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Teacher's Guide - Essays
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List I Adam Morton's Sample Course
There is no difficulty in finding topics for
essays. They can be very general, got, for example, by taking
the "aims" of the parts of the book, listed just
before the first chapter of each part, and rephrasing them.
(The aim "understand why not being able to get certainty
does not make relativism or moral relativism inevitable"
becomes the questions "if we can't be certain must we
be skeptics?" and "if we cannot be certain about
right and wrong must we be moral relativists?") Or they
can be more specific, got, for example, by asking students
to expand on their reactions to an example in a particular
activity. (This was a good source of essay topics when one
class was particularly lively, leaving a feeling of unfinished
business.) The difficulty is getting students to write essays
that are philosophical: argumentative and relevant but not
literal reports of facts or opinions found in books. I think
that the idea of a philosophical essay is best acquired when
the student has begun work on a particular topic. The student
chooses a topic from a list, submits a draft or an outline,
and is then given comments, which usually tell her to be simultaneously
more original and less ambitious. Only once she has begun
to work on a topic will she understand how one can be less
ambitious and more original, given comments directed at her
particular project. I have found that outlines work better
than drafts for beginning students. If you give comments on
a draft the student will usually simply add or subtract material
from the draft rather than rethinking her approach in any
fundamental way.
I have recently been proceeding as follows.
I distribute a list of essay topics, consisting of a title
question and a couple of sentences of explanation and warning.
Then each student must, by a deadline (just past the mid-point
of the semester), hand in a filled out essay outline sheet.
See the sample below. I return these, with comments. If there
is time, I see the students individually to discuss their
outlines. (It is worth canceling a class or two to make time.)
Then by another deadline they have to submit the essay, with
the outline sheet attached to it. (That is in part to guard
against plagiarism, and in part so that you can see if faults
in the final essay are due to misleading advice I gave.) Students
get a zero grade for the term paper unless it has been written
on one of the set topics and the form has been submitted on
time.
ESSAY OUTLINE SHEET
(Fill this out and hand it in by the deadline of ......)
Question:
The way I am interpreting this question: (3-4
lines).
Things I have read or plan to read that I shall
consider and mention: (4 0 lines - a short summary of what
is said in these works).
Short outline of my essay: (20 lines).
Main conclusion: (5 lines).
Biggest obstacle I have to deal with in arguing
for this conclusion: (10-20 lines).
Doubts I have about my conclusion: (10 lines).
One original example relevant to my argument:
(20 lines).
Explanation of how it is relevant: (5 lines).
Things I would like help with in writing
this up: (10 lines).
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