Writing Philosophy Papers

Preface. Introduction. 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST. Know the Assignment. Know the Criteria for Evaluation. Schedule Your Time. Types of Philosophy Papers. Philosophy Courses and Sample Paper Topics. What You Will Find in This Book. 2. THESIS DEFENSE PAPERS. Developing a Thesis. The Opening and Closing Paragraphs. The Body of the Paper. Arguing for the Thesis. 3. SPECIAL KINDS OF PAPERS. Compare-and-Contrast Papers. Research Papers. Summary and Explanatory Papers. 4. WRITING AND REVISING THE PAPER. Getting Started. Mapping and Outlining. Rough and Final Drafts. Plagiarism. Responding to Criticism. Writing Style. Word Processing on Computers. 5. LANGUAGE. Precision of Expression. Grammar. Punctuation. Gender. Scholarly Terms and Abbreviations. Spelling. 6. GOOD REASONING. An Introductory Example. Making a Strong Case for Your View. Counterexamples and Generalizations. Two Kinds of Misdirection. Fallacies. Two Special Kinds of Evidence. 7. LIBRARY AND INTERNET RESEARCH. Library Skills. Resources in Philosophy. The Internet. Where to Find Book Online. 8. REFERENCES TO OTHER SOURCES. Bibliography. Documentation with Footnotes or Endnotes. Commentary Notes. Parenthetical Documentation. Other Systems of Documentation. A Special Consideration for Internet Documentation. Appendix A: Editing Your Paper. Appendix B: Sample Paper with Documentation. Appendix C: Formal Patterns of Logic. Validity and Soundness. "If" Statements and Arguments. "All" Statements and Arguments Bibliography. Index.

Zachary Seech is the coordinator of the philosophy program at Palomar College.