Writing a Philosophy Paper

The Philosophy Department takes writing seriously. Majors are required to take the writing-intensive Philosophy Research Seminar in their junior year (see Program Overview), and we expect all of our students, whether majors or not, to take the aesthetic, analytical, and grammatical values of good writing seriously in every paper they write. What follows is a list of things to keep in mind.

1. Give yourself time to write a really good paper. It takes more than three hours (or four, or five, or six) the night before it is due to write a thorough and well-argued paper.  Leaving your writing until the last minute cheats you out of the pleasure of profound discovery, of crucial second thoughts, and of perfecting your argument. Spend time on your writing process: do your research, read and re-read, take notes, do early exploratory free writes to discover what you want to say, sketch outlines, begin writing without concern for style or even complete coherence, resketch your outlines, do more provisional writing, write a full draft, revise, edit, proofread and polish. The more time you spend on your paper, the more likely it is to be well thought out and clearly written, the more you will learn, and the more likely you will be making a valuable gift to your reader. A dedication to revision, challenging yourself to re-seeing what you’ve written on a conceptual level (emphatically not to be confused with editing), is the single most important virtue you can bring to your writing.
2. Write about what interests you. If you don’t really care about the topic, it’s likely the reader won’t either.
3. Provide a good frame for your essay that orients your reader by giving a context for your argument. Don’t leap immediately into introducing a thesis and beginning your argument. Briefly give the reader some background on the problem you are discussing and explain its importance.
4. Be sure that you have a clear thesis statement, that is, a statement of what the argument of your paper is (what you will be trying to demonstrate – something that others might reasonably disagree with). A good thesis pushes the boundaries of the obvious and uncontroversial. If no intelligent reader would disagree with you, you have a very poor thesis statement.
5. Organize your paper around presenting evidence to support your thesis. When you use quotations from a text as evidence, be sure that you don’t allow them to speak for themselves: you need to analyze them so that the reader understands their significance. Be careful not to take quotes out of their context.
6. Structure your essay in a clear progression so that one idea leads into another, and each idea or argument supports the larger thesis of the paper. Don’t meander randomly between ideas.
7. Take the time to really develop key points. A paper isn’t a race to the finish line.
8. The paper should involve analysis of ideas, not just exposition. Avoid floating above the text in generalities; really dig down into the details, complexities, and subtleties of the text.
9. You should consider counter-evidence to your thesis: don’t make things too easy for yourself. Be critical of your own position: take counter-arguments seriously. Imagine what a skeptical (and intelligent) reader might say about your paper and be open to acknowledging weaker points in your position. This virtue is one of the least exercised in student writing.
10. Be attuned to ambiguity in the text(s) and don’t try to force the text to say something just because it would nicely support your thesis. Be sure to provide the context for quotes.
11. Be fair to the author(s) you write about. Write in the spirit of Gaston Bachelard: “Let us begin with admiration. Then, later, we shall see whether or not it will be necessary to organize our disappointments” (The Poetics of Space). The text is not an enemy to be defeated; even when you have serious criticisms, they should be made in the spirit of friendship. Being dismissive, pretentious, or arrogant in your tone is not a sign of sophistication; rather, it seriously undermines your credibility.
12. Be sure to define key terms, complex ideas and concepts.
13. Conclusions should go beyond a mere restatement of your arguments. Address the broader implications and relevance of your work. Why should we care about what you are arguing? What are the stakes? Why does it matter?
14. Proofread! Grammar is important. Contrary to common (and conveniently lazy)  belief, substance (content) is not divorced from style (form). A paper with too many errors of grammar and sentence structure not only lessens the force of your argument and analysis, but is not fun to read, and will detract from your grade. If you are insecure about your command of grammar, seek help. Never hand in a paper that isn’t grammatically sound.
15. Use an exactly correct citation method (for courses in the Philosophy Department, the MLA style: [GIVE LINK]).  Be sure to cite references not only for direct quotes but for all paraphrase or summary of texts (otherwise, technically you are plagiarizing, something you fervently should want to avoid).