Common Assignments: Research Position Papers
If you have been an online student long enough, you have likely noticed significant overlaps between the types of assignments you encounter. One of those assignments is a Research or Position Paper. As a rule, always check the course syllabus for specific assignment guidelines and nuances.
What is a Research/Position Paper?
The research and position papers are foundational assignments in theological education, designed to provide you with the time and space to research a given topic directly related to the course. These papers will often be cumulative assignments for courses. They will stretch you to deepen your knowledge of the course’s given subject(s) and apply this knowledge through prolonged written argumentation. Some courses will provide flexibility on the defined research topic. Other courses will have you write a paper based on a predefined research topic.
Why Write Research/Position Papers?
The research and position papers have multiple purposes. First, the cumulative nature of the research or position paper is the primary means by which you will show a comprehensive understanding of a specific course topic. Where an exam or a book review is helpful in grasping student knowledge, a research or position paper is often the “meat on the bones” of a course. A reflection or preaching assignment might focus more on the dogmatics of a text, and a position paper can focus on the debates surrounding the interpretation of a text. The research or position paper introduces you to the greater intellectual conversation of a given prompt. Second, the research or position paper will stretch your writing and research skills. The skills needed to write good sermon manuscripts are not necessarily the same skills needed to write good research or position papers. Both kinds of writing are important to the development of good pastors and leaders within the life of the local church. Just as different kinds of speech are needed in different times and places, different kinds of writing are needed depending on the context.
What is in a Research/Position Paper?
The contents of a research or position paper may differ slightly, but the core of each will remain fundamentally the same. Since the goal of both is to develop an argument based on a specific thesis, the following items will be essential to each paper type:
Developed Thesis and Argumentation
A developed thesis is the most important aspect of any paper. The thesis answers the question, “What is this paper about?” and helps guide the author and reader in the progression of thought in the paper. A concise and explicit thesis statement shapes the whole research process, the amount of writing needed for the paper, and the quality of the final paper. A meandering or unclear thesis only provides confusion to an assignment that is intended to produce clarity on a given topic.
2. Quality Research
Just as a developed thesis is a barometer of a good paper, the amount and quality of research will help students work through lots of information to develop a paper that is able to argue in favor of their position aptly. A paper with underdeveloped research often runs into problems with either clarity or accuracy. That is, if you have not adequately engaged the source material in your thesis, you may end up writing a paper that lacks clarity. Or, you may end up writing a paper that lacks accuracy by failing to account for available data properly. By contrast, an overdeveloped research paper can run into problems with clarity of a different sort. An overdeveloped paper will often have too much source information with not enough analysis or original material. Papers should showcase the students’ analysis of the topic, not the source information’s original thoughts.
