Methodical recommendations for writing of philosophical essay

1. Making a Point

Start moving towards the idea of a journal article. The point of a journal article is to convince people of a point; it is not to cover the ground. So take your question, and argue for a particular answer to it. Reading and understanding is necessary for the answer to be mature and not half-baked, but don't try to summarize the reading.

2. Style

The general stylistic principle is: don't hide! Here are some particular applications of that principle:

• Don't fill up the pages with irrelevant stuff (history, biography, overlong quotation), trying to avoid facing the issue: work out what's difficult about an issue, and try to deal with it.

• Don't try to skate quickly over an argument, in the hope that nobody will notice that it's no good: lay out the steps as clearly as you can, so that it will be obvious if it is no good-and then make sure it's not no good.

• Don't use words you don't really understand, in the hope that you'll get some ill-understood credit from them: work out what you think, in your own terms.

• Don't get autobiographical (“Personally, I feel ...”), in the hope that at least nobody will deny that this is what you feel: try to produce arguments which will convince anyone (or anyone reasonable).

In short: make sure your argument is good enough to stand, without concealment or adornment.

Two things about level and who to be writing for:

• Don't write just for the person you expect to mark the essay.

• Write as if for one of your peers who just happen not to have dealt with this topic.

3. Referencing and bibliography

Mention only those works whose views you explicitly consider, but when you do that, do the referencing properly. Make sure your bibliography includes full publication details of everything you refer to. But do not include things you don't explicitly consider.

4. Plagiarism

You shouldn't even get close to plagiarism. You will have an extremely unpleasant time if you're caught plagiarizing. If a substantial proportion of the essay is plagiarized, it will receive a zero grade. Just argue, for yourself, for an answer to the question.

Developer ___________ Bozzhigitova M.M.

Considered at the meeting of the Department of Philosophy

Proceedings № _1_____ from «__28____» ___08_______2016__ .

Head of the Department of Philosophy ___________ Garifolla Yesim

Chairman of educational-methodical

commission of the Faculty

___________

F ENU 703-08-14. Course methodical-training complex. The fourth edition