Writing Workshop I
                             Writing Workshop I
 • Your header should include: your name, course, professor, and date 
 single spaced in two columns:
       John Smith                      17th Century Philosophy
       Dr. Stephen Daniel                   Sept. 26, 2021
                    Essay Title
 • Papers should have one-inch margins with double-spaced lines. Font: 
 Times New Roman, 12 pt for text, 11 pt for notes. Title should be 
 centered at top of first page (no cover sheet). Indent first line of 
 paragraphs ½″. Indent quotes longer than three lines ½″ from the left 
 margin (single spaced; no quotation marks). Don’t begin or end a quote 
 with an ellipsis (three periods). Single quotes go inside commas, periods, 
 colons, semi-colons; double quotes go outside. Put citations in footnotes.
 • To find supporting materials, consult the Philosopher’s Index or Phil Papers.
          Writing Workshop I
          Writing Workshop I
 • After your title, your first paragraph should identify your issue: What is 
 the basic point or argument the philosopher is making? Then indicate 
 steps in the argument along with the problems it raises.
 • Avoid generalities (“For centuries philosophers have argued”). Don’t 
 end with “much still needs to be said about…” No first names (e.g., John 
 Locke) or identifications (“philosopher Mary Astell”). Don’t agree or 
 disagree with someone’s view or express your personal opinions 
 (“Locke nicely frames the problem…”) except in the concluding 
 paragraph.
 • Don’t refer to first names of classic thinkers (e.g., John Locke, David 
 Hume) unless they could be confused for another philosopher (e.g., Pierre 
 Bayle, Margaret Cavendish, Henry More). Don’t refer to the “philosopher 
 Rene Descartes” or “historian Daniel Garber”: we know them.
                             Writing Workshop I
                             Writing Workshop I
 • Don’t cite book/article titles in the text (e.g., “in ‘Mechanism in Locke’, 
 Downing notes”): footnote it. Don’t cite online addresses. Italicize book 
 titles but not article and book chapter titles (double quotes). Footnotes:
 •   Book: Nicholas Jolley, The Light of the Soul: Theories of Ideas in Leibniz, 
     Malebranche, and Descartes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 8-
     10. No need for “p.” or “pp.”
 •   Editor/translator reference: Nicholas Malebranche, The Search after Truth, 
     III.2.6, in The Search after Truth trans. Thomas M. Lennon and Paul 
     Olscamp (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1980), 230.
 •   Journal article: Monte Cook, “The Ontological Status of Malebranchean 
     Ideas,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (1998), 538-39. [Refer only 
     to the page(s) you are drawing on, not the whole article.]
 •   Essay in book: Steven Nadler, “Intentionality in the Arnauld Debate,” in 
     Minds, Ideas, and Objects, ed. Philip D. Cummins (Atascadero, CA: 
     Ridgeview Publishing Co., 1992), 78.
 •   Internet article: Sarah Hutton, “Lady Anne Conway,” Stanford Encyclopedia 
     of Philosophy . 
          Writing Workshop I
          Writing Workshop I
 • If you repeatedly cite a work, refer to later references in parentheses in 
 the text with a short reference and page (e.g. Jolley, 8; or if you have 
 different Jolley references: Jolley, Light, 8). Use footnotes, not endnotes.
 • Refer to the Cottingham–Stoothoff–Murdoch translation of Descartes’ 
 Meditations first in a footnote [e.g., Meditation I in The Philosophical 
 Writings of Descartes, vol. 2, trans. John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, 
 and Dugald Murdoch [CSM] (New York: Cambridge University Press, 
 1984), 41], and in subsequent citations, insert references parenthetically 
 into the text (not in footnotes): for example, (Med I, CSM 2: 41).
 • Do not insert footnote numbers in the middle of a sentence. Do not 
 include “Works Cited,” References, or Bibliography sections.
 • Use only one space between sentences and no space between a 
 punctuation mark and a footnote number. Also, footnote numbers go 
 outside periods and closed quotes—e.g. “ending.”3
                          Writing Workshop I
                          Writing Workshop I
 • Use appropriate footnote commands: do not manually type in page 
 numbers or insert footnotes as superscripted numbers. In Word, use 
 References/Insert Footnote. Do not insert multiple spaces; instead use 
 tabs or margin markers. Don’t cite online addresses; go to the journal 
 entry itself.
 • Use an em-dash instead of two hyphens for an aside comment—such as 
 this—and an en-dash instead of one hyphen for relating terms (e.g., “the 
 finite–infinite contrast”). In MS Word: Insert, Symbols.
 •  Inside parentheses, use abbreviations (e.g., i.e., viz.); outside 
    parentheses, spell out the words (for example, that is, namely).
 • Be careful to spell the following words correctly: separate, perceive, 
 conceive, receive, existence, independent, it’s (and its), infinite, innate, 
 judgment, sensible, persistent, perception, affective (which is different 
 from “effective”), principle (vs. principal), then (vs. than).