FINAL ESSAY
The essay should be between four pages double-spaced, 12-point font. Again, evidently, it will be necessary to selective and very concise in such a short space.
Each essay question presupposes that you will be quoting liberally from the source texts in the course kit – as a rule there ought to be at least four key quotations in your paper (perhaps more, if they are very short). Please see below, at the end of the list of topics, for a review of the grading criteria for the essay.
Freud’s discussion of the evolution of institutions of justice (p94) mirrors Kant’s notion of public speech. To what extent are they similar thinkers overall?
Criteria of Evaluation
CLARITY
In technical terms, this means syntax and vocabulary. I have offered a few general rules to follow for added clarity.
1) avoid “you” and “your” as well as “relatable”
2) paragraphs should be more than three sentences and less than a page
3) Verb tenses and singular and plural nouns and pronouns should agree within and, where applicable, between sentences.
4) quotes should be integrated in the flow of your own sentences, “using a comma in this fashion.”
5) All rules of clarity can be broken in the interest of improved clarity, but they should only be broken consciously, with a sense of purpose, and when necessary.
ACCURACY
Is what you are writing in your paragraphs true to the texts? Are you quoting directly and making sure any alternative vocabulary you introduce in your own explanations keeps the meaning closely enough?
PRECISION
Does your writing contain sufficient detail? Are you presenting the precise details in particular of complex, contradictory, or self-contradictory ideas, works, problems, etc.? Are you qualifying and developing general statements that you make to avoid vagueness and lack of focus?
COHERENCY
Does the whole essay maintain a focus on the proposal offered to the reader at the beginning? Is the proposal sufficiently broad and comprehensive to account for all the ideas or aspects of the idea? Does it answer the question?
