Writing philosophy papers

Philosophy papers are argumentative essays, and for that reason philosophy papers follow a different kind of format than other forms of writing. The guidelines given here should be helpful no matter whether you're writing a one-page philosophy paper, a three-page paper, a ten-page paper, or even a fifty-page paper or longer.

My own pages on essay writing are as follows, and other links are provided in the table below.

• General guidelines for writing philosophy papers
• A checklist to follow when writing and revising an argumentative essay
• Proofreading
• Things to do your best to avoid
• Plagiarism and how to avoid it

External links on essay writing

• Michael Tooley, "Writing philosophy essays" (and my own guidelines above mirror Tooley's, by the way) (http://spot.colorado.edu/%7Etooley/WritingEssays.pdf)
• Guidelines for writing philosophy papers (Jim Pryor, New York University)
• A guide to writing philosophy essays (Colin Allen, Univ. of Indiana)
• Tips on writing a philosophy paper (pdf file) (Douglas Portmore, Arizona State Univ.)
• Guide to writing a philosophy essay (Ronald de Sousa, Univ. of Toronto)
• Writing Philosophy Papers: A Student Guide (pdf file) (Oregon State Univ.)

An article that's very useful, once you're a little beyond the basics

• Jonathan Bennett and Samuel Gorovitz, "Improving academic writing" (Teaching Philosophy 20 (2), 1997) (http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/ jfb/bengor.pdf)

External links on grammar and mechanics

• A good style guide: "Get into uni," arranged alphabetically: (http://usa.getintouni.com/Free/GrammarStyle/)
• OWL Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling (with exercises) (Purdue University)
• Tina Blue's pages on grammar and mechanics
• Big Dog's Grammar: A Bare Bones Guide to English
• Paul Brians' Common Errors in English Usage
• SAGP—The Self-Appointed Grammar Police (both amusing and helpful)
• Coastal Carolina University Writing Center (and their student resources)
  

Citations and plagiarism

• CCU Student Code of Conduct (pdf file)
• How not to plagiarize (Univ. of Toronto)
• Standard documentation/citation formats (Univ. of Toronto)

Dennis Earl (email: dearl@coastal.edu)

Department of Philosophy and Religion

Coastal Carolina University

P.O. Box 261954

Conway, SC 29528-6054

Last Modified March 22, 2011

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