These are the exact standards I will use to grade your paper.

You will get a separate grade on each numbered section (the thesis will not be graded), which will be combined to give your overall paper grade.

Thesis:
These criteria on the thesis are a minimum bar for a passing paper. If you far exceed them, it's not going to push your grade up. But if you fail to meet them, it will be very hard to get a passing grade on the whole paper. This is because your thesis is what makes sense of everything else you say in the paper.

1. Your thesis is either pre-approved, and in correct format, or Brian has approved it in writing. See the "Paper Topics and Theses" page for an explanation of the pre-approved theses and how they should be formatted. Theses that are different in any meaningful way from what has been approved can potentially result in an F.
2. Your thesis is not trivial (see the "Paper Topics and Theses" page for an explanation of what "trivial" means). Trivial theses can potentially result in an F. A thesis can be graded down for being somewhat trivial.
3. Your thesis is the first thing in the paper.

If your thesis is not quite in an approved format, but is close, I will interpret it so as to make it fit the correct format. I will then treat this as your thesis, and read the entire paper that way.

Part 1: Argument
40% of your grade.

4. Any terms in your thesis that are vague, ambiguous, or unclear are defined or explained early in your paper. A reader should be able to think of example situations and determine exactly what your thesis says about them.
5. You argue that your thesis is true using evidence which could be compelling to a reasonable person who has understood the course material and started out not agreeing with your thesis.
6. The evidence is sufficient to establish that your thesis is true - that is, you argue sufficiently for every component of your thesis.
7. It is clear and well explained how the evidence supports your thesis, and why the evidence is sufficient to establish that your thesis is true.

Part 2: Discussion of objections from class/readings
20% of your grade
Note: 9, 10, and 10a constitute the majority of your grade for part 2.

8. For each topic we have covered in class: you correctly identify any objections to your thesis, or to the arguments from part 1, that came up in class discussion of the topic or in the reading on that topic.
* If there are none that came in that context, you say that.
9. Where there is an objection, you clearly and correctly explain what the objection is and why someone would think that objection is correct.
* Note: an objection might have been raised against a view other than yours, but it can be applied to your view as well. You have to bring these up.
10. You respond to each objection. This involves either explaining why there really is no disagreement, or why the objection is mistaken and your view is correct.
10a. This response must be clear, and must be able to able to convince a reasonable person who initially agreed with the objection.

Part 3. Novel objection
20% of your grade

11. Gives one counterexample your thesis. This must be significantly different from anything discussed in class or in the readings.
11a. A counterexample is a specific case or situation that seems to contradict your thesis, not just a general sort of disagreement.
11b. A counterexample is supposed to show that the thesis is false, not just that one of your arguments in part 1 doesn't work.
12. The counterexample is plausible, relevant to the thesis, and not ruled out by what is said in Part 1. A reasonable person who had read Part 1 and taken this class could think that this counterexample disproves your thesis.
12a. It must not be the case that small changes to the counterexample would clearly make it a better counterexample.
13. You explain why the counterexample is relevant to the thesis, why it shows that the thesis is false, and why a reasonable person would believe it is a strong counterexample.

Part 4. Response to the novel objection
20% of your grade

Note: If part 3 is very weak, then part 4 cannot get a high grade. A response to a bad objection does not demonstrate philosophical understanding.
14. Gives an argument that the example from part 3 does not show your thesis is false.
14a. This must not misinterpret the objection from part 3.
14b. This does not change the thesis.
14c. The response does not rely on details of the counterexample that could easily be changed.
15. The response gives evidence which could be compelling to a reasonable person who was initially convinced by the example from Part 3.
16. The evidence is sufficient to show that the counterexample does not disprove your thesis.
17. It is clear and well explained how the evidence responds to the counterexample.
18. The response does not change or misuse the meanings of any terms discussed in class or in the reading.
19. The response does not rely on any misunderstandings of concepts or arguments from class or the reading.

General standards:
These apply to the entire paper.

20. Any discussion of ideas, terms, or arguments from class or the readings is correct and accurate (This is extremely important; mistakes about class material can bring down your grade significantly).
21. The meaning of every sentence is clear.
22. No significant grammar/spelling/word choice errors.
23. No use of quotations unless absolutely necessary. I will generally not read anything in quotation marks. I should be able to skip everything in quotes and still understand your paper.

Formatting
Your grade will be reduced 1/3 of a grade (e.g. from a B+ to B) for each of these rules you break.
* ID page: after the last body page, add a new page with nothing on it but your name; put your name at the bottom of this page. This allows us to grade all papers anonymously.
* Do not put your name, or any other identifying marks, anywhere on the paper except for your ID page.
* Single spaced, 1" margins, 12 point font (Times New Roman or something very similar; I recommend Garamond).
* No introduction or conclusion. Your first sentence is your thesis.
* Must be in .doc or .docx format.
* The file name must be "[your student id number] [course number] PAPER 1.doc" or ".docx".
* Please label "Part 1," "Part 2," "Part 3," and "Part 4" of your paper (see above for what goes in each part).
* If you are writing on a thesis that was not pre-approved, you must have gotten approval by email from Brian. If you did, please put a footnote after your thesis saying "This thesis was approved by Brian on [date]."

Length
* The paper can be as long as you want. However, if it goes over 3 pages (excluding bibliography and ID pages), you will be marked down if there is unnecessary material. "Unnecessary" means "not needed to fulfill the above grading standards." Going over 3 pages is fine as long as it is done to satisfy the above grading standards.