BA 7070

Argumentative Essay

Each student will support an ethical claim by writing an argumentative essay.  The argumentative essary will generally run from 2 to 5 pages long, double spaced, including footnotes.  No cover page is necessary.  The the extent that the argument is supported with reference to the works of others, include a Works Cited page.  If a Works Cited page is included, it does not count toward the 2 to 5 page requirement. The 2 to 5 page requirement is a general range, but the argumentative essay should not run more than 10 pages or so at the most.

Ethical Claim. After giving some thought to -- and after doing some initial research regarding -- the student's assigned Research Paper topic, the student will craft an ethical claim that relates in some way to the topic.  The ethical claim will be a one-sentence proposition that will be supported in the argumentative essay. Unlike the Research Paper (which covers both legal and ethical considerations), the Argumentative Essay covers only ethics.  In fact, the ethical analysis within the Argumentative Essay is limited to argument in support of a single ethical claim. The ethical claim selected by the student for the Argumentative Essay will likely be folded into the more comprehensive ethical analysis that will be included -- along with the legal analysis - in the final Research Paper.

The argumentative essay is written in the Turabian / Chicago style, with footnotes. For more information about the Turabian/ Chicago Style, see the Research Paper page of the syllabus for this course.

Writing the Essay.  For guidance, the student should consult Chapter 10 of Damer's Attacking Faulty Reasoning.  Seech's Writing Philosophy Papers would also be instructive.  There are also many suggestions at various sites on the Internet:  a Google search (or other search engine search) for the exact phrase, "How to Write an Argumentative Essay," for example, will turn up many such sites.  Searching for sites by using search terms similar to the Brief Guide to Writing Philosophy Papers site might also prove valuable.

Submitting the Essay.  The essay should be written in Microsoft Word (not Works!).

• The essay should be neat and professional in appearance.
• Use 12 point type, double spaced, with one inch margins all around.
• The final paper should run from 2 to 5 pages long, double spaced, including footnotes.
• Footnotes should be at the bottom of each page, and not in "endnote" format.  Footnotes should be used sparingly.  Citations to references should also be in the bibliography page.
  
• Pages should be numbered.
• The first page should include the student's name, student number, CRN for this course, and date.  The ethical claim should also be clearly identified and stated on the first page of the essay.
  
• The paper should reflective rigorous inductive and/or deductive reasoning, and should therefore NOT constitute a "reduction" (the mere simplifying, paraphrasing, or summarizing of the  thoughts and ideas of others) or a "seduction" (the diversion or conversion of the paper into an unsubstantiated poltical or personal polemic).
• The paper should reflect ethical and philosophical considerations, not legal considerations.  Legal considerations are only included in the final research paper, not the argumentative essay.
• The final Research Paper should be well-written.  For example:
•  1.  Avoid alliteration.  Always.
• 2.  Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. 
• 3.  Avoid cliches like the plague.  (They're old hat) 
• 4.  DON'T use bold, underlines, italics, CAPITAL LETTERS, font changes, and other stylistic flourishes simply for EMPHASIS! 
• 5.  Ampersands & abbreviations, etc. are N.A. 
• 6.  Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary. 
• 7.  It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. 
• 8.  Contractions aren't necessary. 
• 9.  Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. 
• 10.  One should never generalize. 
• 11.  Eliminate quotations.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." 
• 12.  Comparisons are as bad as cliches. 
• 13.  Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous. 
• 14.  Be more or less specific. 
• 15.  Understatement is always best. 
• 16.  One-word sentences?  Eliminate. 
• 17.  Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. 
• 18.  The passive voice is to be avoided. 
• 19.  Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. 
• 20.  Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. 
• 21.  Who needs rhetorical questions? 
• 22.  Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. 
• 23.  Eschew obfuscation. 
• 24.  Don't use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice. 
• 25.  Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. 
• 26.  You should not address your writing to the second person (i.e., you should not use the word "you").  I don't recommend that you or I use the first person, either (i.e., I should not find the word "I" or "me" or "my" when I read your paper).
• 27.  The word "feel" is not "fair", so don't use either word.

---

Last Revised 07/01/2008.  Copyright 2001 and 2008:  Albert D. Spalding, JD, CPA