Even if this is not your first philosophy class, you may find the following comments useful as a guide to what your instructor expects. In either case, you should read what follows since it contains some important information and warnings. To be successful writing an essay you must understand the topic it will address. Before writing anything you should make sure you understand the topic by thinking about it carefully and discussing it with your instructor or with other students. In a short essay, it is especially important to avoid irrelevant material.
Philosophy is concerned with arguments.
You will be asked to identify and explain the structure and content of arguments in the assigned readings and, perhaps, to present your own arguments. You might also consider taking a course in introductory logic. Level of Presentation Writing assignments in a class such as this one serve two purposes. The first, and perhaps the most important to some of you, is so that you may be assigned a grade for the class. To this end, you are required to demonstrate how well you understand the ideas and arguments which have been presented.