1. Making a Point

The key is to get out of the A-level mentality. Start moving towards the idea of a journal article. The point of a journal article is to convince people of a point; it is not to cover the ground. So take your question, and argue for a particular answer to it. Reading and understanding is necessary for the answer to be mature and not half-baked, but don't try to summarize the reading.

In short:

• Make your essay an argument for an answer to your chosen question.
• Include nothing which does not contribute to that argument.
• Do not try to 'cover' the literature.
• Do not try to assemble a quantity of points.

2. Style

The general stylistic principle is: don't hide! Here are some particular applications of that principle:

• Don't fill up the pages with irrelevant stuff (history, biography, overlong quotation), trying to avoid facing the issue: work out what's difficult about an issue, and try to deal with it.
• Don't try to skate quickly over an argument, in the hope that nobody will notice that it's no good: lay out the steps as clearly as you can, so that it will be obvious if it is no good - and then make sure it's not no good.
• Don't use words you don't really understand, in the hope that you'll get some ill-understood credit from them: work out what you think, in your own terms.
• Don't get autobiographical ('Personally, I feel ...'), in the hope that at least nobody will deny that this is what you feel: try to produce arguments which will convince anyone (or anyone reasonable).
• Don't get jokey, in the hope that your charm will distract your tutor and she won't notice how little you have to say: humour should only arise from a serious consideration of the issues.

In short: make sure your argument is good enough to stand, without concealment or adornment.

Two things about level and who to be writing for:

• Don't write just for the person you expect to mark the essay.
• Write as if for one of your peers who just happens not to have dealt with this topic.

3. Referencing and Bibliography

Mention only those works whose views you explicitly consider, but when you do that, do the referencing properly. There are two systems, which are equally acceptable: the MHRA system or the Harvard system. Follow one of these scrupulously. Details are to be found at our references and bibliography page. (Note that this page expresses a preference for the MHRA system, but you don't need to follow that.)

Make sure your Bibliography includes full publication details of everything you refer to. But do not include things you don't explicitly consider.

4. Plagiarism

Please the the University's preventing plagiarism page for advice. You will have an extremely unpleasant time if you're caught plagiarizing. But you shouldn't even get close to plagiarism. Just argue, for yourself, for an answer to the question.

5. More tips

For fuller advice about philosophy essay writing see our tips on essay writing page.

Michael Morris
November 2007