ESSAY CHECKLIST

Essay Format

• Typewritten

• Page Numbers

• Proper Citation: (i.) Bibliography, (ii) Acknowledge all References: Footnotes or endnotes

• 12 pt font

• Standard Margins and line spacing. Do not double space between paragraphs or “customize” spacing to meet length requirements.

• No covers. Please simply staple in top left-hand corner.

• Use spell check and proof read your essay (read your essay aloud to yourself or ask a friend)

• Cover page: Your name, course name, Number of the questions you answered

Stylistic Concerns

• Avoid quoting from lectures

• Avoid “wordiness” (keep it simple)

• You need not avoid writing in the first person: In philosophy YOU are the voice

• No grand introductory sentences please, eg. “Since the beginning of time...”, Philosophers have been debating this question for centuries...”

• CLEAR, SUCCINCT THESIS STATEMENT, EG. “I WILL ARGUE”, “

          **somewhere in first paragraph

                 **followed by a “structural” paragraph

• Refrain from merely summarizing lecture notes: be philosophical or critical

• Demonstrate your understandign of text

• Avoid long bock quotes--if you use them, explain the material in your own words

• Exercise discretion when quoting--make sure the passage is relevant).

Writing as Learning

• Edit your work carefully

• Do not hand in a first draft--Write your paper, let it sit, then return to your writing

• Pretend your audience is not your professor but another classmate who is not in this course

• Read comments and learn for next paper

• Writing is a process where we continuously learn by doing