5 page essay analyzing another essay

5 page essay analyzing another essay
Explication paper assignment – PHIL 1120.00 6 For this assignment (worth 20% of the final grade), you will do the following: – Choose an essay , either “The Case for Animal Rights” by Tom Regan , “All Animals Are Equal” by Peter Singer, or “The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research” by Carl Cohen. It must be an essay you did not write about for the in -class essay . – Reread (preferably more than once) your chosen essay , take reading notes , and consult your class notes . – In 3-5 pages double spaced 12 pt. font (more is permitted, if necessary), give a succinct , accurate , and charitable explanation of your chosen essay’s arguments. Your job is to explain in detail and develop the implications of your chosen essay. You are not to evaluate the essay; you are to analyze it. In other words, you are not saying whether you agree with the essay or if it’s good; you are explaining in your own words what the author is arguing for and how the argument is made. You will have to go into some d etail, so it is clear to the reader how the argument is being made, but not so much detail that you’re simply restating what was already said in the essay. Your essay should look like this: • Introduction : Use this first paragraph to introduce the text and b riefly describe what the author is arguing for. Don’t go into too much detail or be overly verbose. • Body : Describe the argument being made in the order it is presented in the original essay (the bulk of the paper). This will include the premises of the argument and how the author defends them. It will also include how the author responds to objections and other views. • Conclusion : =n one paragraph, conclude with the author’s conclusion, briefly reviewing the steps to arrive there (i.e., sum up what happen ed in the body and make it clear why the conclusion logically follows from the body). Quote the text only when necessary . Use textual evidence to ‘prove’ that you are characterizing the author’s position accurately. Quotes are not self -explanatory . When you quote the author, you must explain what the quote means and its impli cations. No bibliography is necessary but use in -text citations with page numbers. You do not need to consult any outside sources. The goal of this assignment is for you to demonstrate that you understand the argument you’re analyzing and that you can articulate it in writing in an understandable way. Yo u’re basically doing what we do in class, just in written form. Spelling and grammar matter . Excessive mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and grammar will negatively impact your grade. I recommend visiting the CAPS Writing & Language Center for assistance on your essay. Note on ChatGBT and other AI : Besides demonstrating your mastery of a philosophical text, t he point of writing an essay such as this is to help develop your analytic, interpreti ve, and verbal skills . These are all skills which will benefit you in your future coursework and careers. If you use an AI to write your essay, you will deprive yourself of this opportunity. Additionally, it is quite obvious to a reader when an AI has been used to write an essa y. The tone and style of AIs ar e significantly different from human writers. If I suspect you of using an AI on the essay, I reserve the right to ask you to meet with me to discuss your essay in detail. If you choose not to meet with me or you are unable t o defend your essay in conservation, I will give you a grade of zero for this assignment. A physical copy of your paper is due in class on Tuesd ay April 18 . (Note discrepancy with updated schedule of readings) Plagiarism on this assignment will result in a grade of zero. Grading Rubric A – The essay accurately and charitably describes the author’s arguments with little to no spelling or grammar errors. Attention is paid to the argumentative moves made by the author . B – The essay grasps the essential parts of the author’s arguments, with a few flaws in describing them. Few spelling or grammar errors. C – The essay describes the general features of the argument, but has some major flaws, including failing to include important aspects of the argument and making excessive spelling and gramma r mistakes. D – The essay misses most or many of the crucial features of the argument. The essay has a level of spelling and grammatical mistakes that makes it difficult to read. F – A failing grade will result from not completing the assignment or writing about something other than the assigned topic. I will accept late papers, but you will lose a letter grade for each day it is late. After the third day late, you will get a zero on the assignment. A+ – 100% A – 95% A- – 92% B+ – 88% B – 85% B- – 82% C+ – 78% C – 75% C- – 72% D+ – 68% D – 65% D- – 62% F – 0-59%
5 page essay analyzing another essay
Writing a philosophy paper Philosophy verbs for describing someone’s argument: maintains, asserts, states, contends, holds, implies, defends, contradicts, puts forth, shows, posits, refutes, denies, observes, proceeds to, explains, rejects E.g., “Amber Carpenter maintains that fables are one of the important reasons Indian thinkers never insisted on a hard distinction between human and non -human animals.” Aim to be precise and concise . Without sacrificing accuracy or completeness, s ay exactly what you need to say to convey the information in the minimum number of words. Be deliberate in your writing. Each sentence and paragraph are important and as such should be deliberately placed and constructed. Write in the present tense when discussing an author’s position: “Carl Cohen argues that animals do not have rights.” NOT: “Carl Cohen argued that animals do not have rights.” Outline your essay before writing : for example (this is just an example outline – yours shouldn’t necessarily look like this if you are writing on Regan): A – Introduction – Tom Regan in his “The Case for Animal Right s” argues that… I – introduce topic of discussion II – first thing he argues III – next thing he argues IV – next thing he argues Etc. B – Body I – first thing he argues a – details b – details c – details II – next thing a – details Etc. III – next thing a – details Etc. C – Conclusion I – briefly recap major arguments II – conclude with author’s conclusion or the implications of the argument (the position they argued for) and how the ‘steps’ you described in the Body support that conclusion Th e idea behind outlining is to get your essay to “flow.” Each paragraph should flow naturally into the following one, creating an arc the reader can follow. Each sentence should flow into the next as well, so your essay does not “jump” from one point to ano ther. Introduction example: In “Illuminating Community: Animals in Classical Indian Thought,” Amber Carpenter observes that, unlike in the Western philosophical tradition, classical Indian thinkers did not insist on a hard distinction between humans and n on -humans. She contends that the dominant reason for this is not straightforwardly , as one might assume, the rebirth cosmology which was the backdrop of cultural and intellectual life in ancient India. Instead, Carpenter maintains that ancient Indians saw continuity between humans and nonhumans on account of being alive and sharing the capacity to be harmed. In addition to this, the prominence of animals in fables and epics highlights the assumption that humans and animals lived in a shared world, with each individual navigating birth, life, death, and rebirth alongside other creatures, human and non -human. Each sentence in your introduction should be there for a reason . Delete all filler sentences. In the above paragraph, every se ntence does something . The point of the introduction is to let the reader know what you’re going to be discussing in the rest of the essay . You can do this explicitly (“In this essay I describe…” – Yes, you can use the first person! ) or implicitly, as se en in the paragraph above. The introduction is the most important part of the essay! If the reader doesn’t know what you’ll be doing in the following pages, they will be confused throughout your essay. Quotation example: A division of possible realms for rebirth…represents a way of conceiving the human condition. Humans live and move within a world populated by other animals ” (7). The fact that one can be reborn as an animal implies that animals are living beings who are subjects and experience the world , suffer, and have desires, which changes how humans think of animals. This realization implies a continuity between the human and the non -human, which accounts, as Carpenter contends, for observed lack of fundamental difference between animals and humans. Quotes do not speak for themselves . Precede and follow each quote with information which contextualizes the quote. Pay attention to the order of the quotation symbol, parentheses, page number, and period : … animals” (7). The best quotations are those which highlight the point you are trying to make . Since you are writing about an author’s arguments, the best quotes will be those that succinctly represent the author’s position. If your quote takes up more than 4 lines, use block quotes, such as in the f ollowing: Some argue that in a rebirth cosmology, one never knows if a nearby animal is a deceased friend or relative, so one would naturally be disinclined to harm animals. This, they argue, is why we do not find Indian thinkers insisting on a fundamenta l difference between humans and animals. Rejecting these simple rebirth arguments for why humans and animals are non -different, Carpenter argues: “We should consider the picture the rebirth cosmology presents as a whole. A division of possible realms for rebirth…represents a way of conceiving the human condition. Humans live and move within a world populated by other animals.” (7) The fact that one can be reborn as an animal implies that animals are living beings who are subjects and experience the world, suffer, and have desires, which changes how humans think of animals.. .