Washington and Lee University, Winter 2002

Philosophy 101: Problems of Philosophy

MWF, B hour (Newcomb 10B)

Ben Eggleston—http://home.wlu.edu/~EgglestonB

office hours: M&F, 2–4, and T&Th, 9–11 (Newcomb 25)

 

Worksheet for reading papers

 

This worksheet is for the in-class readings of papers on February 6. When you come to class on February 6, bring two copies of the rough draft of your paper. Also, bring two copies of this worksheet, with your name and the title of your paper filled in below. Then give one copy of this worksheet to each reader of your paper; your readers will answer the questions on the back of this sheet and then return it to you.

Your name: ______________________________

The title of your paper: ____________________________________________________

·   ·   ·

Once your readers have given you their comments, revise your paper in light of them. Pay special attention to your readers’ answers to questions 1 and 2. Did they get the right impression as to the main point of your paper? Did they pick up on the main reasons you provide in support of that main point? If not, then I (who will be grading it) probably will not, either, and I’ll probably find your paper not only unclear, but also (and as a result) not very well argued. The first step in making a convincing case for some thesis is to make a clear case for it; hence the importance of questions 1 and 2.

As you prepare the final version of your paper (the one you’ll turn in), cite your readers appropriately. If their influence is not confined to some specific part(s) of your paper (and it probably won’t be), then just cite them at the beginning (perhaps with a footnote attached to your name), for reading a draft of the paper and helping you to improve the clarity of it (or however you want to describe their contributions).

You do not have to turn in this sheet with the final version of your paper.


Instructions to the reader:

 

Read the author’s paper; then answer the four questions below. Note that questions 1 and 2, regarding the main point of the paper and the main reasons that the author provides in support of this point, are to be answered without going back and looking at the paper. The reason for this is not that you, as the reader, are to be tested in some way (such as having your memory tested); rather, the reason for this is to help the author. When a paper is good, the main point and the main supporting reasons are sufficiently clear that someone who has just read the paper can state them without going back and looking at the paper. If the reader has to go back to the paper, and re-examine it, in order to state the main point and the main supporting reasons, then there’s something seriously wrong with the paper, and the author needs to be alerted to this before turning it in for credit. So if you answer questions 1 and 2 by going back through the paper, you will only be giving the author a falsely reassuring sense of the paper’s clarity and, hence, quality. Don’t do it.

 

1. Without going back and looking at the paper, state what seems to you to be the main point of the paper. (If you had to tell someone, in one sentence, what the author is trying to prove in this paper, what would you say?)

 

 

 

 

2. Without going back and looking at the paper, state the author’s main reasons in support of the paper’s main point. Just go into as much detail as you can without going back and looking at the paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. What aspects of the paper are done well? (You may answer this question through notations on the paper itself or in conversation with the author as well as, or instead of, here.)

 

 

 

 

4. What aspects of the paper need improvement? (You may answer this question through notations on the paper itself or in conversation with the author as well as, or instead of, here.)