By M. Murray
WRITING A PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY (2005 version) by Professor Tony Couture
1. One should know the standard requirements and usual techniques
involved in good writing in order to take responsibility for one's own
development of the many skills that enable consistent performance. Two
standards are particularly important in philosophy: showing one's
knowledge, and communicating appropriately. The student should a) show
that he or she can give an accurate explanation of philosophical
distinctions, doctrines or positions and b) communicate in the right
tone, mainly by rehearsing arguments and stating relevant truisms in an
original and compelling way. One of the most important skills that you
can develop is the ability to understand how some one else would read
what you have written, or to imagine yourself as another person
receiving these communications. Philosophers are mainly concerned with
the best arguments, and sorting out the good, the bad and the ugly
arguments is the main way that you show your knowledge.
2. A common error by students learning to write in philosophy is to
write the wrong kind of essay. A philosophy essay is a persuasive
essay or a contemplative essay, but not an expository essay, or a free
association essay. Thesis defense papers are the most common form of
persuasive essay writing in philosophy, and require that you state an
original proposition to be debated in the essay which guides the reader
to your conclusion and creates an editing tool for you to revise your
essay and organize it better. There is also a tradition of
meditative writing in philosophy (illustrated by Descartes in
Meditations on First Philosophy, Tolstoy in A Confession, or
Wittgenstein in Philosophical Investigations ) which explores and
contemplates a topic in a more speculative way. Nevertheless, a
contemplative essay has organization and is heavily revised, unlike a
simple free association essay which represents stream of consciousness
and does not need editing. Always remember the different types of
essay, know what type your professor is asking you to write, and follow
the directions or get help if you don’t understand the directions well
enough.
Research
3. Make sure that you understand how much and what kind of research the
professor expects in the paper. Often, the best places to start are
traditional reference sources such as The Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
edited by Paul Edwards, New York: Macmillan, 1967. This reference book
contains many valuable articles that provide an overview and show you
what philosophers usually say or have said about many topics. It is
located in the Reference Section of the library. Also, introductory
texts to philosophy are available in the stacks that may be helpful.
There are many internet sources now, including the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, or Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
4. The main point in reading up on your subject is to make yourself
into an expert who knows the arguments on all sides. You need to find
out what others have written about your topics, take notes of the key
points, and educate yourself first. You then are in a position to state
a proposition which is not just your OPINION. Your thesis should never
be a tautology (an apple is an apple), or an uncontroversial statement
which is true by definition, a fact, or a statement about
yourself and what you believe. Your thesis should represent what you
have learned in your research and show that you know the difference
between simply stating an opinion and a well-informed position on the
matter.
5. Learn to use your source material properly. Look at the references
that your source makes, or that several sources make concerning the
same topic, and this will help you determine where the best work on
that topic is commonly believed to be. Also, you should be able to
evaluate your source material critically. You should be able to
distinguish between facts (straightforward information) and the
writer's interpretations and opinions (more controversial,
idiosyncratic views). You do not have to believe everything you read.
There may be other, more plausible interpretations of the facts, and
the writer's opinions may not be well supported by the evidence.
Organization of the paper
6. The most important feature of a philosophical essay is its
organization. At the start, it states an interesting and manageable
point (also known as your "thesis statement") that is to be supported
or proved through the essay. This is a precise assertion that can be
shown to be right or wrong, not an ambiguous or fuzzy claim. The start
of the essay also lets the reader know what to expect concerning how
the argument will proceed and what task you have set for
yourself. It is very useful to place a short plan of the essay in
the second paragraph. Ask the professor to explain her or his criteria
if needed. You should always know what is required (minimum standards),
what is optimal (standards of excellence), and what is to be avoided
(standard flaws).
7. One does not organize the paper completely before one writes.
Rather, one begins with a very rough outline, writes a good deal, makes
an outline of the contents of that rough writing, and then edits
oneself thoroughly. It is in this final editing process that a
successful paper is created.
8. The organization should reflect your aim: you are trying to convince
the reader that the arguments for your conclusion(s) are better than
the arguments against your conclusion(s). The best papers are
single-mindedly focussed on this important task. The main point of your
paper must be explicitly identified in an introduction. It will be
elaborated in the main body (75% of essay) through several sub-points,
each supported by some evidence or examples. Each sub-point should be
clearly relevant to the main point so as to produce an easy to follow,
cohesive argument. Your conclusion should summarize the essay and not
introduce new topics, irrelevant information or other surprises.
9. PLAN OF ESSAY: After introducing and briefly explaining your thesis
in the first paragraph, you should also explain the basic approach that
you will be using in the second paragraph. This may involve defining
terms briefly, breaking your topic down into components, or explaining
what you will assume or what you will be challenging. Make an outline,
revise it carefully, and use it well.
The Thesis Statement (the central organizing claim of your paper, and how to create it)
10. You must articulate your thesis statement near the beginning, after
first capturing the reader's interest. The thesis statement is the
precise conclusion that you want the reader to believe after having
read your essay. It represents a position taken on a certain topic, a
perspective defended throughout the essay. The purpose of using a
thesis statement is so that your argument is easier to follow. You set
yourself a plan and then you execute it. The reader can then judge
whether you have set yourself a manageable task, and compare what you
say you are going to do with what you actually do. A philosophical
essay without a clear and cogent thesis statement is not acceptable and
may receive a failing grade merely for that reason.
11. One useful definition of a thesis: "A thesis is not a statement
that can be immediately proven by recourse to recorded information; it
is, instead, a hypothesis worth discussing. Your thesis sentence should
reveal to your reader not only the argument you have chosen but also
your orientation toward it, the conclusion that your paper will attempt
to prove, and how you will go about establishing it."
(Graybosch/Scott/Garrison)
12. Standard problems with thesis statements which ought to be avoided include:
a) it is a platitude, uninteresting, or too self-evident to be worth arguing;
b) it is more than one sentence or too complex;
c) it is imprecise, has no definite focus, too general;
d) it forecasts only part of your paper or topic;
e) it is simply false or misleading;
f) it is only remotely related to the assigned topic;
g) not manageable in the essay length allowed (too hard);
h) it is not supported or proved throughout the essay;
i) not a precise assertion that can be shown to be right or wrong;
j) it is not identified, or placed conspicuously at the start of the essay;
k) not a position taken on a given topic or a perspective defended throughout the essay;
l) does not make your argument easier to follow;
m) not cogent or to the point, not compelling;
n) too provisional or rough, not refined into a
clear statement of your position to follow; o) not
used properly as an editing tool.
(Note that some of these problems regard the thesis statement itself, and others regard how it is used in the essay as a whole.)
13. You should start with a provisional thesis statement, a rough idea
that you play around with, expand and change as you improve your
knowledge of the subject. The thesis statement is primarily an EDITING
TOOL: it helps you to determine what is relevant or not. It keeps you
from straying off topic. For if you say something in your essay, you
should always also make it clear how it connects up with your thesis.
If it can't be connected without stretching it, then it is likely not
relevant and should be edited out. If your thesis doesn’t help you
focus your editing, it needs to be re-written so as to provide a core
idea which will guide you.
Key writing virtues (forms of excellence to strive for)
14. Intellectual order is what enables a reader to follow your argument
properly. It is best kept relatively simple, and the use of parallels
and related examples also helps. If there are transition problems
between thoughts or paragraphs, then your argument is weak. Learn to
monitor yourself every time that you change subjects in your writing.
If you can't explain why and it is not obvious how your first thought
is connected to the next, then improve the connection, or start a new
paragraph. Too much order can result in mechanical, tedious writing.
Try to aim for thought that is easy to follow yet also spontaneous,
personable, and pleasant to read.
15. Conciseness involves the ability to recognize places in your
writing where you have used ten words but you could have used three
words to say something. Without sacrificing clarity, always go for the
shorter way of expressing yourself. Focus on the argument itself: if
you can remove phrases that add nothing to your argument, cut them out,
and replace them with something that does add to your argument. Concise
writing never contains wasted words, verbal acrobatics, or any form of
nonsense, useless jargon, and fancy wordplay for the sake of wordplay.
16. Being selective: In addition to practicing economy in the quantity
of words used, you must practice focussing on the particularly
philosophical issues associated with a topic. Being selective requires
enough knowledge about a subject to stick to problems and points that
philosophers tend to dwell upon. These include conceptual
clarification, rehearsing the usual arguments for and against,
definitions, questions about values, and questions about justification
and interpretation. Being selective means not using long quotes in
place of your own work. Select the key words, or the most important
words only, and put everything else into your own words where you can.
17. Clarity of thought is essential to any successful communication. If
the reader can't understand whether you mean X or Y (ambiguity), a
thought is half-baked (incompleteness), or there is no effort to share
a thought (obscurity), then there is a problem. You must aim for the
mean between being too obvious and being too unpredictable. The main
means for producing clear thinking include plainness, simplicity,
unpretentiousness, brevity, fluidity and readability. Above all, be
direct in choosing what you want to say.
18. Degree of difficulty: "The student whose thesis is...easy to prove
has not shown much originality, and deserves very little credit. The
harder the task, the greater is the ingenuity required, and the credit
to be gained." (J. Feinberg) Although originality and creativity are
hard to measure exactly, be aware of the need to think for yourself and
go beyond what has been said in class, or the readings. Do not try to
do too much, too fast, however.
Editing yourself
19. Good writing must be done in stages. Do not expect to produce an
essay of high quality if you write it straight through in one draft.
Neglect of the various stages of writing is the single worst failing of
student composition. Too often students fail to prepare adequately
before they begin their first draft and then fail to revise. Signs of
haste and incompleteness lead to a bad mark.
20. There are three main stages in writing: 1)
Selecting a topic, researching and outlining your strategy very
roughly. 2) First draft: free writing (uncensored
writing, putting your mind on paper where you can see it, objectifying
your philosophical stream of consciousness, this provides you with raw
materials to be organized later. Sometimes it helps to put individual
points on small cards or note paper and then switching them about until
you find a more logical order for them).
3) Editing yourself (polishing, check that your sentences are full
sentences, that your paragraphs are not too short or too long,
avoid hodge-podge paragraphs, be concise, make the antecedents of
pronouns clear, use a dictionary to check your usage or spelling,
eliminate any obscure thoughts).
21. The best way to learn to edit yourself is by first separating the
many tasks and performing them single-mindedly. As you develop, you
will become able to do all these tasks at once in one sweep through
your text.
22. You should proofread your paper because it appears much less
professional with minor, easily corrected errors. Minor errors can
cause a major bad impression.
Quotations and References
23. When a quotation is less than 4 lines long, it should be placed in
quotation marks ( “ ” )and left in double space with the rest of the
text. Any quotation that is longer than 4 lines should be placed in a
single-spaced indented paragraph blocked off from the text, and the
quotation marks are omitted. In this longer quotation, the quotation
marks are not needed because of the way the block of text is separated
from the rest of the essay. Avoid quoting passages over two paragraphs
or of any substantial length, learn to paraphrase and be more concise
than your sources themselves. After quoting, be sure to integrate that
quotation into your ongoing argument carefully by re-stating its
importance, showing its relevance to your thesis, or noting how it
advances your argument one step further. Regarding references, the
practical question to ask is: Can the reader find this quote on the
basis of the information I have supplied? Give the author, the
publisher, the page number, year, place, and the edition. (Some
professors are more particular than this, follow instructions if
needed.)
24. It is very important to keep the line between your own original
writing (everything not in quotation marks or indented and
single-spaced) and the original writing of others which you are quoting
(always marked off by quotation marks or indented single-spacing).
"Plagiarism is the use of someone else's words as your own
without crediting the original writer for those words." (The St.
Martin's Handbook for Canadians, by Lunsford, Connors, and Segal,
Scarborough: Nelson, 1991, p. 207). You do not have to give credit to
things that are common knowledge, or facts available in a wide variety
of sources. You do have to give credit whenever you use other
person's words exactly, when paraphrasing the judgments or claims of
others, or when using statistics. The principle is that you do
not want to deceive the professor into believing that you have done
work that you have not really done.
25. Plagiarism includes borrowing someone's paper and submitting it as
your own, quoting someone's exact words without mentioning the source,
paraphrasing someone else's ideas or argument without mentioning that
you are doing that, or putting only one reference at the very end of a
paragraph in which every sentence was borrowed from the source (and so
every sentence ought to be acknowledged as derived from the source, not
merely the last one). Self-plagiarism is the practice of using an essay
that you wrote for one course as your essay for another course without
the permission of the professor. It is sophistry and cheats you out of
exercise and proper education.
26. Plagiarism is legally wrong because it violates an author's property
right, or the right to decide whether some words ought to be published
or presented to others. Plagiarism is morally wrong because it involves
theft, cheating, lying, or misrepresentation. It is particularly
dishonourable in an educational context because it undermines the whole
project of improving yourself and learning. Professors have the right
to question any student regarding the composition of an assignment and
the duty to make sure that students do their own work. Suitable
acknowledgement of authorship involves maintaining a clear line between
your own work and the work of others which is established by use of
names, notes, or punctuation.
Avoiding some common errors often made by university students writing essays:
27. Use apostrophes correctly. Generally, do not use contractions such
as I'd, can't, don't, you're, in essays. The correct possessive form
for an object ("the tree waved its branches") is its, not it's (the
contraction for "it is"). Check your punctuation carefully when
proofreading. Know when to use “then” or “than.” You are responsible
for your own good grammar, and should have a handy reference book to
guide you while learning to write. Always use complete sentences.
28. Philosophy allows room for the expression of reasoned opinions, and
this is unlike many other disciplines that insist that you stick to the
facts only. However, this is not a license for pure subjectivity, but a
permission to engage in some free-wheeling or exploration of what you
think about your topic. You should avoid merely stating your opinion
baldly, as if the reader must just accept the fact of your belief and
leave you alone.
29. Adopt a professional tone of voice in your essay writing (formal).
Do not act too laid back, or engage in posturing. Avoid colloquialisms
(conversational forms used inappropriately in a formal essay setting).
Essay writing is a serious business and it is unprofessional to joke
too much or distract the reader with slang (guys, kids, jerks, nerds,
etc).
30. Do not submit your essay by e-mail unless the professor specifies
that this is allowed. Always contact the professor after submitting
your essay indirectly (put under office door, mailbox or dropped off by
someone else). Always keep a copy of your essay in case it is lost by
you or your friend who was supposed to drop it off or the professor. An
essay can be misplaced, or forgotten, or otherwise not received.
[Sources: Philosophical Writing: An Introduction, by Aloysius
Martinich, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1989. "Preparing For and
Writing Research Papers," author unknown, University of Windsor.
"Standard practices for University Papers" and "How to Write an Essay
Test" by Dr. T. Spira, History Department, UPEI. The Philosophy Student
Writer's Manual, by A. Graybosch, G. Scott, and S. Garrison, Upper
Saddle River" Prentice-Hall, 1998. Doing Philosophy, by Joel Feinberg,
Belmont: Wadsworth, 1997; Thinking and Writing about Philosophy, by
Hugo Bedau, Boston: Bedford Books, 1996]
CRITERIA FOR MARKING
ESSAYS (2005 marking sheet)
Prof. Tony Couture
The following criteria are listed in order of priority. Try to use this
checklist on your own essay before submitting it. Pay attention to
items circled by me in any future essay writing.
1. ARGUING SKILLS AND ORGANIZATION (40%)
–you understand the assignment, and follow directions appropriately, meet deadline
–plan of essay is explicitly stated, strategy is clear, structure of essay is sound
–appropriate quantity and use of quotations, properly integrated into argument
–proper use of examples to ground argument, awareness of counter-examples
–no transition problems between thoughts, proper attention to consistency
–knowledge of all sides of the argument, anticipation of common objections
–coherence and plausibility of the essay as a whole, shows knowledge of subject
2. INTRODUCTION AND THESIS STATEMENT (25%)
–thesis is clearly identified for the reader (italics, underlined, or “My thesis is...”)
–thesis is one proposition, concise and shows position of writer plainly
–thesis has right degree of difficulty for the assignment, not too easy or too hard
–thesis is concerned with philosophical issues, introduction sets context properly
–reader knows what to expect and what task you have set for yourself
3. RESEARCH AND CREATIVITY (20%)
–you have consulted other sources, evidence that you have educated yourself on topic
–you have fulfilled the research requirement, proper bibliography, references
–essay as a whole is well-informed, engaging and instructive
–you develop an independent argument, essay is not too expository
–you have created fresh ideas, explored the material thoroughly, raised questions
4. ABILITY TO EDIT YOURSELF AND WRITING MECHANICS (15%)
–proper conciseness, no unnecessary repetition, plain and lucid writing style
–paragraphs are not too long (over 1 page) or too short (1 sentence)
–each paragraph develops one step in your overall argument, no hodge podge paragraphs
–sentences are all complete sentences, proper sentence structure and grammar is correct
–communication of ideas is clear and precise, no obscure expressions or odd usage
–gender neutral language is used, plurals are used instead of sexist singular constructions
–singular/plural agreement in a sentence, punctuation, spelling, proofreading
–titles are underlined or italicized, proper margins (1 inch), proper font (size 12)
–title page with topic number, name, course, professor, date submitted, word-count
–print is not too light to be read comfortably, no plastic folders or coloured paper
OVERALL COMMENTS:
