Joe Lau

Essay writing guidelines

Writing a good philosophy paper is not easy. In fact, compared with other school assignments in the University, this is probably one of the most intellectually difficult tasks you will face. However, if you are willing to spend time and effort, you will gradually acquire better writing and presentation skills that can be applied to other areas.

General guidelines

Common mistakes to avoid

IMPORTANT: Don't make these mistakes, or you will be penalized!

Citation

A citation is an entry containing publication information about a piece of work, such as the name of the author and the title of the publication. In your essays, you should provide citations of the work you discuss and present them in the right format.

  • Unless you are told otherwise, use the American Psychological Association citation format.
  • Some useful web sites
    • http://ottobib.com/ - Generates the correct citation for you if you have the ISBN code of a book.
    • http://citationmachine.net/ - Fill in the relevant information about a book, article, etc. to generate the correct citation format.
  • Many terms have a technical meaning (e.g. physicalism, dualism) and an ordinary dictionary might not give you an accurate explanation.
  • The Wikipedia is a useful starting point for some topics, but the quality of the writing varies a great deal. You should not take it to be authoritative and generally it is not a good idea to use its articles as your reference source.

General reminders

  • Remember to write down your name, university id, email address, mobile phone number and the name of your faculty. If you have a tutor, put down the name of your tutor as well.
  • Check for grammatical and spelling errors.
  • Avoid handing in your assignment just after you have finished. Get it done a few days before the deadline and read it again before you hand it in. It is easier to spot mistakes with a fresh eye.
  • Save paper and avoid using a cover sheet.
  • Staple all loose sheets securely.
  • ACCIDENTS - Computers can break down, disks can get stolen, buses can be late, printers can run out of ink, etc. Finish up your paper early and make backups of your files. Do not wait until the last minute to finish up and hand in your paper.
  • Every time when assignments are due there are students who hand in late, e.g. traffic jam, their friends forgot, etc. Bear these in mind and plan ahead.

Style

Good advice from Strunk and White The Elements of Style

@Young writers often suppose that style is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is made palatable. Style has no such separate entity; it is nondetachable, unfilterable. The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style--all mannerisms, tricks, adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.@

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