Formal requirements
• Length: between 400 and 600 words.
• The assignment you submit must be your own work, and it must be on one of the topics which have been designated for the seminar group in which you are registered.
• The assignment must include properly written references to the original texts. This requirement does not concern quotations only. The assignment must include a bibliography indicating where referenced texts (sources) are taken from. See further information about sources and references.
If your assignment does not satisfy these formal requirements the first time, you will not be permitted to hand it in a second time.
Submission
The assignment is submitted in Fronter, see instructions for submission. If you are prevented by illness from handing in your assignment, you must contact us before the original deadline expires.
Assessment criteria
Knowledge
- The assignment should demonstrate knowledge of the original texts and this knowledge should be documented with references to the texts.
Structure
- The number of the topic and the text of the topic must be included in your assignment and should form its first section.
- The assignment should begin with a short introduction which provides an overview of the argument or position you have been asked to either present (explain) or argue for or against (discuss). In the argumentative essay, the introduction should give a brief explanation of why the topic to be discussed is of philosophical interest.
- The main part of the assignment should be systematic and its individual sections should create a coherent whole. An analytic summary explains an argument or position from the syllabus. An argumentative essay not only presents an author’s argument, it also critically analyses its validity.
- When you are writing an argumentative essay it is not necessary for your assignment to end with an unequivocal conclusion. It is sufficient that you show that you are able to place a claim or thesis you are presented with under critical review.
Independent thinking
- Independent thinking is shown by your ability to problematise and discuss positions. This can be done in various ways, for example by asking questions of the text, proposing different interpretations, or suggesting more than one answer to the question you are discussing.
- It is unacceptable to repeat what someone else has said or written without relating it to your topic.
- Independent thinking is shown also by making all your points using your own words, and by using quotations only to illustrate, and not to explain.
- The reader should have no trouble seeing why what you are writing is relevant for your topic.