Topic and Questions We Can Help You To Answer
Paper Instructions:

Purpose:  The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to consider what you have learned throughout the semester and to write a response to a specific quote regarding some aspect of information management. Writing a short paper is useful in that it allows you to practice writing down your thoughts about a specific issue that relates to what we have discussed in the course and it forces you to consider multiple viewpoints.

The purpose of a position paper is to generate support for an issue by convincing the reader that your opinion is valid and defensible. You describe and provide a rationale for your position while also presenting and criticizing the opposing side of the issue.

It is important to ensure that you are addressing both sides of the issue and presenting them in a manner that is easy for your readers to understand. Your job is to take one side of the argument and persuade the reader that you have a persuasive argument for your position. You will strengthen your argument with evidence to support the validity of your claims, as well as to refute the counterclaims to show that you are well informed about both sides. Once you have selected your quote, you should do some research on the subject matter. While you may already have an opinion about the issue and about which side of the argument you want to take, you need to ensure that your position is well supported. Listing the pros and cons of the issue will help you examine your ability to support your counterclaims, along with a list of supporting evidence for both sides.

You can generate a counterargument by asking yourself what someone who disagrees with you might say about each of the points you've made or about your position as a whole. Once you have thought up a counterargument, consider how you will respond to it. Will you concede that your opponent has a point but explain why your audience should nonetheless accept your argument? Will you reject the counterargument and explain why it is mistaken? Either way, you will want to leave your reader with a sense that your argument is stronger than opposing arguments.

When you are summarizing the opposing argument, be charitable. Describe it as fairly and objectively as you can, rather than trying to make it look foolish. You want to show that you have seriously considered both sides of the issue, and that you are not simply attacking or mocking your opponents.


Skills:
Communicate in a succinct manner
Present your opinion on a specific issue
Present a counter position to the same issue
Situate these opinions in the larger scope of information management
Consider how this issue affects your career and information science
Utilize the APA style of writing

Knowledge:
Learn about important issues facing information managers and information science
Understand how to argue your position from multiple viewpoints
Generate support for your position in a written document that is convincing
Prepare a professional document on a specific issue in a specific format (APA)



Task:  To complete this assignment, you should:

Write a ~1500 word position paper in APA format by:
Explaining the meaning of the quote and the issue that it presents
Discussing why it is provocative or controversial
Describing the argument that can be made to support the position in the quote
Describing the argument that can be made to challenge the position in the quote
Explaining what your position is with respect to the quote.
You may utilize various sources including:
Introductory information and overviews: from directories, encyclopedias, handbooks
In-depth studies: from books, government reports
Scholarly articles: from academic journals
Statistics: from government agencies and NGOs
Position papers and analyses: from association and institute reports


Sample Outline:

Introduction
Introduce the quote
Provide background about the issue raised by the quote to explain why it is provocative or controversial
Briefly assert your thesis (your view of the issue)
The counterargument
Describe the position with which you disagree
Describe the evidence that could support this position
Your argument
Describe your position on the issue
Assert the claims that make up your argument
Provide supporting information for your claims
Refute the counterargument based on your claims and evidence
Conclusion
Conclude with a summary of your position
References


Criteria for success:  You will receive a perfect score if you meet the following criteria:

CRITERIA

MAX PTS
The introductory paragraph grabs the attention of the reader and is appropriate to the intended audience. This could be through the use of a strong statement, a relevant quotation, statistic, or question addressed to the reader.

10
The focus or thesis statement is direct and appropriate. The thesis statement clearly names the topic of the essay and outlines the main points to be discussed. The author's position is strongly and clearly presented.    10
You have included three or more pieces of evidence (facts, statistics, examples, real-life experiences) that support your position statement. You should anticipate the reader's concerns, biases or arguments.    30
At least one counterargument is clearly defined and explained. You should criticize any counterarguments in a respectful and thoughtful manner    15
Any evidence you use to support your position statement are specific and relevant. Explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author's position. If these pieces of evidence come from documented sources, cite them accordingly and add the source to your reference list (use APA formatting)    10
The sequencing of the arguments/support is appropriate. Arguments and support should be provided in a logical order that makes it easy and interesting to follow the author's train of thought.    10
The conclusion should be strong. The reader should be left understanding the writer's position. You should restate the position statement at the beginning of the closing paragraph and follow this by an effective summary of the essay body.    10
The paper should be written according to current APA standards. It should be clearly written with no grammar, spelling, punctuation, or capitalization errors    5


QUOTES:
"Whether it’s Facebook or Google or the other companies, that basic principle that users should be able to see and control information about them that they themselves have revealed to the companies is not baked into how the companies work. But it’s bigger than privacy. Privacy is about what you’re willing to reveal about yourself."
-- Eli Pariser



"We’re living at a time when attention is the new currency. Those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look set to capture the most value."
--Pete Cashmore



"When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place."
-Mark Zuckerberg



"In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties and teach us to swim."
- Linton Weeks



"People should never feel like a failure when using technology. Like the customer, the user is always right. If software crashes, it is the software designer’s fault. if someone can’t find something on a web site, it is the web designer’s fault… The big difference between good and bad designers is how they handle people struggling with their design. Technology serves humans. Humans do not serve technology."
-- Joshua Porter



"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."
-- Carl Sagan



“Getting information off the internet is like taking a drink from a firehose.”
-– Mitchell Kapor



“It’s so cheap to store all data. It’s cheaper to keep it than to delete it. And that means people will change their behavior because they know anything they say online can be used against them in the future.”
-- Mikko Hypponen,



“Big data will replace the need for 80% of all doctors.”
–- Vinod Khosla