Get Assignment Paper Help-LETTER WRITING
LETTER-WRITING GUIDE
–Core Quote: the sentence, quoted from your primary text, which your entire paper will explore
-You have to actually put a sentence in quotes, not just paraphrase or summarize it.
-example: “All humans by nature desire the good.” -Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, page 1.
–Core Question: basically asks what particular things the core quote might mean
-Must appear in the first paragraph
-Must be an open-ended (not a close-ended, yes/no) question.
-example: What might be meant by the phrase “by nature” here?
–Three Strategies: different way you can formulate the core question:
1) approaching the core quote from several directions
-example: What might be meant by the phrase “by nature” here?
-1) first possible meaning of “nature”
-2) second possible meaning of “nature”
-3) third possible meaning of nature”
2) asking a chain of deeper questions about the core quote
-example: -1) What might it mean for humans to desire the good naturally?
-2) What is involved in humans’ desiring the good (regardless of whether it is desired naturally or artificially)?
-3) What is the nature of humans’ desire itself?
3) making explicit assumptions that are hidden in the core quote
-example: “What might be meant by the words “human,” “nature” and “good” here?
-1) deeper/hidden meanings of “man”
-2) deeper/hidden meanings of “nature”
-3) deeper/hidden meanings of “good”
(continued on next page)
–Outline: used to help clarify the structure of your paper, so you waste less time
-Author’s Name, Text’s Title
-Core Quote
-Core Question*
-Answer1 (in one word/phrase maximum)*
-Answer2 (in one word/phrase maximum)*
-Answer3 (in one word/phrase maximum)
–Dialogue Method: a back-and-forth process between text, outline, and paper
-1: (1st re-reading) of just your underlining of the text
-2: (choose) a troubling/exciting/confusing idea/point/question
-3: (2nd reading) of your underlining, through the lens of that one idea (from 2)
-4: (little outline) with 3 key aspects of the idea
-5: (write intro) 1st paragraph of paper
-6. (big outline) expanded to full outline
-7: (revise intro) to match big outline
-8: (revise big outline) to match introduction
-9. (write 1st draft) to match the revised full outline
-10: (final outline) to match the 1st draft
-11: (write 2nd draft) to match final outline
-Memory Trick (for organizing the letters):
-“Competent students question ideas (and question ideas and, etc.) and synthesize creatively.”
–C ompetent –Context regarding the author and text
–S tudents –Summary of the surface-level meaning of the text as a whole
–Q uestion –Quotation (starting with your core quote)
–I deas –Interrogation (of that quote)
–A nd –Argument (as to how best to interpret the quote)
… …
–S ynthesize –Summary of how your new interpretations reveal deeper possibilities than the surface meaning of the text as a whole
–C reatively –Context regarding the author and text in light of those deeper meanings, as applied to our worlds today
-I will now spell out this memory trick in greater detail: your introductory paragraph…
–(C) gives the reader some context as to why the philosopher is important, and
–(S) summarizes the larger text from which your core sentence is taken;
the three body paragraphs of your letter consist of…
–(Q) quotes from throughout your text,
–(I) questions about what those quotes might mean, and
–(A) your arguments as to why some of those possible meanings are believable;
and your letter’s concluding paragraph…
–(S) summarizes the reasons why your new interpretations change the way we interpret the text as a whole, and
–(C) puts those different meanings of the text in the context of trying to live better in our shared worlds today.
-Overview: my “Window/Tree” metaphor
-Imagine that you’re inside a building, looking out a window, and see a tree. In this metaphor, the tree represents the alleged real world, and the window represents the language which a primary text uses to describe/understand the tree. Most of us tend to assume that language is a neutral and transparent tool (like a clear and clean window) when it’s actually cloudy and complex (like a dirty, stained-glass window of multiple colors). Thus, what we think we see out in the world (the tree), may be very different from what we think that it is (for example, the tree could be a different color altogether, like a blue spruce that looks green through yellow glass).
-The point of these letters, in terms of this metaphor, is to analyze the window itself (that is, language) in order to learn its peculiarities and eccentricities. Then, we can begin to correct for those, thus getting a better sense of what the tree (that is, any given world) might be like.
