Position paper

A position paper (sometimes position piece for brief items) is an essay that presents an arguable opinion about an issue – typically that of the author or some specified entity. Position papers are published in academia, in politics, in law and other domains. The goal of a position paper is to convince the audience that the opinion presented is valid and worth listening to. Ideas for position papers that one is considering need to be carefully examined when choosing a topic, developing an argument, and organizing the paper.

Position papers range from the simplest format of a letter to the editor, through to the most complex in the form of an academic position paper.^[1] Position papers are also used by large organizations to make public the official beliefs and recommendations of the group.^[2]

^ Sanders, Tingloo & Verhulst 2005, p. 11, "The simplest form is the letter to the editor... The most complex type of position paper is the academic position paper in which arguments and evidence are presented to support the writer's views."
^ An example of a position paper published by an organization: Information Literacy: A Position Paper on Information Problem Solving, American Association of School Librarians, archived from the original on 2008-04-22

[1] Sanders, Tingloo & Verhulst 2005, p. 11, "The simplest form is the letter to the editor... The most complex type of position paper is the academic position paper in which arguments and evidence are presented to support the writer's views."

[2] An example of a position paper published by an organization: Information Literacy: A Position Paper on Information Problem Solving, American Association of School Librarians, archived from the original on 2008-04-22

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