Also see a short essay on what it is to study philosophy, and the sites on Help Studying Philosophy, How to Read a Philosophy Paper, How to Revise a Philosophy Draft, and General Tips for Studying Philosophy.

© 1998-2002, Ashley C. McDowell

The following notes are recommendations about how to write a philosophy paper. These may differ from recommendations by your instructor, so make sure you find out what he or she specifically wants as well. I've used this handout in my courses and find it can be helpful, so just think of it as an extra resource.

See below for links to more resources as well.

Introduction

Specific language, grammar and style guidelines

Paper-writing guidelines

The structure of a philosophy paper

The introduction

Explaining the issue

Your argument

Objections to your argument

Conclusion

Citations

A couple of final points

Introduction

If you have written a philosophy paper before, you know that it is different from writing an English or other kind of paper. A philosophy paper should aim at being clear, precise, concise, and true. A philosophy paper should not aim at being interestingly or creatively written. The style of language should be plain and simple. You should use ordinary words and sentence structures. High-flown language only makes a philosophy paper less clear, which makes it worse. In addition, a philosophy paper is argumentative: you are never simply explaining or presenting something, you are constructing an argument for a position. You should always remember that what you are striving for is a clear, easy-to-follow, precise argument that leaves the reader in no doubt about what you are saying - and convinced that you are right. In philosophy, the contents of the writing - the ideas expressed - count for everything. Hence the style should convey those ideas as clearly and accurately as possible, minimizing the risk of misunderstanding. If you're excited by ideas, then you'll find philosophy and philosophical writing exciting. But you should not aim for stylistic excitement or novelty. Say exactly what you mean - no more and no less.

These recommendations are specifically for a philosophy paper, but they would be helpful to anyone writing a persuasive essay of any sort.

Specific language, grammar, and style guidelines:

• Use essay form, not narrative or dialogue.
• Philosophers do not "feel," they think or believe or hold. This is not about what anyone feels is right.
• It is generally best not to write in the first person ("I", "my") and you should never write in the second person ("you", "your"). The exception to the first-person rule is in your introduction and conclusion, when it may be most natural to write in the first person (e.g., "in this paper I will be arguing that...").
• No "B.S." You may be rewarded for this in other fields, and you may think philosophy is a prime field for exercising those skills, but believe me, it is not the case. We are used to cutting to the chase and finding the substance of what people say, and are expert filler-spotters. Consider it a treat not to have to construct B.S. that doesn't look like it - instead, you get to just speak plainly and say what you mean.
• No "love letters." You don't need to tell your instructor that this is one of the most interesting or important topics in the history of philosophy or of humankind, or that the philosopher you're discussing was one of the most interesting and important philosophers in the history of the world, or that throughout time humans have wondered about your topic. None of that is relevant to the substance of the paper, and often what you're saying in the love letter isn't true.
• No insults. That's not philosophy. If you have a criticism, say it as if you were saying it to the person's face. Give reasons for thinking views are wrong. Don't make irrelevant remarks about the intelligence, motivations, or character of the person who holds them.
• Keep the humor to a minimum. Usually it doesn't come off as funny as you hoped it would, and it just makes your paper look less like it should be taken seriously.
• Never use dictionary definitions in a philosophy paper.
• Check your spelling and grammar. Don't rely on a spellchecker or grammar checker on your word processor. They often won't catch it if you say, "this argument proves it's conclusion" instead of "its conclusion", for example. (A neat site on its vs. it's)
• Don't try to avoid the masculine pronoun by using improper grammar. It is not correct to use singular and plural nouns or pronouns to talk about the exact same thing, so you cannot say, for example, "if a person believes in God, they...". 'They' refers to more than one person, while 'a person' refers to one person - so you cannot use both to refer to the same thing. You must either change the whole thing to plural or to singular. To avoid using only masculine pronouns, you can always say "he or she", or you can switch between masculine and feminine, or you can use only feminine pronouns, or you can only use plurals. All of these techniques are commonly used.
• No (or very little) history. When or where a philosopher lived, where she worked, and so forth, are not relevant to a philosophical assessment of her argument.
• Avoid questions. You are supposed to be answering questions, not asking them, even rhetorical ones. If you do ask one, answer it. (Tip: any question beginning "Who's to say…?" is pretty much guaranteed to make your instructor cringe. If you're writing a paper, you're to say.)
• Remember your reader. This is very important. You should be writing for an intelligent but ignorant reader; someone who is not stupid but isn't familiar with the subject of your paper.

Your paper should be well-organized. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the beginning you will sketch the overall structure of the paper, and at the end will summarize its main points. In the middle, you will explain your topic and give an argument for your thesis. Each paragraph should be organized around a single main idea. Each paragraph should be clearly connected with the main point of the paper. Each sentence should be clearly connected with the main idea of the paragraph that contains it.

When you construct arguments, either yours or others', this means presenting the premises (the points that are meant to demonstrate the truth of the conclusion) and the conclusion (the statement for which evidence has been offered). Make sure it is clear how these all fit together, and what the conclusion is. Feel free to just say how all of this works. I can't tell you how many students have said to me that it feels weird to come straight out and say things like "my thesis is…", or "this point supports my thesis because…", but honestly, in philosophy it's best to be crystal clear and obvious.

In the body of the paper, each paragraph should be performing a separate function, each of which is necessary for the paper as a whole. Each paragraph should have one and only one main point, and all of the sentences in that paragraph should be part of presenting that point. Each paragraph should be related to the paragraph before it and the paragraph after it in a natural, logical way. One paragraph should lead to the next because that is the next step in the argument, not because you just happened to switch to some other subject on the same topic. Transitions from one paragraph to the next are tricky; just make sure that when someone left one paragraph and started the next, you can't picture her saying, "wait a minute, what does this have to do with that last point?" Your paragraphs ought to be longer than one sentence, but not so long that they contain more than one main point. Often you must begin a paragraph by stating an idea in a rough or preliminary way and then use the rest of the paragraph to refine it. Again, feel free to come out and say what the main point of the paragraph is and how it relates to other points around it.

Unless it is a very short paper, a philosophy paper should begin with an introductory paragraph. This paragraph in a philosophy paper serves the purpose of motivating the argument and outlining the structure of the paper. You should say briefly what the argument is about, or why it is an issue. Then you should present your thesis: this is the position you will be arguing for. If you say something like, "In this paper I will discuss whether the mind is identical with the brain," you have not stated a thesis; you have not said what the conclusion of your argument will be. If you say, "In this paper I will argue that the mind is not identical with the brain," you have stated a thesis. Then you should describe briefly the way you will argue for this thesis. There are no mysteries in a philosophy paper, and no suspense. Whatever it is you'll be doing in the next few pages, that's what you should be describing in this paragraph.

The body of your paper involves things like explaining others' arguments and presenting reasons in favor of or against various conclusions. It's a good idea to spend some time early in the paper on a thorough explanation of the topic or issue you're going to be giving an argument about, and any existing arguments or positions you'll be discussing later in the paper.

Explaining an argument is doing much more than quoting big chunks of the philosopher or source. Imagine you are explaining the argument to your high-school-aged, smart younger brother or sister. You wouldn't just quote the person; you would put into your own words what the philosopher is trying to say, and how the argument is supposed to work. Of course your language will not be quite as informal as it would be in conversation, but it should be simple and ordinary. Do not use words you would not ordinarily use, unless they are technical philosophical terms necessary for your argument - and you must define those.

The same basic point goes for explaining issues, topics, or positions in philosophy. Try to make your explanation as clear and simple as you can. At the same time, give enough information, examples, and alternative ways of stating difficult points for someone new to your topic to understand you. In philosophy papers for classes, you are generally expected to write as if you were explaining the topic to an intelligent adult with little or no background in academic philosophy. Do not assume that your reader - whom you know is your instructor - knows what you are referring to. Your instructor wants to see that you can explain it adequately, and you don't want to risk his or her operating on assumptions that you do not share about a position.

When you present your own assessment of arguments or your own position on an issue, you must do it in the form of reasons, not impressions or feelings. It is not philosophy to say that you just feel that an argument can't be right, or that a position just agrees with your system of beliefs. That is not providing a reason that would convince someone else, which is the purpose of putting your ideas down in a philosophy paper. You are not writing in your journal so that you know what you think about this topic; you are providing an argument or some reasons that should make the reader think you are right about it. A good philosophy paper not only gives reasons in support of your thesis, but good reasons. Those reasons must be ones that would convince people who do not already accept the conclusion: a philosophy paper does not "preach to the converted". Your reasons should ideally be ones that someone who does not already accept the conclusion will accept willingly; or at the very least, that are less controversial than the conclusion itself.

Sometimes your reasons may be supported by evidence. For example, in ethical arguments you can give evidence that harm or good results from a kind of action, giving support to the conclusion that the action is wrong or right. In such cases, the better your evidence the more convincing your reasons will be.

Sometimes your reasons may be in the form of intuitions. For instance, an intuition that a person wouldn't be the same person without any of her memories could play a role in an argument about personal identity. Intuitions are widely used in philosophy, but they are used with care. The best intuitions to use in a philosophical argument are ones you are confident most people would share. If not, you should give examples, thought experiments, or arguments to try to convince the reader to share your intuition.

There are other kinds of philosophical reasons: one can argue that a conclusion follows logically from certain necessary truths, or that it is most compatible with other positions that most people agree with, or that it is an essential part of an elegant overall theory, or that it is better than any other obvious alternatives. There are negative reasons as well: one can argue against a position by saying that it is inconsistent with facts, or with positions most people agree with, or that it leads to unsatisfactory implications, or that it is too complicated, or that the argument for it is somehow flawed. You will probably best get a feel for the kinds of reasons that can support a philosophical conclusion by studying philosophy.

You should anticipate and respond to any obvious objections. Since your thesis will be controversial, there will be arguments on the other side. Except in a very short paper, don't ignore them. Think of the best arguments someone might offer against your thesis, and respond to those arguments. Remember that someone could criticize your conclusion, your premises, or your evidence.

After you have presented the arguments you need a conclusion. This is the last paragraph of your paper and is basically the same as your introduction, except in the past tense. This is where you allow the reader to digest what you have just done by reminding him of the steps of the argument you have taken him through. You will say, in some form, that the paper has shown that (your thesis) is true by (go through each step your paper went through). I know it's boring but remember that the point is to be totally clear and obvious, not pretty or interesting. What we're trying to get at here is the truth, not entertainment.

In your explanations and arguments, if you draw material from sources, you MUST provide citations. Failing to provide citations constitutes plagiarism, which is cheating. You may use footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations, but the important thing is that you must provide a citation if what you are writing came from somewhere other than your head. If you are taking information from a source but not quoting directly from that source, you MUST still provide a citation. If the quotation spans more than three lines, you should indent the whole quotation, single space it, and separate it from the text before and after it by an extra space. If you are using information from a source besides your assigned materials, you must provide a bibliography with full information about that source. (See my essay on plagiarism and how to avoid it, with links to many sites of help on this topic.)

I highly recommend that you construct an outline before you write any long paper. This will help you see what your main points and subpoints are and make sure the paper has a logical order to it. I also recommend that you read the paper aloud so that you can be sure the phrasing sounds natural and is easy to understand.

Finally, enjoy! Think of all the people who have lived on the edge, and would give anything to have the luxury to do something as purely interesting and pensive as to write a paper about philosophy.... 

For general information on writing well, see The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, or The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer. For information on constructing arguments, see A Rulebook for Arguments by Weston. Online, you can visit the following excellent resources for writing:

http://www.welch.jhu.edu/publish/guides.html - all kinds of writing guides, online resources for writers, style guides, etc.

http://www.ipl.org/ref/RR/static/ref73.00.00.html - Internet Public Library Style & Writing Guide Resources

http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/ - "Guide to Grammar and Style" by Jack Lynch - a comprehensive alphabetical guide, from apostrophes to who/whom, with everything in between.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ - "OWL" writing resources, links, tutorials, lab - tons of help with writing, including information on research and documenting sources. One of the neat things about this site is that it has "labs" where you can practice your writing and grammar skills, or get information on that pesky grammar rule that has always caused you trouble.

In addition to web sites, you can look in style guides such as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, Words Into Type, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing), and The Chicago Manual of Style.

Please also see my website on academic integrity, citations, and plagiarism and how to avoid it. It includes lots of really useful links and sources of information about this important topic.

Also, see my teaching home page, with many more links of help in studying, writing, and doing research in philosophy.