Comment by Evan J. Morrison on September 16, 2012 at 10:47pm

Hey Lore,

What philosophy class is this? I think I can lend you a helping hand if you'd like.

Comment by Lore on September 17, 2012 at 1:48am

Evan, it's just an intro class. I think my problem is that I take a more Socratic approach with philosophy and just ask a bunch of questions. I just don't have the experience of writing philosophy.

Comment by Chase on September 17, 2012 at 6:39am

Lore,

I am not going to be modest, I am an amazing writer.

Here is the best advice that WILL improve your writing if you follow my instruction.

simply put, 1st free write.  Vomit ideas onto your keyboard or paper with your pen.  I mean vomit.... explosively.  Make a mess.  get everything out.  if you can, leave yourself lots of room to edit (double space, triple space.... lots of space in margins or between paragraphs)

then get a red pen or a different color.... and make notes on your ideas..... cross out things that don't fit in and add onto ideas that stick out.  then turn your vomit into a rough draft.   then repeat, get your red pen, cross shit out, add shit, reorganize it so it flows.  this should also be a mess, there should be red ink all over the rough draft. arrows, circles, scribbles, notes, new ideas and new paragraphs.

repeat for the second draft, cross out, reorganize, add new ideas.....

DO NOT MAKE AN INTRODUCTION OR CONCLUSION UNTIL THE DRAFT BEFORE THE FINAL DRAFT.

make as many drafts as you want.

then the intro and conclusion should both relate to the entire body of the essay.  the intro should catch attention and prepare the reader for what is to come.  the conclusion should offer a new idea, a new way to view the main idea (thesis) of the essay.  The conclusion should not just wrap everything up but it should leave something for the reader to continue to think about afterwards in his/her own way.

then make the final draft and edit the intro and conslusion.




it takes many drafts, much mess, and typing and editing...... spellcheck doesn't matter till the final draft..... but you gotta vomit a couple times to get alll the ideas out and then organize it. 

good luck

Comment by Evan J. Morrison on September 17, 2012 at 9:01pm

Lore,

That method does not seem to present any issues at all; none that I can recognize at least. The Socratic Method is the way in which I begin to write my papers. Ask questions, and then follow the consequences of the answers; which in turn will lead you to more questions. After some careful consideration, you will want to organize those ideas and just put them into one big thing, tie them together and it should all work out. As chase mentioned, the intro should catch audience's attention and the conclusion should offer new ideas, and lead them to want to read the paper again.

I'm not quite sure about the vomiting, but everyone has their own style of writing. I think the most critical component of making a good paper is practice. Writing was and still is my biggest weakness, but I discovered that if you continue write and have those papers reviewed, you'll be decent in no time. What's the topic of the paper?

Comment by Lore on September 18, 2012 at 1:40am

Evan, writing is one of my greatest strengths, but I am definitely out of practice. I need to do two papers. One is the redo of the first paper and the second paper is the 3rd paper for the class. The topic for the first paper I picked as American anti-intellectualism and the topic for the second paper is going to be determinism.

Comment by Evan J. Morrison on September 24, 2012 at 3:40am

Sorry, for such a late reply. I do not know much of anti-intellectualism. As for determinism I'm fairly versed in, such as the problem of free will and determinism. Determinism in Philosophy of Mind and such message if you'd like :)

Comment by Lore on September 26, 2012 at 9:04pm

No problem Evan, I got the paper done.

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