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Writing Essays

1. Answer the question. This does not mean you cannot take hold of the question and use it as ameans of discussing something that is of particular interest or importance. But it does mean that

what you do write must be related in some way to issues that the question asks you to address.

How you introduce your essay is thus of fundamental importance, because it should provide both

an outline of the principal issue or issues you will be discussing and some kind of justification of

your approach. In turn, make sure that the rest of the essay fulfils any expectations that you may

have given the reader in the opening paragraph

2. Structure. Your response must be structured,i.e. paragraphs must be composed of interlinkingarguments. This applies equally to the relationship between paragraphs: each paragraph should

function either (a) to develop points made earlier or (b) to introduce and discuss new and relevant

material (if necessary, justifying doing so). If you are summarising someone else's arguments, the

same rules apply. It is worth remembering that summary is quite often going to take up a lot of the

space of your essay, since questions usually ask you, in one way or another, to discuss in a

detailed and critical manner, someones ideas.

3. Written Style. Although some very famous philosophers were bad stylists, this is no reason foryou to follow their example. The manner in which you present your essay is of considerable

importance. Make sure you outline and develop arguments in a clear manner, and check grammar.

4. Use of Primary and Secondary Sources. Primary sources (often those works that the question isinviting you to discuss) are those texts that you will be analysing in most detail in an essay. You

must therefore present your discussion of these in the form of a detailed account. This means

outlining the arguments these texts contain and justifying your reading by quoting and

commenting on quotes. Likewise, should try to locate key passages or phrases and use them to

further your argument. Do not assume that quotes stand on their own: you must discuss what you

quote, or use quotes to support a particular point you are making, or have made. A useful maxim

worth remembering: statement, quotation, explanation. Secondary texts (commentaries, for

instance) can be used (i) to help you in presenting your view of the text or issues at hand; (ii) to set

up your own views (such as by disagreeing with what Professor X says about Wittgenstein'sTractatus). Secondary texts can sometimes become primary texts, or gain a similar importance

within an essay (e.g. questions which begin with 'Assess the view that.../Assess Xs claim that').

5. Plan Your Essay. This is another key maxim. Do your primary and secondary reading, make noteson the texts you use (including bibliographical details), plan your response to the question (back to

the issue ofstructure). A plan will frequently allow you to see what the important points are, and

what strengths and weaknesses there may be in your account of t he issues.

Layout of Text.

There are scholarly conventions concerning how you should present your essay.

Ideally, the main text of your essay should be typed in double space (this allows room forcomments to be written on the essay).

Quotations longer than about five lines should be indentedapproximately one inch from the leftand right margins and should be in single space. Here is an example of some main text with an

indented quotation:

[] What philosophers have hitherto done, Nietzsche says, is take such presuppositions to be a kind

of terminus, an unproblematic starting point, from which one then is able to depart on the journey of

enquiring into reality:

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All philosophers have the common failing of starting out from man as he is now and

thinking that they can reach their goal through an analysis of him [...] But everything

has become: there are no eternal facts, just as there are no absolute truths.

Consequently what is needed from now on is historical philosophising, and with it

the virtue of modesty.1

It is equally apparent here that Nietzsche makes explicit a claim about reality; namely, that it is to be

comprehended in terms of change, that everything has become. What philosophers have mistaken for

reality is in fact unreality, and in making this mistake [.].

Notes and Quotation Marks. Note that in the above example there is a footnote. Footnotes aregiven in superscript (i.e. reduced text which is located just above the line of the main text) and

should be placed after quotation marks (if the quotation is not indented, i.e. is less than around 5-6

lines in length) and after all punctuation. Note also that quotation marks are not necessary for

indented quotations, unless, of course, there is a quotation within the quotation itself. I always

use single quotation marks () to indicate cited text, and double quotation marks () for within

quotations that have already been indicated with single quotation marks (e.g. Only ek-sistent man

is historical. Nature has no history). As a general rule, you should aim to use notes that take the

form ofendnotes rather than footnotes.

The information given in a footnote/endnote can be quite varied. Thus, you can provide (a) a fullreference, giving author, title, place of publication, publisher, and date of publication, plus page or

section numbers as appropriate. A footnote/endnote should also give the name of the texts

translator, if necessary. (b) if you are citing a text already cited earlier in the essay this can be

indicated by using op. cit., e.g. op. cit. p.44; (c) a footnote/endnote can be discursive, e.g. refining

and developing a point that you do not wish to include in the main body of your argument,

indicating the work of others who have made a similar point, etc.

Make sure that y ou keep a firm grip on the matter of organising material for your research purposes(e.g. keep records and notes in a way that is easily accessible, making sure that you keep an on-

going list of the bibliographical details of the texts that you are using, etc.). This saves a lot of

time.

Make sure that you are familiar with the practicalities of writing and presenting essays. Thisinvolves familiarity with word-processing facilities and making the best use of the software you are

using. For example, learning how to create short -cuts with macro commands (you can change textlayout very quickly and simply this way, as well as creating commands for making and viewing

footnotes or endnotes, etc.).

1Nietzsche, Human, All-Too-Human, trans. R.J. Hollingdale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1986), section 2.