issue, such as should be, should not be, the best, the worst, too much, and not enough.
Listing Topics You Care About
Answer the questions below to help you come up with a list of at least five topics that you
could write about in a position argument.
1. What are some problems or issues on my campus? In my hometown? In my state?
In my country? In the world? What is my position on these problems?
2. What are some issues or arguments that come up often in my community that I
feel strongly about?
3. What are some issues that have come up in the news recently that have made me
react or respond?
Talk with classmates to decide which ones would make good topics for argument. From
that narrowed list, choose one topic to write about.
Drafting a Working Thesis Statement
Develop a working thesis statement. Use the questions in the project checklist on page
195 to decide whether it is effective. Revise it as needed. As you work through your
ideas, revisit your thesis statement periodically to see if it still represents your position
accurately. You may need to revise it several times as you shape your position.
Identifying Other Perspectives
Think about your working thesis statement. Who would agree with it, who might agree
with it, and who would disagree with it? Why? Divide the possible perspectives into at
least two and preferably more than two camps. Fill in the chart below to help you keep
track of them.
People who agree would
think…
People who might agree
would think…
People who disagree would
think…
Then, using a key term on your topic, conduct an Internet search to find newspaper or
online news source editorials that illustrate these positions.
For example, if you wanted to survey the range of opinion on “file sharing of music,” you
could try these steps:
1. Go to Google News: http://news.google.com/
2. Type “filesharing” (in quotation marks) in the search box at the top of the page,
and then click on Search News. Your search results will include a long list of
editorials on this topic from various news sources around the world. You can tell
from the title of the page and the brief summary whether it’s directly related to
your topic. Even the first few search results for “filesharing” reveal a broad range
of opinion, with headlines like “File sharing is not the problem” and “File sharing
online: Good or bad for the local musician?”
3. Add to your chart a summary of each position or each editorial that looks helpful.
(Be sure to include the citation information.)
4. Analyze an editorial on your topic from each camp, focusing on questions like
these:
 What position does the editorial take?
 What evidence or reasons does the editorial provide?
 What are the stakes of the argument?
 Does the editorial address the views of the other side?
 What doesn’t the editorial say that it might have said in the interest of
arguing its position more effectively?
Thinking About Reader Motivation
Using your working thesis statement and the information you have gathered so far about
alternative perspectives on your issue, answer the following questions about reader
motivation as they relate to your topic. It is important to keep your answers in mind as
you shape your content to suit the occasion (kairos).
1.
2.
3.
4.
How do readers feel about the topic?
What would catch their attention in an introduction?
What background information will they need to grasp your claim?
What points do the people involved in this debate seem to agree on, for the most
part? What points do they disagree about? List these separately.
Use the project checklist on page 200 as you think about how you will motivate your
readers to be persuaded by your argument. Be guided throughout by the contexts of your
argument. (See chapter 1.)
Listing Your Reasons and Evidence
Use a chart like the one below to help you list the reasons and evidence that you have
compiled for your argument.
My Claim Is: ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Reason #1
Evidence that Supports It
Reason #2
Evidence That Supports It
Reason #3
Evidence That Supports It
Shaping Your Evidence
Using the chart of evidence that you have created, look over the project checklist on page
205 and answer the questions about your current list of reasons and evidence.
Examining Ethos- and Pathos-Based Appeals
Take some time to write various paragraphs of your argument in ways that use ethos- and
pathos-based appeals. Exchange paragraphs with a partner. Read your partner’s
paragraphs and take notes on how they use ethos and pathos to appeal to the reader. (Use
the project checklist on page 207 to help you think about these appeals.) Tell the writer
how these appeals work (or don’t work) for you as a reader.
Conceding and Refuting Other Viewpoints
When you concede, you give credence to an opposing or alternative perspective, and you
grant that some members of your audience might disagree with you and agree with
another’s point. When you refute, you examine an opposing or alternative point or
perspective and demonstrate why it is incorrect or not the best response or solution. If
you have researched and considered your argument, you should be able to conceive of
many of the opposing and differing perspectives within your ongoing debate or argument.
Rhetorically, concession and refutation give your writing a gravitas, or vital weight.
Two methods exist for contending with readers with hostile or differing perspectives.
You can demolish their arguments viciously (as many argument writers on unmoderated
message boards do) or you can anticipate the objections some of your readers will bring
to your argument and then refute them tactfully. If you address possible objections in a
fair-minded but direct way, you increase the likelihood that the opposition will
understand and perhaps be won over to your position. Your fair-mindedness also
enhances your ethos with neutral readers, who will consider you a reliable and
trustworthy source.
You should place your refutation in your argument where it will do the most good:


If your readers are likely to have a refuting point in the forefront of their minds,
then you will need to address that opposing issue earlier rather than later. The
longer you put off dealing directly with the likely objections of readers, the longer
you postpone their possible agreement with your position.
If there are important contrary views that your readers might not have made up
their minds about, then your refutation will likely work best later in your essay.
The important principle to remember is that effective writers raise issues (as in a
refutation) at the opportune moment—just at the time when readers expect them to be
discussed.