ENG102 Essay One: The Position Paper The first assignment in ENG102 is the argumentative position paper; this paper should be four to six pages in length, not including a Title and References pages. To successfully complete this assignment, you will: 1. Identify a current issue that is debatable. 2. Take a position/side on that issue. 3. Research the issue and find appropriate resources and support to develop your position. 4. Address the opposing side’s views and refute those with logic and reason. 5. Demonstrate an awareness of your target audience and appropriately use appeals for that audience to persuade them of your position. Prewriting: You will begin this assignment by first doing some exploratory research to find out what people are discussing in relation to your topic. In most cases, you will need to narrow your topic selection to a specific issue. For instance, immigration is a broad topic. In the early stages of my project, I would need to do some research to find out what specific issue within immigration is under debate right now. To do this, I might search for things like “immigration reform” or “immigration amnesty. Research: The first step in research should happen in the pre-writing stage, as mentioned above. Note that you will want to make use of the Baker College Library databases to find current articles on your issue. In this paper at least three different sources must be used with not more than one deriving from the Internet. Reference sources, such as an encyclopedia, (e.g. Wikepedia.org) or a dictionary will not count as legitimate sources. This includes reference sites like WebMD.org and About.com. In addition, personal blogs or essays posted on personal websites or self-published on sites like Associatedcontent.com and Helium.com are not acceptable. Note that by “make use” we mean the essay should incorporate quotations, summaries, and paraphrases using introductory phrasing and document sources in the text according to APA: The Easy Way! Basic Organizational Pattern: There are multiple ways to organize argumentative position essays, but most follow a basic pattern like the sample outline below: 1. Introduction. Setting up some context for the issue is a great way to open a position paper, as it allows you to show the issue is current. End this introduction paragraph with your thesis statement. 2. Claim 1: Set up the first reason/claim for the position in a topic sentence. Develop a paragraph on that one claim, using supporting evidence to develop that point. 3. Claim 2: See #2 4. Claim 3: See #3 5. Refutation of the Opposition’s claims: This may take a couple of paragraphs. This section of the paper requires you directly address the main claims made by the opposition and refute those, showing why those are not strong or valid claims. 6. Conclusion: Think about how you can lead the reader back out of the paper. Total Possible Score: 4.00 General Content/Subject Knowledge Total: 2.00 Dis ...

1. ENG102 Essay One: The Position Paper
The first assignment in ENG102 is the argumentative position
paper; this paper should be four to six pages in length, not
including a Title and References pages. To successfully
complete this assignment, you will:
1. Identify a current issue that is debatable.
2. Take a position/side on that issue.
3. Research the issue and find appropriate resources and support
to develop your position.
4. Address the opposing side’s views and refute those with logic
and reason.
5. Demonstrate an awareness of your target audience and
appropriately use appeals for that audience to persuade them of
your position.
Prewriting: You will begin this assignment by first doing some
exploratory research to find out what people are discussing in
relation to your topic. In most cases, you will need to narrow
your topic selection to a specific issue. For instance,
immigration is a broad topic. In the early stages of my project,
I would need to do some research to find out what specific issue
within immigration is under debate right now. To do this, I
might search for things like “immigration reform” or
“immigration amnesty.
Research: The first step in research should happen in the pre-
writing stage, as mentioned above. Note that you will want to
make use of the Baker College Library databases to find current
articles on your issue. In this paper at least three different
sources must be used with not more than one deriving from the
Internet. Reference sources, such as an encyclopedia, (e.g.
Wikepedia.org) or a dictionary will not count as legitimate
sources. This includes reference sites like WebMD.org and
About.com. In addition, personal blogs or essays posted on
personal websites or self-published on sites like
Associatedcontent.com and Helium.com are not acceptable.

2. Note that by “make use” we mean the essay should incorporate
quotations, summaries, and paraphrases using introductory
phrasing and document sources in the text according to APA:
The Easy Way!
Basic Organizational Pattern: There are multiple ways to
organize argumentative position essays, but most follow a basic
pattern like the sample outline below:
1. Introduction. Setting up some context for the issue is a great
way to open a position paper, as it allows you to show the issue
is current. End this introduction paragraph with your thesis
statement.
2. Claim 1: Set up the first reason/claim for the position in a
topic sentence. Develop a paragraph on that one claim, using
supporting evidence to develop that point.
3. Claim 2: See #2
4. Claim 3: See #3
5. Refutation of the Opposition’s claims: This may take a
couple of paragraphs. This section of the paper requires you
directly address the main claims made by the opposition and
refute those, showing why those are not strong or valid claims.
6. Conclusion: Think about how you can lead the reader back
out of the paper.
Total Possible Score: 4.00
General Content/Subject Knowledge
Total: 2.00
Distinguished - Addresses all aspects of the prompt in
accordance with the parameters of the discussion and
demonstrates in-depth knowledge of the discussion topic.
Proficient - Addresses all aspects of the prompt in accordance
with the parameters of the discussion and demonstrates
knowledge of the discussion topic.
Basic - Addresses all aspects of the prompt in accordance with
the parameters of the discussion and demonstrates basic

3. knowledge of the discussion topic.
Below Expectations - Addresses all or most aspects of the
prompt in accordance with the parameters of the discussion and
demonstrates limited knowledge of the discussion topic.
Non-Performance - There is no initial discussion post, or the
post does not address the discussion prompt at all.
Critical Thinking
Total: 0.40
Distinguished - Comprehensively explores the ideas, thoughts,
and elements of the topic and provides relevant evidence and
information that demonstrates all of the following as applicable
to the discussion prompt: clarity, relevance, depth, breadth, use
of information resources, and logic.
Proficient - Explores the ideas, thoughts, and elements of the
topic and provides relevant evidence and information that
demonstrates most of the following as applicable to the
discussion prompt: clarity, relevance, depth, breadth, use of
information resources, and logic.
Basic - Explores the ideas, thoughts, and elements of the topic
and provides relevant evidence and information that
demonstrates some of the following as applicable to the
discussion prompt: clarity, relevance, depth, breadth, and use of
information, and logic.
Below Expectations - Attempts to explore the ideas, thoughts,
and elements of the topic and provide relevant evidence and
information, but demonstrates few of the following as
applicable to the discussion prompt: clarity, relevance, depth,
breadth, use of information resources, and logic.
Non-Performance - There is no attempt to explore the ideas,
thoughts, and elements of the topic and provide relevant
evidence and information in either the original post or
subsequent response posts within the discussion, or no post is
present.
Written Communication

4. Total: 0.20
Distinguished - Displays clear control of syntax and mechanics.
The organization of the work shows appropriate transitions and
flow between sentences and paragraphs. Written work contains
no errors and is very easy to understand.
Proficient - Displays control of syntax and mechanics. The
organization of the work shows transitions and/or flow between
sentences and paragraphs. Written work contains only a few
errors and is mostly easy to understand.
Basic - Displays basic control of syntax and mechanics. The
work is not organized with appropriate transitions and flow
between sentences and paragraphs. Written work contains
several errors, making it difficult to fully understand.
Below Expectations - Displays limited control of syntax or
mechanics. The work does not include any transitions and does
not flow easily between sentences and paragraphs. Written work
contains major errors.
Non-Performance - Fails to display control of syntax or
mechanics, within the original post and/or responses.
Organization is also not present.
Engagement/ Participation
Total: 1.40
Distinguished - Contributes to classroom conversations with at
least the minimum number of replies, all of which were
thoughtful, relevant, and contributed meaningfully to the
conversation. Fully engages in the conversation with
appropriate topic-based responses.
Proficient - Contributes to classroom conversations with the
minimum number of replies that are somewhat thoughtful,
relevant, and contributed meaningfully to the conversation.
Attempts to fully engage in the conversation with appropriate
topic-based responses.
Basic - Contributes to the classroom conversations with the
minimum number of replies. Attempts to fully engage in the
conversation, but the responses are not relevant or fully aligned

5. with the discussion topic.
Below Expectations - Attempts to contribute to the classroom
conversations with fewer than the minimum number of replies;
however, the replies are not thoughtful and relevant, or they do
not contribute meaningfully to the conversation.
Non-Performance - There is no contribution to the discussion.