Essay Assignment 5: 
Compare and Contrast with Critique and Research

Due May 13, 3:00 p.m.

You are to write a paper of about 5 pages in length. It is standard to use double-spacing, 12 point font, a cover page, and page numbering.

The paper should have clear introductory and concluding paragraphs, indicating your own position on the issue in question and your primary reason for taking this stand.

The goal of the paper is to take a position on a philosophical issue. In doing so, you must:

• summarize two conflicting positions on the same topic,

• providing a short critique of each position,

• make clear to the reader how they agree and disagree on their shared subject,

• highlight one important criticism of each,

• make your own positing clear, and be clear why you take that position

• incorporate one research source in a useful way.

You may choose from ANY topic we have studied in this course.

HERE is a checklist for organizing your essay.

YOU MAY COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT BY REVISING ONE OF YOUR PREVIOUS ESSAYS.

For more information on the goals and format of a compare and contrast essay, click here.

Direct quotations from the readings should be used sparingly. Any use of more than two consecutive words from the text demands quotation marks. Where standard technical terminology is involved, you are not expected to find your own words for those ideas. But you are expected to define them for the reader who might not know what they mean.

Citation: You must cite the texts that you are using. Do this by adding a bibliography page as a separate page at the end of the paper. You will need a citation for each author you discuss. 

Because you are using a bibliography page, any references that you want to make to the text (for instance, when you quote) can be done by putting the author’s name and the page number into parentheses in the text.

For full information about bibliographical citation, go to http://web.mnstate.edu/philosop/  and click on “Guide to Writing Research Papers”