Term Paper

Term Paper

The Term Paper Project

An important outcome of your work in this class will be a substantial term paper. I expect you to apply what you have learned about writing philosophy from working on the problem sets to a much larger and more involved project. That is, you have been learning how to write clearly, carefully, and effectively about philosophically sophisticated topics. To date, though, your efforts have been applied to explaining others' theories and arguments. No doubt, some of you have chaffed at this, wanting to explore your own positions and arguments. The term paper is your opportunity to develop your own line of argument on a specific topic of your choosing. You will apply the same rigorous standards of analysis and clarity you have been learning on your problem sets to developing your term paper.

To be sure, this is a daunting task. It is not something that can be left to the last minute, and you need as much feedback on it as time allows. Thus I am adopting three strategies to help you with this project.

First, I have divided the project into four specific milestones:

  1. The Prospectus, where you discuss the problem you plan to explore;
  2. The Critically Annotated Bibliography, where you compile critical summaries of the relevant literature;
  3. The Rough Draft, where you begin to flesh out the main argument you plan to present; and,
  4. The Final Draft, where you present a polished, sustained, sophisticated, and refined scholarly article.
  5. The Public Presenation, where you present a distilled version of your principal argument to a group meeting.

Please note that the due dates, below, are the last dates for which work will be accepted for credit; you are welcomed and encouraged to get work done before these due dates. Each milestone is worth the indicated number of points as per the syllabus.

Second, we will meet individually to discuss your prospectus and your rough draft so I can give you as much guidance on your project as I can. These meetings are together worth 50 points, so it behooves you to make sure you show up for the meeting and take meticulous notes.

Third, please note that the term paper prospectus is assigned quite early in the semester. This is necessary, to give you ample time to develop your research, but unfortunate inasmuch as we will not yet have covered many of the term paper topics in class. Committing to a topic on the prospectus, however, does not preclude a later shift, narrowing, or complete redirection in topic. Ones research is neither defined nor constrained by the prospectus. It is simply a way to get the ball rolling, as it were.

Plowing ahead, here are the topics and instructions for each of the milestones:

Please note that the following pages will be populated as we come to them.

  1. The Term Paper Topics
  2. The Term Paper Prospectus (Assigned Monday 2/26; Due Monday 3/4. Worth 50 points.)
  3. The Annotated Bibliography (Assigned Wednesday 3/6; Due Monday 4/1. Worth 100 points.)
  4. The Term Paper Rough Draft (Assigned Monday 4/1; Due Monday 4/22. Worth 300 points.)
  5. The Term Paper Final Draft (Assigned Monday 4/22; Due Wednesday 5/1. Worth 100 points.)
  6. The Term Paper Public Presentation (Conducted in class Monday, 5/6, 1:45-4:15. Worth 100 points.)