Elements of the Final Paper

Video Lecture: http://youtu.be/E21J3OqlsiU
Rubric & Notes

OVERVIEW

Final Paper 30% (rest of grade determined by Quizzes: 30%, best ⅔; Content Discussions: 40% with 6 posts + 3 extra credit)
Each student must write an argumentative essay on a contemporary philosophical question involving sex or love, or you may write a critical analysis focused upon one of the philosophical readings.
If you choose the former, a brief summary of at least two articles from the class should be used to frame the philosophical question you are addressing.
You should include a title, thesis statement (in the introduction), argument (in the body / subsections), conclusion, reference and citations (with bibliography).
Your paper should be single spaced in 12 point font, between 1750-2500 words, and the final word count of the text must be included at the end of the document.

RUBRIC

TITLE (10 pts)

Concise (less than ten words), summarizes main ideas of subsections clearly but also innovatively, includes both main title and subtitle

EXAMPLE: “Platonist Polysexuality: Binary Gender & Tripartite Orientation in The Symposium”
Or, “Occupy Time: Technoculture, Immediacy, and Resistance After Occupy Wall Street” (my book with Palgrave Macmillan).

THESIS STATEMENT (30 pts)

(including originality and clarity of interpretation)

EXAMPLE: “While Plato’s representation of Aristophanes’ mythical model of humanity’s original gender structure presents a complex, nonbinary alternative to the currently waning-tripartite system of sexuality, it ultimately reinforces it by presenting heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality as the only possible forms of orientation after the mythical division of the sexes into binary male and female categories. The contemporary emergence of nonbinary microgenders in our time however, challenges the tripartite orientation structure, renewing the relevance of Aristophanes’ original model.”

ARGUMENT (30 pts)

(organization of ideas, content and use of course materials, logical development of ideas, analysis, synthesis, accuracy of interpretation)

EXAMPLE: For the purposes of a good example of argumentation, use my short essay “Occupy Time” (Critical Inquiry / In the Moment), which got me a book deal with Palgrave Macmillan, as an example of a coherent argument: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/commentary/occupy-time
Or, alternatively, use David Halperin’s first chapter in his book “One Hundred Years of Homosexuality” (pgs. 25-50), in which he references Aristophanes on gender and sexuality as it is presented in Plato’s Symposium: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eP8vve0GzT7napJ_lfESFFjInnyA0Cby/view?usp=sharing

ESSAY FORM (15 pts)

(introduction, body / subsections, conclusion, references and citations, bibliography, connecting sentences)

EXAMPLE:

For an example of essay form organized more or less in this manner, don’t use my essay Occupy Time, since it was much shorter and didn’t have subsections, etc., instead use David Halperin’s first chapter in his book “One Hundred Years of Homosexuality” (pgs. 25-50) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eP8vve0GzT7napJ_lfESFFjInnyA0Cby/view?usp=sharing

TECHNIQUE (15 pts)

(credibility, assertiveness, and originality of authorial voice, compelling style, good grammar, good spelling)

EXAMPLE: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/commentary/occupy-time
Or: David Halperin’s first chapter in his book “One Hundred Years of Homosexuality” (pgs. 25-50)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eP8vve0GzT7napJ_lfESFFjInnyA0Cby/view?usp=sharing