DO everything I tell you to do. You should follow the instructions on this page and in your chosen essay prompt exactly. If this page tells you to do something, do that thing. If the prompt for your chosen topic tells you to do something, do that thing. If I tell you to do something in your "Ze Next Stage" prompt for a subsequent stage, do that thing. (Many people fail simply by ignoring instructions.)
DON'T STRESS! Remember, the assignment includes a sort of "do-over" option, so if you're still not sure what to do, just write a paper the way you normally do, turn it in as "practice paper," and we can go from there.
DON'T do anything I don't tell you to do. If there's something you feel like doing in your paper that is not one of the things I told you to do, don't do that thing. The things I do tell you to do take quite a bit of effort, and it makes no sense to waste effort on things that will not earn you any credit. I won't take points off for you wasting my time and yours with unnecessary stuff, but the parts of your paper in which you do stuff that I didn't tell you to do will be marked "not needed" or "off topic" and will earn you no credit whatsoever.
DON'T start by thinking up a thesis and then looking around for ways to make that thesis look good. That's the opposite of thinking! Instead, start by writing down all the relevant facts about the issue, especially the facts that you don't like to think about. Then work out what you think those facts taken together logically imply about the topic. Make that the thesis of your paper, even if you don't personally agree with that thesis. (You can always add commentary saying "I don't agree with this thesis, but it's the one that's most supported by the evidence and argument available to me right now.) Then, explain as clearly as you can how those facts support that thesis. Next, find as many ways as you can to make some fact(s) seem to oppose your thesis. (What would someone who disagreed say against that thesis?) And explain each of those ways in a seperate paragraph. Finally, take each of those opposing arguments and say what's wrong with it. Don't do anything else.
DON'T do anything I specifically tell you not to do. If I've said not to do something, then don't do that thing. If I've marked a part of your paper as "not needed" or "off topic" or otherwise indicated that this is not the kind of thing you're supposed to do in a paper, it's accordion music, and you should not do that kind of thing again. Seriously, don't. Again, your actual assignment is hard enough, so it's not a good idea to do things that you should know won't get you any credit, and which might easily cost you points. (Many people waste space with off-topic and other unnecesary material. It earns no credit, so don't waste space.)
DON'T repeat any text in any subsequent odyssey stage. This is the most basic rule of odyssey writing. If you copy any section, any paragraph, or even any sentence from any previous odyssey stage and paste it into your current work, you will be deliberately breaking the rules. Reusing ideas is fine, just so long as those ideas are expressed in new text that you write just for your new odyssey stage. Reusing arguments is fine, just so long as those arguments are described in new text that you write just for your new odyssey stage. Just don't reuse any text from a previous stage. Start with a new blank page and write in new sentences and paragraphs to express and explain your new ideas.
DON'T use dictionary definitions. (If you have to give a definition, work out what you mean by the word, and give that definition.)
DON'T skip the fireworks factory.
DON'T cheat.
DON'T listen to anyone who tells you to do your writing assignments differently from how I say to do them. Don't listen to anyone who tells you my instructions really mean something different from what they actually say. Those people are fools, and they are trying to make you fail.
Don't Prejudge. High school teachers often train students to first mindlessly pick a thesis, and then think about how to "prove" that thesis. This is not only deeply stupid, it is also profoundly dishonest. How can you have any confidence that your thesis is correct if you haven't even begun to analyze the logic of the issue? And how can you regard yourself as an honest person if you set out to try to persuade people to believe something that you personally have no real rational reason to believe? Picking your thesis before doing any prewriting is the exact opposite of what you are being told to do here, and prejudiced papers may receive as little as zero points
Don't Survey. Papers that say what some writer said, and then what some other writer said, and then what some third writer said, and then what some fourth writer said, and then stops without even beginning to analyze any of their arguments will be a complete and utter failure. Nothing in these instructions tells you to limit yourself to merely repeating things other people say. If you survey, you will be going very much against the instructions for this assignment.
Don't Cheerlead. Papers that relentlessly gush over some writer's thesis, and only mention their opponents for purposes of slander might be acceptable in your particular major, but they are absolutely unacceptable in a philosophy class. This is not a marketing class, and I am not training you to work for some corrupt psychopath of a politician. I am doing my best to train you to think clearly and logically, If you cheerlead, you will be going very much against the instructions for this assignment.
Copyright © 2023 by Martin C. Young
