Philosophy 100

Tips and Hints for Writing Papers,Tests, and Exams

I. General (All Assignments)

For example, don't just say, "Socrates was executed because he annoyed people in Athens" and leave it at that. What was he doing that annoyed people? Which people did he annoy (everyone? some people?)? What passages in the text suggest that these people were annoyed by his behavior? What is the connection between these people's annoyance, and the fact that Socrates was executed? People who are annoying are not always executed! So, what was special about what Socrates did that led to his trial and execution? -- In this way you may find that the fact that Athenians were annoyed at Socrates is not the whole explanation of why he was executed, but only part of a more complex situation.

II. Tests/Exams

III. Papers



The content of the paper should NOT be merely a summary of what the source(s) said; it MUST also involve your own assessment of whether the source you have used has made valid arguments, has provided sufficient or compelling evidence for the points it wishes to make, or has made some other contribution to your understanding of the topic. You should also explain why you felt that the source's arguments or positions were compelling or valid (or not). It's quite all right to disagree with a writer you have read; it's also quite all right to agree, or to have questions. But in any of these cases you must show WHY you agree, disagree, or have questions.

Also, you MUST document your sources properly: for every quotation or paraphrase you use, note the title of the book or article, the date of publication, the author, and the page number. You can use parentheses or footnotes or endnotes to do this. If you quote your source you MUST use quotation marks. Failure to use quotation marks or failure to acknowledge your sources constitutes plagiarism and is subject to punishment under the GMU Honor Code. If you do not know how to cite sources, consult either your instructor, the GMU Writing Center, or the GMU Library's Reference area.



Now, it may also be the case that in your reading of the secondary text on the views of Hobbes/Jefferson, you find you cannot see what the author is referring to, that you cannot see how he or she arrives at these conclusions about the meanings or implications of H's/J's ideas. In that case, you could explain in your paper what in the writings of Hobbes or Jefferson seems to conflict with the secondary author's views, or why what the secondary author says supports his/her argument or interpretation actually does not provide adequate support.

This is not only the way philosophy develops and proceeds; other subjects go through this process as well. For an account of how historians learn and how the subject of history develops, you might like to look at R. Collingwood's The Idea of History as a parallel in the field of history.

And we don't need to know such biographical or historical facts, for purposes of understanding the ideas Plato, or any other philosopher, is showing us. That is, what is important here is the ideas: what they are, what they mean, how if at all they can apply in our lives, what they say about what it is to be human, how they can help us ask questions that will aid in our search for understanding. We each can ask ourselves: what does the Socrates character mean when he says, for example, that he does not know what makes one thing come to be, perish, or exist? What considerations does he say led him to that idea? Do these considerations make sense to us? Why or why not? Does this idea help in our attempts to understand our world, ourselves, our society? How so? Or, what does Descartes mean when he says that the human soul is entirely distinct from and independent of the body? (What could he mean? Why does that seem a likely meaning?) Does this idea make sense to us? Why or why not? Does it give us some important thing to consider in trying to understand our world, our society, ourselves? How so?