Plato’s Gorgias Proposal Assignment | Online Homework Help

instructions below are for a paper proposal but there is no specific topic, or instructions, for this paper so these instructions will be useful for the paper The paper proposal has three main elements: topic, thesis, and reasons in support of the thesis. The thesis is the central component. The topic frames and motivates the thesis, and the reasons sketch how you plan to defend the thesis.suggested procedureStart formulating a thesis by finding a good objection to one of our readings. (Ultimately, you may defend this objection, or you may respond to it on the author’s behalf—see below.) I suggest proceeding as follows: 1. Identify a reading you might want to write about. (You may have an objection or even a thesis in mind already, but wait on that and come back later.) 2. Do a careful outline of that reading, including the following:2a. Identify the conclusion of the reading (its thesis). 2b. Identify the premises (the reasons that the author gives for the conclusion). 2c. Reconstruct the argument. How do the premises support the conclusion? Are there suppressed premises (assumptions that the author must be making, though they are not explicitly stated)? 3. Really, spend a significant amount of time on step 2. 4. Once you’ve achieved a solid understanding of the reading, list as many objections as you can. Recall Shaw’s First Law of Philosophy: it cannot be that the only thing wrong with an argument is the conclusion. You may have independent reasons to doubt the conclusion of the argument. Those are only useful insofar as they help you to identify an objection to the author’s argument for the conclusion. 5. List as many replies to each objection as you can. This will help to identify which objections are strongest or most interesting. If you find an obvious, strong response to an objection, that objection was probably not strong to start with. (Other responses are strong, but not obvious; those can be good to write about!) 6. Your thesis will either (a) state your best objection, or (b) state your best reply to your best objection. 7. The thesis is the second part of your proposal. Your topic, the first part, frames and motivates the thesis. Suppose your thesis objects to a premise of an argument. In your first sentence, orient the reader to the larger argument, e.g., “In Plato’s Republic, Socrates argues that the soul has three parts.” In your second sentence, focus on the aspect of the topic you’re writing about, e.g., “One premise in Socrates’ argument is the principle of non-opposition: nothing can do or undergo opposites at the same time, in the same relation, in the same respect”. If your thesis is your objection, that suffices to set up your thesis, e.g., “In this paper, I argue that the principle of non-opposition is false because…”. If your thesis is a reply to an objection, then the objection is part of your topic, e.g., “Someone might reject the principle of non-opposition because…”. That suffices to set up your thesis, e.g., “However, in this paper I argue that this is a bad reason to reject the principle of non-opposition”. NB you can change your mind midstream! For example, if you aim to defend Plato against an objection and then decide your reply doesn’t work, make the objection your thesis and consider defending the objection against the reply you initially thought would work. 8. The third and final part of the proposal sketches your reasons for holding your thesis. This can be hard to do well before writing the paper, since writing is often a process of discovery. That’s okay; the proposal is a first pass to help you figure out your next steps. (If you are sure about your topic and thesis, you may want to think about writing a partial draft for yourself before writing the proposal, to work out your reasons.) – common problems 1. Introductory material that isn’t squarely about the topic, or too much detail about the topic. For the proposal (and also in the first paragraph of your paper), you only need enough to introduce your thesis. In the paper, you will approach the topic in more detail in the paragraphs after your introduction. 2. More than one objection: this often stems from feeling unsure of how to write a full paper on the topic. (I can help with that!) If you are considering more than one objection or thesis, remember that you can submit multiple proposals. 3. Weak thesis: for example, if you defend an argument against an objection that obviously doesn’t work, you haven’t accomplished much. 4. Misunderstanding the text: it’s inevitable that this will happen sometimes, but you minimize the chances of a significant error by outlining the text you’re writing about, as described above. 5. Unclarity: consider testing this by asking someone not in the class to read your proposal and explain it back to you, in their own words. Some other common problems: run-ons or excessively long sentences; unnecessary use of fancy words or technical vocabulary. Smaller barriers: too many noun + verb or verb + preposition combinations where a single verb works (e.g., “make the case that” instead of “argue that”; “think about” rather than “consider”). – main features of a good paper proposal Correlatively, a good paper proposal will do the following: 1. Motivate the thesis by briefly describing the topic, without fuss or extraneous detail. 2. Formulate a single, clear thesis that is neither obvious nor indefensible. 3. Accurately represent the text you’re writing about. 4. Do all this clearly and efficiently—if your reader has to reread sentences to understand what they say, you’re not doing as well as you can at communicating your thoughts.