Philosophy 101        Inroduction to Philosophy   Group Writing Projects   How to write your paper     (basic essay structure)

Your papers must be written in standard essay form which has four parts:

1. Introduction: you must have at least an introductory paragraph which (a) introduces the topic and that aspect of the topic you'll be writing about, (b)states your position, thesis statement, or main claim about that aspect of the topic, and (c) gives the reader a brief sense of how you will proceed in the body of your essay.

2. Body: the main purpose of the body is to present evidence and/or arguments to persuade the reader to accept the truth of your main claim . There are many ways to shape the body of an essay. This may depend in part on the kind of evidence you have, the type of audience you are addressing, and whether you wish to proceed in a purely logical way, a purely rhetorical way, or a combination of both. For more on different argument strategies that you can use, see the page on argument strategies.

3. Conclusion: your paper must include as a conclusion at least a concluding paragraph which restates the main claim (now as a claim that's been proven or demonstrated) and states the significance of your claim in relation to the topic. Why was it so important to make the point that you made?

4. "Works Cited" Page: This is a separate page(s) at the end of your paper which lists all the sources you used to write it. Usually it isn't included as an actual part of the essay itself, but I've included it here as a reminder. Be sure to list both "hard" texts (actual books, journal articles, etc.) and electronic texts (on-line books, articles, etc.) For information on how to cite various forms of books, articles, and electronic sources, go to the Research page of our Communications and Humanities Division site (provided by Cynthia Churchill). Scroll down the page to "Formatting Papers and Bibliographies" and you'll see the links for style sheets, citations,etc.


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Last revision:  August 21, 1998
Please send any comments to Frank Edler fedler@metropo.mccneb.edu