Position Paper 5: How to write a position

Now it's time for you to come up with your positions/beliefs/stands/thesis statements.

-Position papers can be written for any field and discipline.

-In your case, you'll be working on your chosen literary text and will come up with a stand/a belief/a position/a thesis statement based on the text.

-The purpose of the position paper is to defend that stand/belief/position/TS)

When coming up with a stand for the position paper, think about your beliefs and the issue you’d like to defend


When you've carefully thought about a potential text to work on, you must also think of the potential beliefs that can be derived from that text. 

Coming up with a position is not easy, you have to think about it a lot and revise it a few times.
Some of you may change the text you are working when new thoughts surface through your reflections.

A Position Should Be:


Refutable- Don’t write something that is so obvious and already generally accepted as the truth

Controversial- a general statement can hardly be controversial

Short and concise- long winded statements cannot create impact

A play of words (if possible)


Here are some examples of positions:

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee
Position: Jerry’s death signifies the birth of his pride and dignity (play of words: death/birth)

Oedipus by Sophocles
Position: Oedipus blindness was fated and cannot be avoided

Si Tenggang’s Homecoming by Muhammad Haji Salleh
Position: An increase of knowledge and experience in foreign countries will not affect one’s identity

Sara and the Wedding by Karim Raslan
Position: Marriage completes a woman

The Journey by Catherine Lim
Position: Richard’s past poverty enriches his life (Play of words: Poverty enriches)

A Great Injustice by Heah Chwee Sian
Position: Society killed Ah Nya's baby

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
Position: The persona is writing to a man

Notice the definite and strong verbs used. 


These statements below CANNOT be considered a stand for position paper:

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Position:
Pygmalion tackles the issue of education that separate people according to their social status

Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Position:
Mending Wall focuses on the negative thought that create barriers among people

The Return by KS Maniam
Position:
The Return evolves around the colonial imperialism system of divide and rule to control the nature

The three unsuitable positions sounds like research paper titles!

They are long-winded and consist of weak verbs "tackles/focuses/evolves"

Once you have a position, consider the factors below again!

· Look at the given position
· Note the text used
· Make sure it is not a statement of fact that is generally agreed by society
· Make sure that it is not a general statement
· Look at the sentence structure, grammar
· Look at how the statement can be made refutable, short and concise

Is it too long?
Is it the grammar?
Is it the sentence structure?
Is it the meaning of the sentence?
Is it the content of the idea?

I hope this can get you started if you haven't already.

Please write to me at my hotmail and send me the position based on your chosen text. I must make sure that you have a strong position before you start writing your arguments. Also send me 2 or 3 points you will be using to defend the position you have taken.

Do this between today until 9th March 2012.