write a comparative analysis of the assigned Plato and Aristotle readings. It is recommended that you focus your comparative reading on one or two ideas from the texts and that you use textual evidence, with proper citation, in order to support your argument.

Thirteen Points on How to Write an Undergraduate Philosophy Paper

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least our questions, tints:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this iniage fresh enough to hare an effect?

And he will probably ask himself tiro more:
1. Could I put it more shortly?

2. Haire I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

George Orwell "Politics and English Language,- A Collection of Essays (San Diego: HBJ, 1981)

Resist technical jargon. Long sentences and big words are not stylistically desirable. Moreover, they often confuse you and your reader. It is much better to write with a style and vocabulary with which you yourself are comfortable (although papers should not be transcripts of how you 121114 There are those who disagree, but in my experience. clarity of style and voice usuallv translates to clarity of thought and meaning. Please In,: to remember the following points:

1. All papers should be neatly typed. Include your name on the paper and number the pages. Cover pages and extra pages are a waste of space; they are not necessary.

2. Stick closely to your topic, and stay. focused. A careful exploration of one issue, no Matter how narrow, is often more deli rifle than aiming at breadth

3. Structure your paper around a thesis yeti intend to defend. Forget (for now) what you have been told in creative writing classes and believe me when 1 say stylistically boring clear papers are better in theory courses than stylistically ambitious endeavors.

It is OK to begin a paper with something like:

Kant's account or historical progress is implausible and therefore threatens his theory of enlightenment. In this paper., 1 will argue that Kant ...

It was a stormy night, and trouble was on its way. His mind light years away, Freud scratched his chin, tightened the be or his robe, and stared into the rain. On the desk lay the Bible, with cigar ashes on it

4 Organize your thoughts so that your discussion supports your thesis. It is always helpful to make an outline in advance, listing the points you want to make and the order in which to present them., be sure your thesis, and your arguments for it, are evident in your final version.

5 Whenever possible, give reasons for the claims you make. Your paper will be judged largely on your mastery of the material and the strength of your arguments. Strive for clarity of thought and expression.

6 Address possible objections to the view you are supporting. Bring up to possible criticism of your position and respond to it. You don't, need to take up every possible counierargument, you can choose one or two of the critiques you find most interesting or most pressing.

7. In a scholarly paper you should be dealing in arguments, not opinions. Arguments are a form of communication! you want your readers to understand you, and this often means looking for some common ground to serve as a basis.

8 Write with a critical reader in mind, someone who is not initially sympathetic to your thes-is, but who will listen with an open mind.

9 The writers we read may occasionally sound bizarre, but the fact that they have been published means someone has taken them seriously. Try to do the same.

10 if you want to attribute a view to someone we have read, make sure you interpret them carefully. On controversial points, it helps to cite textual evidence. either by quotation or by giving the page numbers of the relevant text in parenthesis or in a footnote. You must indicate when you are quoting or paraphrasing from someone else's work and you must cite texts and page numbers. This is particularly true for secondary material. Refer to some accepted manual for appropriate ways to cite (MLA, Chicago, etc.). Any generally accepted style is okay, just stay consistent.

11 Acknowledge other debts as well. The general rule is that whatever is not a product of your on brain should be acknowledged. [These notes have been inspired by similar notes for political theory writing by Mika LaVaque-Manty (University of Michigan)].

12 Quotes can be helpful, especially when you attribute a claim or a position to some author. However, do not overdo it. The paper should be by and large in your on words.

13 Read over your paper after you have %mitten it (it often helps to do this out loud). Make sure you addressed the topic and supported your initial claims. (Sometimes it ma.kes sense to write your intro last: Then you know what you have been able to argue for in the paper . Rewrite any parts which might be difficult to understand. Remember, you will be only given credit for what you actually say, not what you intended to say (but didn't). We can read your words, not your mind. No one ca.n tell you are thinking clearly if you are not writing clearly. Correct ors in grammar, spelling and typing. Using, a !..ipell-checker is reccivirnended, but riot enough: proofread! Grammar, syntax and vocabulary mailer.

Do not forget Orwell's "Politics and English Language"

1 Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print

2 Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3 if it is possible to cut a word out, ahvays cut it out.
4 .Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5 Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word 61,voll ran think of an everj,day English equivalent.
6 Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These rules sound elementaiy, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the stale now fashionable.