Term Paper
Length: Five pages. That means 4½ to 5½ typed, single-sided, double-spaced
pages, with one inch margins, in a font equivalent in size to 12 point
Times New Roman. Title page, end notes, and bibliography, if any, do not
factor into the page count. No binders or folders; stapled.
The Honors paper is negotiable, but normally ten pages (9 ½ to 10 ½ pages).
Due Dates:
Proposal 9:00am, June 20, 2016.
Draft 9:00am, June 27, 2016.
Completed Term Paper: 9:00am, July 5, 2016.
Grade 20% of course total.
What’s the Point? To find out if you’re getting the philosophical way of thinking.
Topics: Discuss an issue by debating a philosopher.
Normal people: Pick one of the thinkers in Sophie’s World. Explain several of of his views. Say whether you agree or disagree with him, and why. Express and defend your own view on those same topics.
Honors: what you and I jointly agree upon.
Sources: There is no certain number of sources required. This depends on your topic. The normal-personpaper must cite Sophie’s World.
A paper will typically have at least three to six citations, in order to get the thinker’s various views out. Usually it will be helpful to cite an encyclopaedia or dictionary (tertiary source) for background on the thinker, a journal article or book for perspective (secondary source), and the philosopher’s own work (primary source).
As for online sources, only those accessible through the El Centro College library website’s philosophy page are acceptable—for instance, Wikipedia is not a–n acceptable source. All sources must be credited; failure to do so is plagiarism.
Style Guide Use the Chicago (I prefer Chicago Humanities to Chicago author date)
style of formatting and citations. The shorter form of this is called
Turabian.
Plagiarism: acting as if something is your idea when it is someone else’s is not tolerated, regardless of intent. Paginate, and put your last name in the header.
For further details, see my paper writing guide in ecampus.
Examples:
A quote from Sophie’s World:
As the philosopher tells Sophie, “Plato’s point was that the relationship
between the darkness of the cave and the world beyond corresponds to the
relationship between the forms of the natural world and the world of
ideas.”1
1 Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie’s World. New York: FarrarStraussGiroux, 2007, p. 90.
A paraphrase from Sophie’s World:
Plato asks us to imagine a cave in which many people have lived their whole lives. The inside of the cave is lit by a fire, which is behind the people, all of whom are chained down in a row at the back of the cave. Since they are seated, fastened, and facing the back wall of the cave, they don’t know that the fire is behind them. They have never seen it.2
2 Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie’s World. New York: FarrarStraussGiroux, 2007, pp. 39-40.
A quote from the online Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy:
As Allan Silverman says, the “Cave [is] arguably the most famous analogy in the history of philosophy.”3
3 Silverman, Allan. “Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology,” at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-metaphysics, section 13. Accessed October 19, 2015.
See the library’s tutorials, copies of Turabian or the Chicago guide, or the “Essays and Term Papers” QuickStudyGuide for further assistance. The Learning Center writing tutors and the library staff are happy to help as well.
You are finally responsible for a professionally-presented paper.
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