- Write an essay that argues for a thesis relevant to the study of ethics. Your thesis should be succinct; a single sentence will usually suffice. Pick a thesis you can support through textual exegesis and argument. For example: “There are three major weaknesses in Socrates’s claim that ‘…no one in any position of rule, to the extent that he is a ruler, considers or enjoins what is advantageous for himself, but what is advantageous for his subject….’ (342e).” In short papers such as these, the thesis will usually appear in the opening paragraph.
- Tie your argument to one or more of the primary sources we’ve used as course texts. (Please ask me if you don’t know the difference between primary and secondary sources.) You might agree with the text or take issue with it; either way the text should figure prominently and explicitly in your argument. Remember to cite and/or quote specific passages rather than offer undocumented generalities. Of course you may also appeal to works we haven’t read for class, but a primary course text must figure prominently in your paper.
- Write lean prose in which every paragraph on every page, every sentence of every paragraph, and every word in every sentence serve to support your thesis. Avoid fluff of the “Since the dawn of time man has wondered about the nature of good and evil” variety. One way to avoid fluff is to force yourself to document all your claims of empirical fact as well as all quotations. Could you document the claim in quotation marks above? If you can’t, don’t assert it. Similarly, if you find a statement attributed to Nietzsche on an internet-based collection of quotations or in the birthday card, your Uncle Theophrastus sent you, track down the quotation’s original source or don’t use it.
- Include a documentation statement in your paper. MLA or Chicago format. 2000 word count excluding boilerplate such as heading, bibliography, and documentation statement. A single source—whatever primary course text you choose to anchor your argument—suffices. Tie your argument to one or more of the primary sources we’ve used as course texts. The text should figure prominently and explicitly in your argument. Remember to cite and/or quote specific passages rather than offer undocumented generalities. Most of the paper should be spent offering your own argument for your thesis, and correspondingly little of the paper should be spent on summarizing a text or movie.
