Midterm Reflections/Directions for Midterm Research Essay.html
Directions for Midterm Research Essay
Possible Topics for Midterm Research Essay will open one week prior to the due date to give you time to research and write your Midterm Research Essay. You will have the entire week of midterm exams to research and organize your Midterm Research Essay.

Select a topic from the Possible Topics for Midterm Research Essay to research using primary and secondary sources from philosophical literature.

Written and graded feedback on your Midterm Research Essay will be provided, which you can use for your Final Research Essay.

Please use the following academic structure for your Midterm Research Essay, which requires a formal tone that was not required in Discussions:

Keep formal academic style by using third person, objective voice. Avoid first and second person (I and you). Instead, use third person, one for reflective pronoun.

Begin with an introduction leading into a thesis statement. Introduce your topic by providing general background and leading into a particular assertion in your thesis statement.

Then, develop and support your assertion through 3-4 body paragraphs with primary and secondary sources. (Primary sources are in the words of the philosophers and secondary sources are commentary about their ideas.) Introduce sources in your own words and then follow sources with commentary and interpretation in your own words.

Note: At least 70% of your writing should be in your own words. Use direct quotes for primary sources and paraphrase secondary sources in your own words. (Review your Turnitin Originality Report for percentages after you submit your essay. View the Reviewing a TurnItIn/Originality Report tutorial.) Be sure to follow both primary and secondary sources with parenthetical citations that include author or title and date.

Conclude with a summary/concluding paragraph in your own words by summarizing your main points and then re-formulating your thesis statement.

Match all of your parenthetical citations in your Reference or Works Cited page at the end of your essay. Be sure to cite complete information following MLA or APA style. No distinctions are needed between primary and secondary sources in in your References or Works Cited. Alphabetize all sources together using the author’s last name or primary titles.

(Learning Objectives Supported: 1b, 2a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 4c)

Faculty Resources/PHI1010 Learning Objectives.html
PHI1010 Learning Objectives
1. The student will be able to describe the history of philosophy by examining the ideas and concepts of the significant thinkers and the development of philosophy from classical to contemporary thought by:

a. identifying the vocabulary, philosophers, and the ideas and concepts in the history of philosophy.

b. explaining the central concepts and resulting world-views in the history of philosophy, such as the nature of knowledge, reality, truth, virtue, justice, and other areas of philosophical inquiry.

2. The student will apply a critical method of doing philosophy through first examining and then evaluating the arguments, issues, and ideas central to philosophy by:

a. critically examining arguments, issues, and ideas central to philosophy.

b. evaluating philosophical arguments for their strengths and weaknesses using logical reasoning and other appeals to reason and/or human experience.

3. The student will examine the major topics in the fields of philosophy to discuss and debate alternative approaches to a variety of philosophical problems using both traditional and alternative world-views by:

a. identifying the major topics in the fields of philosophy.

b. debating the major topics in the fields of philosophy such as the nature of knowledge, reality, truth, morality, justice, art, self-identity, and other major areas of philosophical inquiry.

4. The student distinguish the classical contributions to philosophical literature using primary and secondary sources by:

a. identifying specific contributions to each of the major philosophical traditions.

b. analyzing representative selections from traditionally accepted philosophical classics.

c. examining philosophical ideas through discussion, expository writing, and/or written research.