Essay 1: Assignment Topics and Instructions

Essay 1: Assignment Topics and Instructions

NB: Before starting your essay, you should read this entire document as

well as the information in the ‘Essay Assignments: Grading Criteria and

Helpful Information’ folder. Among other information, it contains a sample

of an ‘A’ paper to use as a model for your essay.

For this assignment, you will choose one of the three topics below and write an

essay of at least 4 pages, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12 point font;

your paper should be written in Standard English and done in MLA format. You

must include a MLA works cited page that includes all sources used in your

essay, including the article related to the topic you choose.

Details are below, but in short, the purpose of your essay is to analyze a

philosophical question.

To submit your paper, click on ‘Essay 1.’ You should attach a file that can be

opened with Microsoft Word (doc or docx); do not submit a pdf or type in the

submission box.

Any instance of plagiarism will be punished by a minimum of an F on the

assignment and a report to the associate dean of the humanities division.

Further punishment could include failure in the course, suspension, or

expulsion.

The articles given below as topics are all from The New York Times. Non-

subscribers are limited to the number of articles they can read, but the Richland

Library has full access to The New York Times. You can access The New York

Times via this DCCCD Library web page.

Topic #1: “Life Is Short. That’s the Point.”

The above relates to personal identity/being human as it relates to our

mortality.

Topic #2: “Philosophy—What’s the Use?”

This article deals with whether studying philosophy does in fact help us lead

meaningful lives, whether philosophy achieves a purpose in this regard,

whether it makes our lives better.

Topic #3: “We Are Not Born Human”

The above relates to personal identity/what being human might mean or not

mean.

After choosing an article/topic to write about, you should choose one of the

philosophical questions from the list of questions included with the assignment

handouts. The question should be one that you think relates to the article/topic

you choose. The focus of your essay will be an analysis of the philosophical

question you choose from the list. Please note! Do not simply choose any

question on the list; you should choose a question that you think relates to

the article/topic you choose. In your essay, you will need to explain how

the question relates to the article/topic.

NB: Very often, I read essays for this assignment that do not even mention,

let alone discuss, any philosophers or philosophical concepts/theories. Just

as you cannot write an essay about, say, the American Civil War without

ever mentioning the war, you cannot write a philosophy essay without

discussing philosophers and philosophical concepts/theories. Your essay

should be explicitly about philosophy, specifically the question you are

analyzing, from beginning to end.

Your essay should follow the below outline and should include the

following:

A heading done according to MLA

An original title (hint: ‘Essay 1’ is not an original title; nor is the title of the

article you choose to write on)

First Paragraph: Introduction

In the introduction, you should set up the topic of your essay in a way that

engages your reader. Since the essay is an analysis of a philosophical question,

your introduction should convey this; your introduction should contain your

thesis (if you are unsure of how to write a thesis, read this advice on developing

a thesis), should let the reader know the philosophical question you intend to

analyze, and should mention the article you are writing about (the article

related to the topic you choose). Because this is a philosophy essay, the reader

should know, after reading the introduction, that she will be reading an essay

about philosophy.

See this VERY helpful advice on how to write your intro/begin your essay.

Second Paragraph: Summary of the article given with the topic you chose

When you refer to an article, you should give the title, author, and publication.

A summary should be a brief, objective overview (meaning no opinionated or

evaluative comments) of the main ideas of the original. In the summary

paragraph, you should periodically use author tags to indicate that you are

summarizing, that you are conveying someone else’s views. So you should say

things such as, “According to Jane Doe…” or “The author points out that…”

Also, in a summary, use transitions to convey to the reader the order of ideas

presented in the original, to connect the summary’s ideas and make it coherent,

things like, “First, the author discusses the problem of….”, “Furthermore, he

addresses the issue of….” “Doe concludes by pointing out that…”

The summary should be written as such, meaning you are continuously

referring to the text and the author.

A few more things about a summary: it should not contain quotations, it should

be only one paragraph, and it should accurately and succinctly give the main

ideas of the original.

Read this helpful advice on how to correctly summarize a text.

Third Paragraph: A thorough discussion/explanation of the philosophical

question to be analyzed in the essay

Here are some points you should address in this paragraph:

 How does the topic of the article you chose relate to this question?

 Why is this question of concern philosophically; in other words, what

about this question makes it a philosophical question?

 Why does it matter how this question is answered? In other words, what is

at stake in this question? Why do we care about it? Why is it important for

everyone, not only philosophers?

 Which philosophers’ ideas/theories/ writings can help us approach this

question? (only mention those you intend to discuss in your essay) What

philosophical theories or positions might help us answer this question?

(also, only mention those you intend to discuss in your essay)

Body Paragraphs

The number of body paragraphs is your decision as the author, but each

paragraph should thoroughly discuss the philosophical question you are

analyzing. Possible ways to go about this: one or more paragraphs about how

another/other philosophers have answered/written about the topic your

question relates to; one or more paragraphs about a philosophical concept,

problem, or theory that relates to this question and perhaps helps us look at

this question. Helpful tip: often, the articles given above as topics refer to

philosophers and/or philosophical theories or concepts. These might be good

places to start your research. Similarly, our text refers to philosophers and

theories that deal with many of the topics related to the questions on the list.

You may also include a paragraph on your response to the philosophical

question you are analyzing, but the majority of content in your body

paragraphs should be from your research.

Since you are required to include research from 3 sources, an ideal way to

organize the body paragraphs would be to have a paragraph on each

source; also, make sure each paragraph is providing an analysis of the

question you are analyzing.

You must include research (incorporated through quotation, paraphrase, or

both) from at least 3 sources (the articles above do not count as a source). One

of these must be a philosophical journal in the DCCCD databases) if you are not

sure whether the journal you want to use IS a philosophical journal, google the

title and you will be able to find a description of the journal’s focus. Typically,

you can tell by the title of the journal, e.g., The Journal of Philosophy, Journal

of the History of Philosophy, The Review of Metaphysics.

Other allowed sources are below (any sources not listed here will not count):

 Our textbook for the course, Problems from Philosophy

 The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

If you need help using the databases, you can get help in person in the library

or online using the ‘Ask a Librarian’ tool. When incorporating sources into your

work, they must be present so as to serve your position/argument/discussion.

In other words, they should not be there just to be there; they should be

incorporated AS part of the discussion/argument, in a meaningful, substantial

way.

Conclusion

Since your essay is an analysis of a philosophical question, your conclusion

should effectively bring that discussion to a close. Avoid simply repeating

yourself in the conclusion.

See this VERY helpful advice on how to conclude your essay.