The Cogito (I think, therefore I am.): Meditations on First Philosophy, Second Meditation: Does the fact that I am thinking prove that I exist? Is consciousness alone enough to demonstrate the reality of oneself? At the beginning of Descartes’ skeptical project, he thinks he has identified the one foundational belief upon which he can build the rest of his arguments. After stripping away everything he thinks he can reasonably doubt about his experiences, he is left with just one thing that he believes is clear and distinct, he is thinking. And it seems to Descartes that if one is thinking it is impossible to doubt that one exists.
Here you will find a list of the primary formatting requirements for the essay. However, the essay must follow all rules and guidelines for student writing included in the syllabus and the Writing Advice hand-out, even if they do not appear explicitly on this list.
5 pages minimum length: This means that the main text of the essay must be at least five complete pages of text. Five complete pages does not mean that you have written enough to reach the fifth page. Four and a quarter pages is not five pages. Five pages is the minimum length. If a student wants to be safe regarding the minimum length, write more than five pages. This minimum length does not include the works cited page or a title page. Any added formatting that artificially adds to the length, like adding extra returns between paragraphs, extra spaces between sentences, extra lines to the heading on the first page, titles to each page, etc. will simply be deleted to determine the actual length before grading.
10 pages maximum length: The main text of the essay should not exceed ten pages.
Font – Arial (standard), 12pt maximum size: The essay must be in the standard variant of Arial font. The one that says “Arial” without any subcategory. The maximum font size that will be accepted is 12pt. If an essay is submitted in any other font or size, the text will be converted to the correct font and size before grading.
Margins – 1 inch: Standard one-inch margins. If an essay is submitted with any other size of margins, the margins will be reset to one inch before grading.
Line Spacing – Double-Spaced: The line spacing of the essay is to be set to double-spaced. If an essay is submitted with any other size of line spacing, it will be reset to double-spaced before grading.
MLA Style: The essay must follow MLA style and citation guidelines, with one exception (See Below). A complete online MLA style guide can be found hereLinks to an external site..
The essay must include MLA style in-text parenthetical citations.
The essay must include an MLA style works cited page. All sources are to include full citations for the hard copy sources. Do not cite your sources as web pages or as web sources. For your primary source, cite it as a book. For your secondary sources, cite them as paper journals.
EXCEPTION TO MLA STYLE FOR THIS ESSAY: Do not include an MLA header on the left side of the first page. A header along the top with the student name, assignment title, and date is sufficient (See the Essay example below).
MS Word (.docx) File Format: Like all submissions for this course, only .docx file format will be accepted.
TURNITIN Plagiarism Checker: All submissions will be analyzed by turnitin.com for plagiarism.
Essay Structure:
The essay will not follow the standard introduction, body, conclusion structure. Do not include standard introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Instead, the essay must follow the following structure. In the remainder of this section detailing the essay structure, the “~” or “tilda” symbol means “about.”
There are four tasks the essay must complete. When completing these tasks, be as detailed as possible and remember what it says in the Writing Advice hand-out regarding direct quotes and paraphrasing. Each of these tasks must be completed in the order specified:
Explain your primary source (~1 page): This task should take about one page, so your first page, or there about, should be dedicated to completing this task. Explain the part of the course readings that is the subject of your paper topic. Present the main argument from that part of the reading.
Explain your first secondary source (~1/2 page): This task should take about half a page, so the first half of your second page, or there about, should be dedicated to completing this task. Explain what your first secondary source is about, how it is relevant to your primary source, and present the main argument from that source.
Explain your second secondary source (~1/2 page): This task should take about half a page, so the second half of your second page, or there about, should be dedicated to completing this task. Explain what your second secondary source is about, how it is relevant to your primary source, and present the main argument from that source.
Present your original argument (a minimum of ~3 complete pages): This task will take the rest of the essay. Based on what you read in your primary and secondary sources, state your position on your paper topic (i.e. your answer to the question or questions posed in the topic assignment), and present your arguments and examples in support of that position.
It can help to think of the essay as divided conceptually into two parts: the explanatory part (tasks one, two, and three), and the original part (task four). It should be clear from the approximate page lengths given for the above tasks, that it is expected that the original part, the part of the essay that is the student’s original writing (i.e. task four), will be longer than the explanatory part. Thus, if the student spends extra time on the explanatory part, then they will also have to spend extra time on the original part to ensure that the original part is longer.
must include MLA style works cited for all three sources attached.
essay is for Second Meditations
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Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
