Philosophy Writing Guide

• Writing Guide Home
• Introduction to Writing in Philosophy
• Composing the Paper
  • » Thesis Statements
  • » Examples of Thesis Statements from Professional Papers
  • » Examples of Thesis Statements from Student Papers
  • » Planning
  • » Brainstorming
  • » Outlining
  • » Drafting
  • » Revising
• Citation and Documentation
• What Your Professors Are Looking For
• Critical Thinking and Writing
• Helpful Links

Composing the Paper

Drafting

Even if you do not have all your ideas developed and organized, you should write a draft as soon as possible. Writing out ideas you already have will help you form new ideas and gather all your thoughts. You can write freely without worrying about spelling mistakes or grammar (you can worry about that later.) Get down all your basic ideas and decide how everything will be organized.

(Clicking on links will lead to illustrative examples)

Begin with your introduction. A good introduction provides context and background that leads into and situates your thesis statement, showing how you are going to answer the topic question. The most common strategy for writing introductions is opening with a few engaging sentences and concluding it with the paper's main point (the thesis statement.) You start with more general ideas and gradually get more specific until you end on the most specific part - your thesis statement (for more example thesis statements, see also sample introductions).

When writing the body of your paper, keep your thesis statement in mind. Make sure everything you write is pertinent to the thesis. What does your paper promise your readers in the introduction? Your body paragraphs will focus on defending your main argument so the reader will eventually agree with you, too (or at least give them enough information to ponder.)

Transitions are what the name suggests: they move the paper from one subject or idea or issue to another, while showing the relationships between the things they connect. Transitions enable the reader to understand the connections between parts of the paper, and between the ideas discussed in each part.

In the conclusion, merely echo—do not repeat—your main idea. A good conclusion sums up what you have said in the paper, and ties up loose ends. It may point to further implications that go beyond the scope of the paper. Or it may show the relationship between specific events or facts and a general condition or idea, thus showing the larger context of the topic questions and their answers. The conclusion should reflect or return to the thesis statement in some way - it should not repeat the thesis statement word-for-word, but should sum up how what has been developed in the paper supports the thesis statement.

In the conclusion, synthesize the paragraphs you have written in the body of the paper to close your main ideas. Conclusions might pose a question for further debate, but do not give enough information that distracts from the main idea, or poses a question for an entirely new paper. Even though the conclusion comes back to the thesis, the conclusion should think of the thesis in regards to the points in the body paragraphs.

Remember that a draft gives you an opportunity to revise.

Do not worry about writing the perfect words or sentences; merely try to get your purpose and point across.