Topics

Your term paper must engage philosophically with some aspect of Marx’s thought covered in the course. The paper should not require any outside research.

It is suggested that you focus your paper on one of the following topics:

Interpretive: A paper that gives a critical interpretation or explanation of some feature of Marx’s thought. These papers will focus on some problem in the interpretation of Marx’s writings. In particular, one or more specific texts that we have read should be analyzed closely in order to provide an answer to some question about how we should understand Marx’s thought. These papers should be focused and specific, not broad overviews. Such papers may naturally involve some evaluative discussion of the limits or aptness of Marx’s thought, but the primary focus should be understanding rather than evaluation. A simple thesis like “Marx was wrong/right about X” will not do.

Application: A paper that applies Marx’s ideas to make an original argument about an issue of contemporary interest. Such papers will still involve close engagement and reconstruction of Marx’s ideas, but will do so less for the purpose of specifically of understanding Marx’s philosophy for its own sake, and more for the purposes of showing how Marx can help us understand contemporary problems. This paper will use the reconstructed ideas to present a positive solution to some philosophical problem of contemporary interest, or present arguments in favor of some certain contemporary philosophical view, or present a criticism of some such view. Again, these papers should be focused and specific.

You are permitted but not required to refer to additional texts by Marx, secondary sources, or related works. Why outside research is not required, proper citations and references are.

Stages

1. Topic Proposal
   • Must include whether you propose to do an interpretive or application essay (or something else), the question your paper hopes to answer (with brief explanation), and which text(s) of Marx you plan to focus on.
   • You are encouraged but not required to include a tentative thesis statement.
   • Due 3/21
2. Outline draft
   • A 400-500-word outline of your paper.
   • Every bullet point in the outline should be a complete sentence that is the kind of statement that would appear in the paper itself. It should not be a topic outline, nor should the sentences describe plans, e.g., it should not contain sentences like, “In the next section I will give an analysis of the opening of The Communist Manifesto.” Rather it should contain the main claims, sub-claims, and grounds of your argument.
   • Due 4/18

Final Paper Specifications

1. Must contain a clear, easily identifiable, declarative thesis.
   • Not “In this paper I will explore…”
   • Rather: “In this paper I will argue that…”
2. The points discussed should be specific and supported by textual evidence and careful argument.
3. Deeper, more focused discussions are generally preferable to broad overviews.
4. Must consistently follow a major manual of style (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) for grammar, citations, and bibliography.
5. Paper must have a descriptive title.
6. 2,500-4,000 words in length.

Grading Criteria: Effective clarification of a philosophical issue, Makes use of multiple sources, Constructs an original argument, Reconstructs an author’s argument, Creativity or insightfulness

Final Deadline: 5/6 via MyCourses/D2L.