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Essay Proposal

An essay proposal (EP) is a description of an essay that one plans to write. In essence, it contains a thesis (or description of the main topic of the paper), a primary source that motivates the thesis (or serves as the central jumping off point for writing the paper) and a list of secondary sources to be used in the writing of the paper,

  1. a short description of the topic of the paper you plan on writing. It should be 2-3 paragraphs. Example: In “The Will to Believe”, William James argues we have the right to believe certain propositions given that the decision to believe is a genuine option. I will explain James’s position, provide one argument James gives in support of this position, and argue that James’s view is problematic for at least two reasons.
  2. a list of pages from the primary texts you will likely use along with the secondary sources. Example: I will use pp.67-70 and 72 of William James’s “The Will to Believe” and pp.23-30 of Charles Peirce’s “Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man” (full citations will be provided in my bibliography)
  3. one quotation from those primary sources (include the entire quotation and the citation of this quotation). You can use your entry from your PIP paper.
  4. A list of secondary sources you plan on using. You don’t need to have read all of these sources.

A template for the EP assignment can be found in the templates folder.

Sample Rubric

Simple rubric for EP paper (out of 100pts):

  1. Description of paper topic: 50pts
  2. List of pages from primary source: 10pts
  3. Quotation from that primary source: 20pts
  4. List of citations of secondary sources relating to the paper topic: 20pts