Unit Essays are combination papers and exams. They are the major assessment method for the class. There are four unit essays, one at the end of each unit.
Unit Essays respond to a question, presented to students ahead of time, and designed to require an answer that makes use of all or almost all of the materials studied during that unit. (You can see hypothetical Unit Essay prompts on the Sample Writing Prompts page). Before each Unit Essay we will spend some time in class discussing the question and strategies for completing the assignment.
Students will have access to their Philosophical Journals while writing the essay and may also bring a single 3X5 notecard with handwritten notes to class.
Consider putting your thesis and a brief outline on the notecard. You may even want to write out a practice essay ahead of time. Writing in this way can help you to work out problems with your thesis and/or arguments ahead of time so that you are fully prepared when you come to class.
Students are generally discouraged from incorporating any specific concepts, ideas, or facts from outside of course materials. If such materials do appear in Unit Essays they must be cited. Failure to cite these sources or citation of imaginary sources will be treated as plagiarism. See the Understanding Academic Integrity.
The rubric for assessing essays is below.
|
Component |
Description |
||
|
Thesis |
Essay contains a clear organizing thesis that (1) responds to the question posed in the prompt. In addition to responding to the prompt, the thesis should be (2) a claim that is (3) concise and (4) appropriately specific. |
20% |
|
|
Arguments |
Arguments “support” a thesis when they constitute reasons for thinking the thesis is true. The body of the paper should contain all and only those arguments that support the thesis. The following criteria are used to assess the extent to which the arguments support the thesis. |
||
|
Organization |
[30%] |
||
|
Are the arguments clearly organized around supporting the thesis? For example, can the paper be broken up into a number of discrete arguments, all of which independently support the thesis? Does the paper flow from one point to the next? |
|||
|
Quality of reasoning |
[30%] |
||
|
Philosophical reasoning: are the philosophical arguments presented sound, or at least valid? Does the paper make important distinctions and consider relevant analogies or similar cases? |
|||
|
Interdisciplinary reasoning: does the paper show familiarity with the methods of the sciences and practical disciplines that are relevant to the claims made in the essay? |
|||
|
Consideration of objections: Objections are reasons for thinking that the student’s thesis is false, or that one of its supporting arguments fails. Does the paper consider objections that a reasonable interlocutor might make? |
|||
|
Use of course materials |
[20%] |
||
|
Philosophical course materials: Does the paper interact with major philosophical arguments, discinctions, and concepts discussed in class or in readings? Is the treatment of these philosophical sources careful and thoughtful? Is it helpful in supporting the thesis? |
|||
|
Use of interdisciplinary course materials: Arguments should utilize the findings or methods of empirical and/or practical disciplines when these have been part of our class materials. Is the treatment of these interdisciplinary sources careful and thoughtful? Is it helpful in supporting the thesis? |
|||
|
Arguments, total |
80% |
||
|
TOTAL |
100% |