Information on Writing Papers

1. Thesis of the Paper: a thesis is the main point, the conclusion of an argument, or the  substantive issue that you wish to advance in your paper. The thesis is the "heart" of the paper without which your paper cannot "live."  The thesis provides the organizing focus of the paper in the sense that it gives a succinct statement of what the paper is about, and shows how the paper is structured. The thesis organizes the paper in that once you have given the thesis, your paper must provide evidence to support the thesis.
**I expect your paper to have a clear thesis (if it lacks one, you cannot earn better than a "D"), and to present some argument for the thesis.

2. Grammar: your paper should be correctly written and expressed throughout.  You are most probably writing in your native language, so take pride in this symbolic system! Use spell check and consult grammar handbooks if you are uncertain about the sentence structures-- or use Writing Center tutors to help you.  Having said this, I will say that I expect your paper to be cleanly written; if your paper contains a significant number of errors, you will be graded down, no matter how original the paper is.

3. Paper Topics: if you do not write on an assigned topic, you must clear your topic and thesis with me.  You may save yourself much work by seeing me right away.

4. Paper Citations: All quoting from a text, direct or indirect, must be supported with a footnote to the page, author, and text, following either MLA or scientific format.  All secondary sources that you may have read or consulted, even if they are not quoted, must be listed at the end of the paper (separate page) on a "List of Sources" or "Bibliography." Failure to cite  the sources you have quoted constitutes plagiarism (see the Loyola catalogue), and you will receive an "F" for the course.

 
Approximate Grading Levels

1. A "C level paper" is a paper that may give an adequate answer to a problem or issue, but does not present any objections, or any original views.  It presents a summary of an issue  but doesn't go farther. It does possess a thesis, however.

2. A "B level paper" is a paper that not only gives an adequate exposition of the problem and a solution (or an interpretation), but raises some objections and answers them by giving some good arguments.  It is clearly written, showing very few (if any) writing errors, and it contains evidence that you did some thinking for yourself on this topic.

3. An "A level paper" has all of the points had by a "B level paper" above, and goes one step further.  It may have a wholly original argument, or perhaps give some novel replies to objections that we worked on in class.