Any topic (writer’s choice)

QUESTION: According to Krishna, the reality of persons and their relative lack of control over outcomes implies that they ought to find valor in doing their duty and worry not about outcomes. In this they find a life worth living. Defend or criticize this thesis by philosophical argument. (Hint: you might want to address the question of whether a soldier can think about fighting without contemplating outcomes or whether thinking about such outcomes is not relevant to the duty of the soldier?)

RULES: The essay, like all assignments in this course, must be completely authored and edited by the student themselves. By staying enrolled in this course, students agree not to use essay writing services or essay editing services. A failure to abide by these constraints constitutes a violation of academic honesty requirements. Pass/fail assignments that appear to be professionally edited may receive a 0, graded assignments that seem professionally edited may receive a 20% penalty, or the student may be required to submit to an oral examination to prove that they are the author and editor of the submissionat the discretion of the course director or TA. An unsatisfactory oral examination may result in a 0% in the assignment or further formal academic honesty inquiries that might lead to a permanent note on the students academic record. Instead of professional editing services, students are encouraged to invest in editing software.
Questions about the essay may not be sent to the professor or TA any later than topic 6 or 18 of the respective term. This is to discourage students from leaving their essay until the last minute. Students who send last minute questions about the essay to the professor or TA (past these deadlines) may be docked 2 points from their participation mark. Any feedback provided by the TA or the instructor is the students responsibility to incorporate. The content of your papers is your responsibility. Emails about illness or requests for legitimate accommodation are exempt from penalty. Extensions for the essay can only be sought within the first two weeks of the course. Personal illness or bereavement may be grounds for accommodation if they are the reason for a students inability to hand a paper in on time. Students with special obligations to dependents may also receive last minute accommodation. Students who require accommodation for some other reason must make the request in the form of a philosophical argument. If the argument is valid, philosophical and not obviously unsound, the accommodation will be granted.
All papers must be double spaced, four pages in length. Papers are to be written in 12 point font with one inch margins on 8.5 by 11 inch pages. All scholarly references must be formatted according to the scholarly conventions (see our Moodle site for more information on this). The opinions of authors that are cited must be accompanied by the appropriate page number references. An extra page should be added for the bibliography. No endnotes please: in-text citations only. Every essay should have a separate title-page that states the (a) title, (b) course, (c) student particulars along with (c) the instructors name, (d) the TAs name (in cases where the course has a TA), and (e) the essay question reprinted verbatim. I or your TA do not want to be in a position to have to guess which essay question you are responding to. Title pages that exclude this information, or essays submitted without title pages, may be docked 5% from the final grade (that is, assuming that from the essay itself we can discern which topic you chose to write on). Wrong paper submissions requiring the old submission to be replaced by a new submission will earn a 2% penalty, in addition to any applicable late penalties. Late papers may be penalized 5% per day.
Essays without bibliographies or proper citation may be docked 10% or the percentage equivalent of improperly included material. Essays over four pages in length (excluding the title page and the bibliography) may be docked 5% per extra page, or the extra pages may not be read: which measure is
adopted is up to the discretion of your grader. Essays that rely extensively on class notes or secondary material or do not provide proper primary text references may be docked 10%. (Proper citation ought to provide page number locations for cited ideas or texts. Citing the whole article will often not be specific enough, unless it is an internet source with no page numbers, in which case referring to the source without the page numbers will suffice. Internet sources must be properly cited with in-text citations and the appropriate entry in the bibliography that states the URL. All wording used from other sources must be in quotations with references provided.)
Essay Composition Rule. When writing your essay, do not copy material from other sources without putting the words in quotations and also copying the reference informationeven when making your notes for a paper. Any material that is copied from another source and makes it into your essay without giving proper credit constitutes plagiarism. Proper credit consists in putting quotation marks around borrowed wording while citing the author, or citing an author if you are using their ideas. Even if you change the wording of the quote, you ought to give credit to the original author. Failure to give credit to the original author while changing the wording also constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism is a type of theft and deception: theft and deception do not go along with learning and personal accomplishment. Aside from any penalty imposed for plagiarism, papers that violate the essay composition instruction may be docked 5%.

STRUCTURE: Please structure your paper with the following headings: (1) Introduction, (2) Explication, (3) Main Argument, (4) Response to Objections, (5) Conclusion. Essays without these headings are harder to read. Your grader has the right to give a paper without headings a grade of C or lower if he or she cannot make out the papers argument structure. Rendering the argument structure clear is the students responsibility. Please make sure you understand what an argument is, before writing and submitting your paper.