HOW TO WRITE PHILOSOPHY PAPERS
HOW TO WRITE PHILOSOPHY PAPERS (THAT DON'T SUCK)
Manuel Vargas
Last updated 09.08.14
Summary: This handout covers information that can prevent you from writing an especially bad philosophy paper. Yes, this handout is long, but that’s because there is a lot to know. Section one of the handout covers the general principles for writing philosophy papers. In section two, it makes explicit the six elements needed for any paper you will submit in this course (this is a particularly important section, especially if you haven’t written a philosophy paper before). The third section discusses issues of style and tone. The fourth and final section will help you understand how I grade—so keep this handout available until you have gotten your paper back.
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Understand the nature of a philosophy paper. This is a paper about arguments. It is not a biographical paper, exploring your feelings or personal experiences as you see them pertaining to the topic. It is not a record of your stream of consciousness, detailing whatever thought happened to float through your head the evening before the paper was due. It is not an exercise in poetic writing. It is definitely not an invitation to make declarations about your religious convictions or your favorite divinely inspired text. It is a paper about only one thing: arguments.
Your goal is to provide excellent arguments in favor of your view, to consider the strongest potential criticisms of your view, and to provide a thoughtful response to those criticisms. If you can do all that with clarity of language, your paper is unlikely to suck.
What should you assume about your reader? Assume your reader is my mom. Yeah, I said my mom. My mom is someone who doesn’t know much about philosophy but is pretty smart and a generally reasonable person.
She hasn’t read the articles you will be assigned for this class. However, she won’t need to because you will explain to her in clear and concise sentences what she needs to know in
Manuel Vargas
Last updated 09.08.14
Summary: This handout covers information that can prevent you from writing an especially bad philosophy paper. Yes, this handout is long, but that’s because there is a lot to know. Section one of the handout covers the general principles for writing philosophy papers. In section two, it makes explicit the six elements needed for any paper you will submit in this course (this is a particularly important section, especially if you haven’t written a philosophy paper before). The third section discusses issues of style and tone. The fourth and final section will help you understand how I grade—so keep this handout available until you have gotten your paper back.
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Understand the nature of a philosophy paper. This is a paper about arguments. It is not a biographical paper, exploring your feelings or personal experiences as you see them pertaining to the topic. It is not a record of your stream of consciousness, detailing whatever thought happened to float through your head the evening before the paper was due. It is not an exercise in poetic writing. It is definitely not an invitation to make declarations about your religious convictions or your favorite divinely inspired text. It is a paper about only one thing: arguments.
Your goal is to provide excellent arguments in favor of your view, to consider the strongest potential criticisms of your view, and to provide a thoughtful response to those criticisms. If you can do all that with clarity of language, your paper is unlikely to suck.
What should you assume about your reader? Assume your reader is my mom. Yeah, I said my mom. My mom is someone who doesn’t know much about philosophy but is pretty smart and a generally reasonable person.
She hasn’t read the articles you will be assigned for this class. However, she won’t need to because you will explain to her in clear and concise sentences what she needs to know in