Philosophy 2220, Paper Grading Standards

Read all of the following carefully. Before you turn your paper in, go through all of this make sure it complies with my standards.

Formatting:

Failure to comply with any of the following will result in a 1/3 grade reduction (e.g. from a B+ to B).

The papers will be graded anonymously. To facilitate that:
* The paper should be turned in as a file (see below), with the following file name: [your student id number].doc (or .docx)
* ID page: after the last body page, add a new page with nothing on it but your name; put your name at the bottom of this page.
* Do not put your name, or any other identifying marks, anywhere on the paper except for your ID page.

* The paper should be single spaced and
* 3 pages maximum (not including the ID page). That's using an 11 or 12 point font and 1" margins.
* Please submit by email.
* ALL PAPERS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN .DOC OR .DOCX FORMAT (this is the format used by Microsoft Word, but any other word processor can save in this format). If you are not sure how to save something in these formats, or what that means, please ask me or someone else who is likely to know. Please send papers to my bigfatgenius.com address (see syllabus). If I have to ask you to resubmit your paper in the correct format, or to the correct address, it may be marked late.
* When submitting, please use the subject specified in the paper assignment.
* Thank you!

Content & Style:

* No introduction or conclusion is necessary (in fact, they are strongly discouraged, see below).
* Your writing should be clear, grammatically correct, and have correct spelling. By "clear" I mean that it should be easy for me to tell what you are trying to say; if I have to struggle to understand a sentence, whether because of your grammar or spelling or writing style, this is a problem. It is much better to write simply and clearly than fancily and unclearly.
* You can use "I" all you want, and feel free to address me directly. I don't care if your writing is somewhat informal, although it should not be very slangy or ungrammatical, should be properly capitalized, and should contain nothing like "what r the reasons 4 us to criticize this premise?"
* Organize the parts of your paper in the order given in the assignment (Part 1 first, then part 2, etc.). Make it clear which part is which.
* My plagiarism policy is this: You must give a citation for any idea, phrase, or series of sentences that you got from someone else, unless you got them from our class discussion. If you use phrases or sentences from someone else, put them in quotation marks and cite them. I don't much care what citation format you use, as long as I can find your source relatively easily based on your citation. If you have any questions about what should be cited, or quoted, and how to do so, please ask me. Any violation of this policy will result in a 0 on the paper at least, and possibly a F for the class.
* Any quotation that is a sentence or longer must also be explained in your own words. However, please note that you should not use quotes unless absolutely necessary; see "Overall" under "Grading," below.

Grading:

These are the standards for an A paper.

Part 1: (Your argument for your thesis)
60% of the paper grade
1. Clearly states your thesis, which is either one of the theses listed in the paper assignment, or has been approved by me (your thesis is the "If... then..." sentence that you are arguing for; see the paper assignment for what your options are). Your thesis should be the first thing you say in your paper.
2. It is easy to understand what your thesis means; any terms that might be vague, ambiguous, or unclear are defined or explained early in your paper.
3. Clearly gives good reasons to believe that your thesis is true such that:
a) If these reasons were true, your thesis would have to be true.
b) These reasons establish that your thesis is true in every case that it covers. E.g. if your thesis were "Whenever X is true, abortion is wrong," then you would have to show that, in every case where X is true, abortion is wrong.
c) This argument is not circular: none of the reasons you give to believe your thesis are basically a restatement of your thesis.
d) Your reasons are clearly stated and unambiguous.
e) The reasons you give are either uncontroversially true OR you clearly and persuasively explain why a reasonable person could accept them as true (you don't need to persuade me that they ARE true, just that they are reasonable to believe).
f) Any terms that might be vague, ambiguous, or unclear are defined or explained.
g) There are either no obvious facts that contradict what you say OR you argue against any such fact.
h) A significant aspect of the reasons given is uniquely your work (not just reciting something gone over in class or in the readings).
[A good way to think about this section is as follows: if you cut out part 2 and 3 of this paper, what you say in section 1 should, on it's own, make your thesis seem reasonable to believe]
4. The discussion in this section addresses any ideas from class or the reading that are obviously relevant to your argument. If there are any objections or problems with your view that we discussed in class, or were in the readings, or that are obvious given what was said in class or in the readings, you explain why they don't show that your thesis is incorrect.
a) If your argument looks a lot like one we discussed in class, agrees with an argument we talked about in class, or goes against an argument we talked about in class, you must point that out. If this might make your thesis or argument seem flawed, explain why it should not be seen as a problem.
b) The responses to these worries/objections must be clear and reasonable.
[To really understand how part 1 will be graded, imagine that I only read part 1, and not parts 2 and 3. Would what you say in part 1, on it's own, make your thesis seem reasonable to believe? If so, that's a good part 1. If not, it's not.]

Part 2:
20% of your paper grade
1. Gives ONE (no more, no less) counter-example to your thesis. Since your thesis is an "If... then..." sentence, this must be a specific example of situation where the antecedent of your thesis is true, and the consequent false.
2. This example is significantly different from any we discussed in class.
3. You clearly explain why this example is a case where the antecedent of your thesis is true.
4. You clearly explain why this example is a case where the consequent of your thesis is false.
5. If what you said here were true, your thesis would have to be false.
6. You use a SPECIFIC EXAMPLE (although this may be hypothetical), and don't simply say that there must/may be an example.
7. Plausibly explains why a reasonable person might believe what you say here about this example - that is, makes it plausible that this really is a case where your thesis is false.
8. Please note that this counterexample should seem reasonable to someone who has read part 1 of your essay. I don't mean that someone who accepted everything you say in part 1 should also accept this counterexample (that would be ridiculous, since they contradict each other), but if there is some very plausible fact that you bring up in part 1 that totally makes part 2 seem ridiculous, you should say something in part 2 about why that really isn't a problem for your counterexample.
9. The example is not obviously a bad example - I cannot easily see that it is irrelevant, or that it is not a counter-example.

Part 3:
20% of your paper grade
1. Defends your argument from the counter-example. What this means is that you show that your thesis, and the reasons you give for it, are true, despite the counter-example from part 2.
a) You may not change your thesis in this section, or give a new argument for your thesis. So your defense here must do one of the following:
b) Show that the example given in part 2 is actually irrelevant to your thesis: it actually is not a case where the antecedent of your thesis is true.
c) Show that the example given in part 2 doesn't falsify your thesis, because it is actually a case where the consequent of your thesis is true. If you do this, do not just reiterate what you say in part 1. Rather, apply your ideas to the specific situation you bring up in part 2 - explain why your thesis is true even in this situation in a way that could reasonably convince someone who brought up the counterexample from part 2.
2. Makes the above claims seem reasonable and plausible - gives support for them so that I believe that a reasonable person could accept your defense of your thesis.
3. The above goes beyond just contradicting what was said in part 2; you give an actual argument.
4. Your defense of your thesis does not overlook any points made in part 2; if you gave some support for the counter-example, and what you say here should not be false given that support.
5. Everything here is clear; any terms that might be vague, ambiguous, or unclear are defined or explained.
* Please note: if the counter-example given in part 2 is obviously irrelevant or extremely implausible, then you cannot get an A on this section. You can only get an A on this section for giving a reasonable response to a reasonable counter-example.

Overall:
(the criteria in this section applies to the entire paper; you don't gain points for conforming to it, but you can lose points if you do not)
* Any discussion of ideas from class, or use of terms from class, is correct and accurate.
* Every sentence is clear the first time I read it.
* I understand the purpose of every sentence and paragraph in context, and why you are discussing that at that point.
* No significant grammar/spelling/word choice errors.
* Please note that I have a policy of not reading quotations. If I cannot understand some point of your without having to read a quote, you are doing something wrong when writing. You should only use quotes when absolutely necessary, and the only thing quotes are necessary for is to prove that someone said something you are attributing to them. This should not play much of a role in this paper. You still need to cite appropriately, as discussed above. And don't use others' words without quoting them.
* No irrelevant information or discussion.
* I very strongly prefer that you do not use rhetorical questions in your paper. (A rhetorical question is a question asked in the paper but never explicitly answered)