Voice: In contemporary philosophy, there is roughly a fifty-fifty split between papers in the first person and in the third person. Generally, the third person voice reads more formally. Therefore, if you adopt the first person voice in your paper, be extra careful that you do not lapse into an informal, chatty style. Writing in the second person is almost invariably awful. Attempt this voice at your peril.

These are inappropriate:

I was talking to my friend Hector on the phone the other day, and between us we came up with a great objection to Mill's argument for utilitarianism.

You are going to be absolutely convinced by the argument in the paper against Mill's utilitarianism.

These are acceptable:

In this paper, I will argue that Mill's argument for utilitarianism fails.

This paper offers a refutation of Mill's argument for utilitarianism.

Dialogue: Although it is much much harder to write anything of philosophical substance in a dialogue, feel welcome in my courses to try your hand at writing in a dialogue format. Take care not to include useless conversational filler between the participants in the dialogue. It may seem to you that some famous writers of philosophical dialogues (like Plato) include a great deal of extraneous material. Even if you are right about this — and that is by no means assured since what might seem extraneous to you may well be philosophically relevant to scholars — it is not an invitation to do the same in your own dialogues. Given your space constraints, you will need to make certain that every single line in your dialogue achieves something in the direction of your philosophical end. In general, I will be more demanding in assessing dialogues since they offer so many opportunities to go wrong. Remember, these assignments are not exercises in creative writing.

Ad hominem arguments: These are arguments that attack the person rather than the merit of her or his views. Insulting comments of any kind directed at the author of a philosophical view are to be avoided at all costs.

Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar: These are not the principal virtues to aspire to in a philosophical paper, but they are still virtues. Poor spelling and grammar will detract from the authority of your writing. It often helps to read your papers aloud to arrive at smooth sentence structure. Have a friend look at the paper for errors. You will not be graded on the mechanics of your writing, but if there are significant errors, I will have you rewrite the paper with corrections.

Names: If you are dealing with a contemporary philosopher, the first time you mention an author use her or his full name. All subsequent times use last name only. You may refer to authors in the canon (e.g., Hume, Nietzsche, Arendt) by last name only if you wish.

Gender: Until recently the masculine pronoun was generic. We would write, "A student must prepare his notes carefully to be successful on the quiz," even though many students are women. In the academy, this is no longer the norm. You may, of course, endorse any stance you wish on this matter, but I urge you to think about the gender of your pronouns and the "genderness" of your paper. Writing is sometimes powerful in its content.  Writing is also sometimes powerful in implicit ways.  Make sure that your papers express your considered views on gender issues.

Contractions: Avoid them.

Rhetorical questions: It is sometimes tempting to move an essay along by asking rhetorical questions. For example, you will sometimes see questions like, "Is valuing justice for its own sake really possible?" or "Has Nietzsche considered all of the explanations for the origin of Christianity?" You should use this device extremely sparingly. The danger is that you may end up having your questions do all of your argumentative work for you. In other words, you will be relying on your reader to supply the arguments herself when she tries to answer your questions. Since your responsibility is to give the best arguments you can, relying on questions to motivate the themes of your essay runs the risk of causing you to shirk your duty. If you do ask a question in your paper, your own answer to it should be clear and obvious in the essay. You should never ask several questions in a row. Write instead in a direct and assertive way.

Humor: Save your attempts at humor for another setting.