English 10A: Exposition/Argumentation 4A
Position Paper Description
The primary focus of this course will be the composition of a 10-15 page position paper on a topic pertaining to a significant social problem, which you will write together with several partners. The paper will be divided into three major sections as follows:
Exposition (3-5 pages): the first purpose of this first section is to explain to the reader what it is, exactly, that you’re writing about. The second purpose of this section is to describe the seriousness of this social problem in such a way that the reader will agree that something needs to be done about it. Within this section, you may consider
Cause and Effect: in which you will explain to the reader WHY this problem developed and/or what some consequences of this problem are. You must be sure that these causes/effects are valid and do not simply list things that happened before/after the event.
This part of the paper will require you to do some research at the library, on the internet, etc. You’ll want to carefully record the sources of your information so that you can properly cite them in your paper. (We will follow the MLA guidelines in this class.)
Summary and Analysis (3-5 pages): like the Exposition part of the paper, this section also has two parts. In the first, you will describe approaches to dealing with the problem, and/or opinions people have for what ought to be done to address it, which you disagree with. Once you have summarized these approaches and/or ideas, your job in the second part of this section is to explain why you don’t like them.
Proposals (3-5 pages): once you’ve shown why current attitudes and/or approaches to dealing with the problem are unsatisfactory, you will propose what you think are better ideas and explain why you think they ought to be considered. Within this section, you may consider
Process: in which you will explain a series of steps, perhaps telling the reader how to solve the problem by following certain steps or by explaining how something works.
These sections will be written as three separate essays over the course of the semester. None of them needs to include an introduction or conclusion, however, as they will be joined together using sub-headings. You should plan to write the introduction and conclusion for the entire paper toward the end of the semester, once the three sections have been completed. Brainstorming and outlining as a group will precede the composition of each part of the paper. If you come to class regularly, you should have no trouble completing the assignment.