I have been writing philosophical paper/essays more than you can imagine unless you are a professor of philosophy. If that’s the case, kindly disregard my arrogance it’s the unavoidable hazard of occupation of being the expert of philosophy for 7 years. Writing a philosophy essay is far different from writing a perfect academic essay, something I wish I had learned when I was in my first college year.
I was never a student of philosophy at school, but I always performed well in creative writing and English courses. I used to think that writing a philosophical essay is the same as writing any other essay and it would be an easy task.
But I was wrong.
The first philosophical essay I ever wrote was for PHL 100, an essay that I hand over to my Teacher Assistant which I just completed the night before. But I remember I was feeling very content with the standard of my work exactly because I managed to pull off a 1500-word essay.
My illogical contentment was all in vain when I got my result with grading D+, also known as Doomed+.
No matter what, that D+ taught me a lot of important lessons. First, I learned what a philosophy paper example is. The other important thing it taught me was how to find a method to get your essay done in a single night and still ace it. Now, don’t judge me on this, I am not saying that you should leave your essays for the last day and make them realize that you’ve done above-average work. I request you to stop fooling yourself because they deserve better, and so do you.
Anyways
There are some specific strategies and tricks that you don’t necessarily hear in your classroom, teachers don’t speak that out loud. There are guidelines that very abruptly announce certain personal. And educational damage to those students who didn’t remember to use quotation marks when writing a quote from philosophical scholars.
You should carry a handout with a compilation of strategies and tips that you can instantly cite while progressing on your essay to make sure that you are going on the right path. And This indicates something not important, because of some uncertainty, you end up doing the essay the night before.
You might have had essays already pending that week, or maybe you’re just a person who delays while binge-watching the new Netflix series.
Looking for ways on how to write a philosophy paper? Keep reading the blog.
Whatever your cause is, I have come up with a solution. Here are some useful practical tips that you can use to compose a philosophical essay:
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You Need A Crystal Clear Thesis
A thesis is to philosophical paper is same like hot water to a teabag- all important. That’s what makes the essay come to life. Your readers should be able to identify within the first 5 lines of your essay, what the rest of the essay is going to be. In simple words, your thesis is the central part of the whole essay.
It should discuss what and whom you are targeting for, or against. Sentences like the reason of my essay are to, or in my essay, I will point out that, these will tell your readers where you or an essay writer is going.
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The Question Is To Slip, Or Not To Slip
The answer to which is an absolute no! Never begin your essay formatting method with extra generalized or insignificant sentences like “Since the beginning of the time” … or Plato was by far the greatest intelligent man ever exist on this earth. Professors usually call these sorts of sentences slip or fluff, because there is no point in using these sentences in your essay.
You need to remind yourself that teachers and the assistant of teachers have a huge number of essays to grade, they would appreciate it if you keep it short. The less annoyed you make your professor, the better the grades you’ll receive.
Looking for sources to learn write an article? You can click on the link attached.
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Starting Sentences Are Important
Every paragraph in your essay is going to have a beginning sentence that hooks up the readers. And which gives readers the idea about what the essay will be about. Just like when it comes to thesis, it explains your whole essay. The main reason for the beginning sentence is to deliver the goal to your audience.
- Don’t Start Sentences With So, But, And, and Then
Talking about the starting sentences, one of the most basic and worst mistakes people make. While writing a philosophical paper is that they keep repeating the same phrase in each sentence. Sometimes, I’ll read some stories like, “Then he decided to marry her. And they lived happily ever after”.
Students, the majority of the time, will start their sentences like this, which indicates that they are unnecessarily dragging the sentence. The easy way to get rid of this problem is to exclude which of these starting words you use in your sentence. Always start your sentence with a good word.
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You Require A Well-Structured Pathway
If a thesis describes to your readers what your essay will be about, a clear road map. Or pathway educates your readers about how you’re going to place your thesis. There should be the mention of every sharp detail, the several elements of your paper. And how they help each other to support the ending.
A road map is always discussed after the end of the thesis. It all depends on the argument you present and how plan to pour it out. Your roadmap should be concise and simple and should have more steps I’ve just visualized. The point is to ensure you have full clarity in making the reader know what step you are going to take in your paper.
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Use Of Examples
Whenever necessary, try to add your real-life examples as proof for the arguments. Rather than just sponging off the textual examples. This shows grasp, that you have much better learning and understanding of what you have written. And that’s what the clear expectations of your professors are.
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Avoid Bigger Drops Of Text
This is common sense, but it’s natural to be used too while composing and not remembering to space out your essay into small and neat paragraphs. Not only smaller paragraphs will look appealing to your readers, but they will make your essay properly arranged. Every paragraph in your essay must align with your road map.
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Add Citations, Whenever Doubtful
If you are not accurate about something you have ever paraphrased or quoted deserves a reference, then just cite it! Students have never been penalizing for referencing a sentence that doesn’t need a formal character. Always be wrong on the side of the warning.
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More Arguments, Less Description
All the essays have a specific word limit. You don’t require to spend a 1,500 or 2,000-word limit in just rewriting what your text says. The professor does not require you to read the duplicate of your textbook, he wants you to make a point and an argument and defend it bravely from every angle.
Philosophy essays are like argumentative essays, not informational ones. Supply just sufficient information to make sense of your essay, the others should be just arguments.
Want to know some of the topics in philosophy? Click on the link below.
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Counter-Attacking Arguments
There’s nothing more a professor likes the most more than a counter-argument! Describing your argument and choosing evidence to assist it is insufficient, but also supports your philosopher. Anyways, if you can also supply the proof against your argument, and show that your original argument still masters despise having opposite proof. After that, you’ve surely become successful in proving that you are well-aware of your stuff.
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The Word Count Is Not The Limit, It’s Just A Guideline
Your professor will never mark you down just because you fall short of writing 150-300 words. Or when you have exceeded the 200-400 words marks. Commonly, professors share proper guidelines when it comes to the word count and how many words are sufficient for you to successfully defend your argument.
If you feel a little short of your specific word count, but feel confident like you’ve tremendously defended your argument, then why worry about that. Never feel like you have to adjust more words, or make your sentences repetitive just to reach the word count.
These were some of the important practical tips to compose your philosophical paper.
There at times comes an uncertainty where you can feel stuck, now I’ll tell you what to do if you ever got stuck in types of writing styles the philosophical paper.
Your paper format doesn’t necessarily always have to supply the solution to a problem, a straight yes or no can be the perfect answer. Many great philosophical papers don’t offer straight yes or no answers. The majority of the time, they have that argument that certain perceptions of the questions just require to be a hurdle.
Sometimes they argue that specific answers and topics are very easy to some questions, they won’t properly function. Hence, if these papers are accurate, the question will be more difficult to answer than we have imagined. These are all valuable and important outcomes.
So it’s completely fine to ask such questions and raise errors in your paper even if you cannot come up with the appropriate answers to all of them. You can leave some questions unanswered in the end. But make it easy to understand to your readers that you are doing this on purpose. And you should have a say on how this question should be answered, and what makes the question so important and justifiable to the issue.
Moreover,
If there is anything unsure to you, don’t shine it over. Pay attention to what is unclear to you. Propose several different methods to understand the point of view. Elaborate why it’s not understandable and which of the statements are incorrect.
If you are testing both the positions and after the examination you can’t decide between them, it’s totally fine. It’s perfectly fine to speak that their weaknesses and strengths seem to be forcibly quite balanced. But observe that this claim needs a reason and proper explanation, just like every other. You should attempt to give reasons for this claim that may be convincing for someone who thinks that the two opinions are fairly balance.
Sometimes, as you’re composing, you’ll see that some of your arguments are overhype and not as good as you thought. You may come up with some disapproval to your opinion to which there is no legit answer. Don’t worry. If there’s an issue with your argument paper that you cannot mend or fix, try to find out why you can’t make it right. It’s okay to replace your thesis with one you can easily defend.
Conclusion Of Philosophical Paper
In the end, we all understand that everyone makes mistakes. However, it’s the people who follow the genuine structure of writing that are easy to accept.
If your piece of writing frustrates your readers, or if your writing is too inconsistent to read for someone, then nobody would like to read that stuff. If they don’t find your work amusing, they’ll give up on your writing.
Writing is one of the great abilities to express oneself ideas and thoughts in a very structured way. Without this basic skill, humanity would be just like Middle Ages. So try to write like a scholar, then a peasant.
I hope this blog helped you and your students.