PHL273 Paper Proposal Prompt (September 29 at 11:59pm on Quercus)
This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade.
This is the first stage in what will ultimately become a complete philosophy essay. The first thing you should do is read the assignment prompt for the essay that you will eventually be writing (see Quercus for that).
At this stage, your assignment is to write a short proposal in which you explain what your thesis statement will be and give a characterization of your argument. This should be a maximum of two pages (double-spaced).
Your proposal should be comprised of three sections (clearly labelled).
Section 1: Thesis statement
In this section, provide a clear thesis statement (i.e.,the claim you intend to argue for in your paper).
Section 2: Argument
In this section, give a brief outline of how you intend to argue for your thesis. What will you do to convince your reader that your thesis is true? Use numbers or words to explain how things are connected. For instance, you could write:
“First, I will...”, “Then, I will....”
Section 3: Concerns
In this section, you should raise any concerns that you have about your proposal. (For example, you might worry that your thesis is too ambitious or that there is a really good objection to your argument that you don’t know how to deal with.) The point of this section is for you to explain to your TA what kind of guidance you think you need to turn the proposal into a string essay. Think of it as a kind of conversation with the TA. This section is optional (your grade doesn’t depend upon completing it).
Notes:
• I do not expect this to be a polished piece of academic writing. This is not an essay. The point of this assignment is simply to allow you to get feedback on your essay idea before you commit to anything At this stage, what matters most is that your proposal is easy to understand.
• Everything you put into your proposal is provisional; you’re not committing yourself to anything here. The essay you write need not be the one you propose here. After receiving feedback on your proposal, you might want to change your thesis or your argument. That would be fine! The point of this assignment is to receive guidance.
• This assignment is going to be graded on clarity and completeness. That is, what matters (from a grading standpoint) is that your assignment is complete (containing at least sections 1 and 2) and that it is clearly written (i.e., your TA is able to understand what you’re proposing).
• Your TAs will announce office hours for discussing the proposal and the essay.
• If you need an extension, contact me (not your TA).