Paper 1

This is where you will find topics, instructions, the rubric, and other details about Paper 1, as soon as I am ready to post them.

Instructions

You must write an argumentative paper of 1500 words or less that defends a thesis in response to one of the prompts listed in the ‘topics’ document, above. No, the answer to your question is that you may not propose your own topic for this paper - you will be welcome to do so for either or both of the next two papers.

First and foremost, your paper must demonstrate without question that you have a firm grasp and understanding of the question at issue in the prompt, of why it is an interesting or important question, and of the relevant philosophical and textual obstacles to answering it satisfactorily.

Second, but just as fundamentally, your paper must be clearly written. It must be free from all jargon that has not been explicitly introduced in the context of this class and selective even about jargon introduced in this class. You must use short sentences wherever you can. Each paragraph must have a recognizable goal, and those goals must proceed in a logical and easily decipherable order. You must use clear transitions.

Third, you must achieve the goal that you set for yourself in the paper, in the terms in which you set it. If you say that you are going to defend a thesis from some objection, then what you say must count as a defense, and it must adequately address that objection. If you say that you are going to introduce a new idea, then the idea that you introduce must be new. To accomplish this objective well, the match between your explicit stated goal in the paper and what your paper actually accomplishes must match in both directions - not only must it be the case that you accomplish what you set out to, but you must correctly identify the main accomplishment in the paper as what you say explicitly that you are setting out to do. This second part of this objective is harder than it sounds.

And finally, if you succeed at all of these subsidiary goals, then your ultimate goal in your paper is to advance the discussion of the problem or issue at stake in your prompt, by offering and defending something that is new about it. To meet this criterion it is not necessary that what you say have never been said before; it suffices that it is new to you and to this class - that you have figured it out for yourself in the process of writing this paper.

That’s it - there are no further instructions. You can use additional sources but I recommend strongly against it as that will make it too hard for you to figure out something new for yourself and even harder to say what you need to say in your allotted words. You may use any formatting style or style of references so long as it is consistent and I can easily find anything you refer to. If you have any further questions, my answer is probably “yes that is consistent with the rules for the paper” but you should ask me anyway since I may be able to offer advice even where there are no rules.

For more details on how I will evaluate your paper in light of these four objectives, please see the grading explanation at the link to the rubric, just below.

Further Particulars

The paper is due through the link in the Assignments folder on the course Blackboard page by midnight on Sunday, September 18th. That means before midnight - Blackboard counts 12:00am as the first minute of Monday morning.

Please re-read the explanation of paper grades in the course syllabus before you read your score and my feedback on your paper. You will get an opportunity to revise and resubmit your paper, and I expect all or virtually all of you to need to take advantage of that opportunity.

Revisions for Paper 1 are due by midnight on Sunday, October 9th. You will have at least ten days from receiving your feedback to this deadline, or I will extend the deadline.