Writing
Writing is a crucial academic skill in philosophy. For most philosophy courses you are asked to complete writing assignments or write a paper on a topic relevant to the course. Although writing is central to all academic disciplines, philosophical writing is special in that it typically involves arguing for a certain view or interpretation. Philosophical writing also knows many different forms and is somewhat less standardized than writing papers in the empirical disciplines. This page contains general information, recommendations for philosophical writing, and detailed information about how to structure your writing.
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In general
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Before you start writing (assignment, research question, draft)
During writing (audience, paragraphs, transitions, kill your darlings)
Before you start writing
Assignment
Make sure the assignment is clear to you. Which question are you supposed to answer? What are the criteria the assignment has to meet? Are you aware of:
- the length of the assignment (usually specified within a range), and whether (foot)notes and bibliography contribute towards the word count. If not specified, the standard is that footnotes do count as part of the total word count, whereas the title page and bibliography do not
- whether the paper topic is specified or you are free to decide for yourself. If specified, state the assignment at the top of your document.
- the font, font size, spacing
- which referencing style is to be preferred. If not specified, in the humanities the Chicago Style of referencing is preferred (either in text or in footnotes). But other formats are accepted at the UU, as long as they are applied consistently and completely
Research question
Before you can start writing your paper, you’ll have to think of a research question you want to find an answer to (whereby you will argue that the answer you provided is, in fact, the right answer), or a thesis you want to defend. Your research question/thesis must be appropriate to the length of your paper. A common mistake is wanting to do too much with too little space. This typically makes for a paper that is inconclusive or unconvincing. A more specific question or thesis, for instance about one argument for a theory, can often be dealt with in a short assignment.
- The research question/thesis is typically conceptual or normative, instead of empirical. Empirical data can be used to provide insight or serve as an argument but is subservient to the conceptual structure of your thesis.
- A philosophy paper is typically argumentative. This means that you aim to get the reader to accept a certain view: your conclusion. When offering an interpretation of a text or philosopher, the aim is to show that your interpretation is correct or helpful.
- Your paper should contribute to existing philosophical discourse. Its aim should be to address and solve a problem, or bridge a gap in the existing literature. At the start of your philosophical studies, it is of course not required that you add anything novel, but even then your writing can contribute to an understanding of a view. In philosophical writing, your voice should therefore always be present: you are offering an interpretation, a critique, or a way of thinking about a topic. Do keep in mind that it should be clear where another author’s opinion ends and your own begin <see referencing and citation> Link.
Examples of types of research questions/theses (this is not an exclusive list):
- Offer an interpretation, or comparison, of theory T
- Provide a critique of theory T (with the help of certain interlocutors)
- argue why critique C of theory T is false/fails to discredit T
- comparison of theories T1 and T2 (for instance, proposed as solutions to a problem)
- show how two seemingly opposed theories are not opposed or mutually exclusive after all (when looking at them in a certain way)
- argue that element E can be added to theory T to evade the consequences of critique C
Draft
Before you start writing the paper, it is helpful to make a quick draft of the structure of your paper, that you can consult when needed. (See: ‘The Structure of Your Paper.’) You may very well decide to change things as you go, but you’ll need at least a rough idea of the structure of your arguments to get started. With a draft at hand, you can open the paper with the aim/conclusion you want to reach.
During writing
Audience
Ask yourself: who is your audience? Typically, your audience will be your peers. Don’t assume too much knowledge: a fellow philosophy student – who is not taking the same course as you – should be able to understand your paper. Therefore always explain or define the terms or concepts you mention and briefly state the guiding question the paper addresses. But don’t feel the need to explain what philosophy is, or what’s at stake in subjects like ethics, epistemology, or metaphysics.
Paragraphs
Make sure every paragraph serves a clear purpose, and that the paragraphs are placed in the right order. In most cases, the first sentence of a paragraph conveys the main message of that paragraph. Play around with splitting up paragraphs into two, or combining two of them to make one. You’ll find that this is not an exact science; sometimes an example (for instance) will deserve its own paragraph, other times it is not. Also, think about what information should come first. Generally, a paragraph should enrich or build on the one before it. It can do this by providing additional information; an alternative viewpoint; or a next step towards your conclusion.
Transitions
Use transitions to let the reader know how your paper progresses. They are typically placed at the beginning and/or the end of a paragraph or a section of your paper. But also within a paragraph, it is good to signal how a sentence relates to the previous.
- Within a paragraph, one word or a few words will most likely suffice. (“Similarly”; “on the one/other hand”; “recently”; “furthermore”, “moreover”, “for example”)
- Between paragraphs, transitions express the relationship between two paragraphs. This relation can be written out, or again signalled with one transition term (“However”, “consequently”, “an example of this is”, “first, “Second” … )
- Between sections, transitions can be longer or even deserving of a paragraph of their own. They serve to remind the reader of what has gone before, how this information is relevant to your main argument, and why you move on to the section to come.
Kill your darlings
You often write much more than the final or best version of the paper requires. Don’t be afraid to scrap parts of your paper that don’t contribute enough to your main argument. This may be individual sentences when they are repetitive, examples when they have become too long, or whole paragraphs when they don’t turn out to be necessary (or the message can be put much more briefly). In the end, you want every sentence and paragraph to have a purpose.
Deleting sentences or paragraphs can be a painful process. You have carefully crafted your sentences, referenced the relevant literature, or copied a beautiful citation. But if it is not needed in the paper, you have to delete them. This process is therefore also called ‘killing your darlings’. If you are wary of scrapping your work, you can always copy and paste it into a separate document, to be seen later on whether it should have a place in your paper.
The structure of your paper
A philosophy paper consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The body of a paper can be subdivided into sections, which is a collection of subsequent paragraphs that are grouped together.
An introduction serves to first tell the reader what your paper will cover: your research question or thesis, or the problem or question your paper will cover. It will then briefly illustrate why this is important/relevant, within a broader philosophical perspective. Finally, it will tell how your paper will do this (the structure of your arguments, but not the arguments themselves).
In the introduction, always tell your reader what you will argue, and what the conclusion of the paper will be. Just drop it on the table right from the start. That way the reader knows why you go through the steps that you take. If the point of the paper becomes clear only at the end, you force a reader to read the whole paper again. You can achieve this with a sentence like “in this paper, I will argue that …”, or “I will aim to offer an interpretation whereby … “, or “the view this paper aims to develop is that…”.
Introductions often get too lengthy – a rule of thumb is that they shouldn’t exceed 20-25% of the total word count. Introductions should immediately jump into the question you want to address or start with a hook. Don’t start with extremely general sentences and platitudes like “for millennia we wondered about”, or “philosophers spend their days pondering questions like …”.
The introduction of your paper should contain the following elements.
- A hook (optional) to get the reader interested and to encourage them to read on. This can be a rhetorical question, a short case, or a vignette – something that pulls the reader in.
- A problem statement. What problem does your paper address, or what gap in the literature does it fill? What is at stake?
- Your research question/thesis, in the light of the problem statement, it should be clear that your research question/thesis is fit to address the problem/literature gap you mentioned.
- Relevance: a justification that convinces the reader that your paper is valuable, inside or outside philosophical discussion Why is the problem/gap you address relevant, and why is your contribution worth taking seriously?
- Your method. How will you go about answering your research question or making your claim? The method depends on the sort of paper you are writing. If you are to offer an interpretation, say briefly what you will do first, which other interpretation you will consider, and in what order. If you are going to criticize an argument for/against theory T, your method will be to first outline theory T and the argument A that supports it, before showing it falls subject to criticism C.
- An outline of your paper. At the end of your introduction, you will give an overview of the structure of your paper. Make sure the reader will understand the logical relations between the different sections of your paper but don’t feel tempted to spell out the full argument. Clarity and simplicity are key here. Your method, together with the outline, will constitute a summary of your paper.
The body of your paper will consist of different sections. How many sections you will use can vary and should be appropriate to the length of your paper. The body makes up about 50%-70% of the total word count of the paper.
At least two different sections should be distinguished. The first section of the body of your paper should be devoted to the ‘state of the art’ of the philosophical topic you are writing about. This is where you will discuss the philosophical problem your paper covers, or the specifics of the gap you perceived to be in the literature. Discuss key contributions to the (ongoing) debate and embed your own research into the debate. In this section, you also define the relevant terms.
The second section of your paper will be built up out of your arguments. Of course, you can still mention or use the work of other philosophers but make sure to take their work one step further, or put their arguments in a different light. A philosophical paper isn’t just about summarising or reproducing views but creating new and original insights.
It’s important to be critical throughout your paper. Take another author’s arguments seriously and read their work charitably. See also our section on How (Not) To Argue. Treat your own contributions in the same way: test the strength of your arguments by thinking of counterarguments or -examples and try to offer an answer to them.
Each paragraph of your paper serves its purpose within your larger argument. As your paper progresses, you build up to your main argument/point of criticism/etc. Make sure the structure of your paper is made transparent through the use of paragraph (sub)titles. If you use these, you can also easily refer the reader back and forth through your paper. (Example: “I will continue to explore this topic in […].” Or: “[…] provides a counterargument to this claim.”)
A conclusion should do three things:
- Summarize your paper in a way that its logical structure is clear (don’t just state what you’ve done, explain how the various parts relate to your main line of reasoning)
- Offer a concise answer to your research question or statement of your thesis
- A critical reflection on what you have achieved: what did you leave out? What are other, relevant avenues of inquiry that you haven’t covered
- Put this answer/thesis in a broader perspective. What are the implications of what you have achieved? In the conclusion, you are to zoom out from the details of the arguments and reflect on the larger implications of what you have and have not achieved
Tips for writing your conclusion:
- Reread your introduction to remind yourself of your problem statement and the general structure of your paper.
- Skim through your paper and highlight/take note of each paragraph’s key sentence.
- When finished, ask yourself: Does my conclusion…
- …contain a concise statement that answers the main question raised in the introduction?
- …mention the implications of my argument?
- …suggest what further research could be done? Be humble and show your awareness of the limitations of your paper.
- …contain information that has not been discussed in the body of my paper? If this is the case, make sure to either exclude it from your conclusion or include it in the body of your paper.
At the end of your paper, you should always provide a list of the sources that you have used. This element of your paper will be discussed in detail in ‘Sources & Referencing.’
Additional sources
Jim Pryor, “Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper”
Harvard University, “Strategies for essay writing”