Analytical Assignment: Rene Descartes

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http://www(dot)wright(dot)edu/~charles.taylor/descartes/meditation1.html

http://www(dot)wright(dot)edu/~charles.taylor/descartes/meditation2.html

Guidelines for Analytical Assignments PHL 103, Spring 2019 General Instructions: There are two analytical assignments that are due for the course. Each assignment has a maximum limit of 2-3 pages (about 1000 words). Acceptable formats for the assignment are Word (.doc; .docx ), PDF, and RTF. All assignments are to be formatted in the following way:  12-point font; Double-spacing; 1-inch margins  NO HEADER/NO FOOTER  NO TITLE Essays must be submitted electronically to the Assignments area of the class Site. Be sure to “Submit" your assignment after you “Attach" it. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE THAT YOUR ASSIGNMENT WAS SUBMITTED PROPERLY. Assignment: Choose one article (see below for restrictions) In the first paragraph: Present one argument, or reason, that the author has given in support of his/her position. Describe the author's views in your own words, explaining key terms. Do not attempt to summarize the author's entire paper. Present the author accurately and fairly. In the second paragraph: Present one objection (i.e., a criticism or a counter-example or a counterargument) that can be raised against the author's argument that you described in your first paragraph. Do not simply present an alternate view. In the third paragraph: Explain how the author could respond to the objection. In an optional fourth paragraph: If you want to get the last word, explain why the response you've described in the third paragraph will not succeed. More guidelines:  Do not include an introduction and a conclusion; just dive right in. Since you only have two pages, you will need to be very succinct.  Try not to "pick the low hanging fruit." In other words, try not to pick the most obvious argument/counter-argument. Challenge yourself to go beyond class discussion. It should be hard for you to come up with a response to your objection.  The second and third (and optional fourth) paragraphs should contain your own thinking, not that of the author(s). If you find yourself expressing ideas that are already in your chosen article or another article from the class, you need to redo those parts of your paper. A common mistake that you do not want to make is to present a counter-argument the author has already considered and responded to. Restrictions (see syllabus for topics/authors): • First essay: Choose one required article from the introduction unit, or unite 1. • Second essay: Choose one required article from the Unit 2 or unite 3. Analytical essays which do not comply with these topic restrictions will receive no credit. Grading: In general, I am looking for the following: 1. How clearly you express yourself. Are the individual sentences understandable? Is the essay well structured? How accurate and concise are the claims. 2. How completely you address the issue. Do you do all parts of the assignment? Do you consider all the relevant aspects in your answer? Do you go beyond our class discussions? 3. How persuasive you are in making your points. Do you provide good reasons and examples to back up the points you are making? Are your claims free of obvious counterarguments? Citations: This is NOT a research assignment! You can do an excellent job WITHOUT citing external sources. The assignments are geared toward assessing your thinking and analytical skills | NOT your research skills. If you do reference written sources and you are welcome to do so | you NEED to follow these criteria: 1. If you use someone else's exact words (a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph), then you must put quote marks around the words and cite the source and page number from where the quote originates. Important note: your essay should contain few, if any, quotes. I am looking for you to explain things in your own words -- don't assume that I already know the material you are trying to explain. Any quotes used should be explained in your own words. The only reason to use a quote is if you need to show that your interpretation of what an author is saying is correct. Essays with large blocks of quotes will receive low grades. Example #1: Schneider says, "porcine animals can levitate off the ground" (Schneider, 2012: 124). This means that pigs can fly. 2. If you use someone else's ideas or facts, but not their exact words, you must still cite the source within the body of the essay. Just including the source in the bibliography is not enough. Example: Pigs can fly (Schneider, 2012: 124). 3. DO NOT quote or cite anything from class lecture. If you cite classmates, do so by saying something like this: “In class discussion, a classmate suggested. . . " In any case, your discussion should be in your own words. 4. If you use materials outside of the course materials, include a bibliography. I am not picky about the format that you use for your citations or bibliography, as long as you use a consistent method. You may use footnotes if you prefer. However, failure to comply with #1,#2, and #4 above is plagiarism.