Introductory Philosophy
Introduction (you can use headers like these!)
This is where the introduction goes. Your introduction should be one brief paragraph. It should include your thesis and it should explain your plan for the essay. I call this the “roadmap” to your essay. I should be able to read your introduction and know what to expect for the rest of the paper. Additionally, it should avoid “fluff” (e.g. avoid statements such as, “Since the dawn of time, humans have argued about whether God exists.”). Instead, it should jump right into the point. So your introduction should look something like this: “Some philosophers argue that God does not exist because ________. In an attempt to solve this problem, others have responded that ________. However, in response I argue that ___________.” Of course, your introduction will be a little longer than that since you will have a spend some time filling in those blanks. But the important things are: Be concise. State your thesis. Explain the plan for the paper.
Argument Summary
In this section, you will summarize the mainview/argument. Imagine that you are explaining the argument to someone who has never hear of the problem. How would you summarize the main points in approx. 400 words? Also, avoid criticizing the argument here. That will come in the next section. Focus only on summarizing the argument as clearly and concisely as possible.
Critical Analysis
In this section, you will respond to the issue you summarized. Do you have a specific objection? Does it show that the argument is not valid? Does it show that one of the premises are not true?Or perhaps you agree with the original argument and this section can discuss a hypothetical objection and then explain why that objection ultimately does not work.
Conclusion
Finally, give a concise, one-paragraph conclusion. This should involve a brief summary of what you just discussed in the “Argument Summary” and “Critical Analysis” sections. The basic idea is this: remind the reader what the argument was and how you responded. But keep it simple.
Writing Tip: there is no specific number of paragraphs to use in this essay. But I often find that students don’t use enough paragraphs! Each paragraph should be devoted to a single idea that can be stated in the paragraph’s topic sentence. So if your argument summary section or your critical analysis section is a single paragraph, ask yourself whether it might make sense to break it into smaller “bites” so th
