Term Paper Assignment

The goal of the term paper is to engage in an original philosophical argument on a topic of your own choosing from any area of philosophy, in a way that continues or applies the philosophical tradition of American philosophy. The papers here are not primarily exegetical, e.g., “What is C.S. Peirce’s account of the nature of abductive reasoning?” or “What is Jane Addams’ critique of charitable giving?” Nor is the goal of the paper primarily critical or dialectical, e.g., to criticize Dewey’s theory of democracy or to argue for the validity of Royce’s idealism over American pragmatism. Rather, they should be first-order philosophical questions that we can answer by thinking with and in the American tradition.

Paper milestones:

  1. Proposal
  2. Abstract
  3. Annotated bibliography
  4. Draft
  5. Final paper

For each milestone you turn in, the first page should include: Your full name, word count, the course number (PHIL 3321), and the semester (Fall 2018). (This information should not be included on subsequent pages. Pages after the first should be numbered, and reasonable formatting, font, font size, etc. should be used.

Proposal

The proposal is a relatively informal attempt to identify a topic and approach for your term paper. It must include:

  1. A description of a general research topic.
  2. An attempt at stating a specific research question within that topic.
  3. A description of how the topic and question are relevant to the American philosophical tradition or how that tradition might distinctively approach that question.
  4. A discussion of some of the philosophical figures that might be relevant to the topic.

For instance, if my general research topic is the philosophy of science, my research question might be, “What is the role of values in science?” I would talk about how, in the American pragmatist tradition, accounting for human experiences and practices is particularly important for epistemological questions, and I would point specifically to the fact that John Dewey makes connections between science and ethics.

At this point, I don’t expect you to have a clear thesis, nor to know exactly how your paper will go. But I do expect that you try to state a clear and legible research question or topic area. Skimming ahead in the textbook will likely help you in producing the proposal.

300-600 words, turned in as a hard-copy in class. You may write two, if you like, to turn in at the same time, no more than 900 words total.

Abstract

An abstract is a short description of a larger work of scholarship. It is in a certain sense a synopsis or summary of a paper, though it is specifically a summary of the argument of the paper. Your abstract must have:

  1. A succinct statement of the thesis of your paper.
  2. An outline of the argument of your paper.

In addition, you might include a brief problem-statement, some background information, and mention of the authors you will rely on. You should not include quotations, citations or references, detailed examples, or any side issues.

Your abstract should be formatted as a single paragraph of 150-250 words.

It is likely that your actual paper will diverge from your original abstract. That is fine. This provides you a plan that helps organize your ideas, research, and writing.

Annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources you plan to use in your paper. Each source is given full citation information, plus an annotation that provides a summary and analysis/evaluation of of the source.
The sources should be major journal articles, chapters in scholarly books, or other appropriately academic resources.
They might include sources that help you define your research question, resources for your argument, or philosophers you will argue against.
Your analysis/evaluation of the sources should focus on explaining how you expect to use the source in your paper.

Your annotated bibliographies must:

  1. Have at least 5 sources.
  2. Provide full citation information, consistently applying some bibliographic style (such as Chicago, MLA, APA, etc.).
  3. Provide an annotation of 125+ words for each source.
  4. Accurately summarize the ideas and argument of the source.
  5. Describe how you expect to use the source in your paper.

Your annotations should not consist of mainly quotations; quotations should be rare if used at all. Summaries should be written in your own words.

Draft

This should be a complete draft of your paper, with a thesis, argument, introduction, and conclusion. It may not be fully developed in every respect, but it should not contain incomplete sentences, bullet-list outlines instead of written prose, incomplete citations or bibliography, or other evidence of being unfinished.

There is no specific word length requirement, but 2000 words is a good target.

Final paper

This should be a polished version of your paper, with a clear thesis, strong arguments, clear explanation of the background of the argument, consideration of potential objections, introduction, and conclusion. The paper should demonstrate self-reflection about the relationship of the argument to the tradition of American Philosophy.

There is no specific word length requirement, but 3500 words is a good target.