SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY AND ART HISTORY
2012-2013
Module Description
MA WRITING WORKSHOP (PY951-7-AU) (15 credits) - Autumn Term Only
Dan Watts
This is an MA level module recommended for students on all MA courses in Philosophy (MA
Continental Philosophy, MA EPPP, MA Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, MA
Philosophy/Integrated PhD).
The School would like to encourage any student with a disability that needs to be taken into
account to contact the Student Support Office, either by email on disab@essex.ac.uk, or by
telephoning internal ext. 2365 or 3444.
Assessment
This module is assessed on the basis of a portfolio of essays. Over the course of the first six
teaching weeks of the Autumn Term (Weeks 2-7), students will submit five essays (one each in
Weeks 3,4,5,6 & 7). Each of these essays will be due on a Tuesday, and will be discussed with
the module leader in a writing tutorial later in the week. At the end of term, the student will
select three of the submitted essays to comprise the assessment portfolio, which will be assigned
a mark for the module as a whole. The essays must be incorporated into the assessment portfolio
as originally submitted. Students are also required to continue to submit written work in Weeks
9, 10 and 11, but the writing assignments in these weeks shall be for formative purposes only.
Weekly essays are typically 1,500-2,000 words. Topics of essay are generally assigned by the
Instructor in Weeks 2-7, with students proposing their own topics in Weeks 9,10,11.
Module Outline
Postgraduate level philosophical writing is a skill that requires practice. The aim of this module
is to provide advanced training and lots of practice in the art of producing philosophical prose at
the post-graduate level. Students taking the course agree to write eight short essays over the
course of the Autumn term under very strict and demanding time restraints. All participants
meet in common workshop session once a week in order to work on writing and presentation
skills, and then in small group tutorials with the Instructor once a week in order to review and
edit written submissions. The module requires a lot of work and commitment from students and
Module Supervisor alike; the idea is that this hard work itself yields a sharp step up in writing
skills at the outset of post-graduate studies. In this sense, the workshop is intended as a version
of ‘Basic Training’ for advanced post-graduate work in Philosophy and related disciplines. The
first six sessions of the workshop are organised around a common set of readings, which will be
selected by the Module Supervisor and will vary from year-to-year. The common readings form
the basis of writing assignments of the first phase of the workshop (Weeks 2-7). Students will
generally be expected to make at least one presentation over the course of the workshop.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
 write strong, clear and creative argumentative philosophical essays on new material under
time pressure with strict deadlines;
 present research in seminar sessions and make productive use of ‘Question & Answer’
sessions, both in the questioner and in the answerer mode;
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assimilate new and difficult reading material without the benefit of being first taught the
material;
exercise strong editing and copy-editing skills;
identify strengths and vulnerability in philosophical arguments and positions.
Bibliography
The workshop this year will undertake a close reading of Bernard Williams’ book Truth and
Truthfulness (Princeton University Press, 2002). The instructor shall make weekly reading
assignments each week through week 7.
SUBMISSION OF COURSEWORK
The operation of the MA Writing Workshop depends on the fast turnaround of marked
submissions. Accordingly, written work for the workshop must be submitted electronically in a
format that facilitates electronic feedback from the writing tutor in the form of “Track Changes”
or “Add Comment” functionality. Accordingly, essays should be submitted via the Online
Coursework Submission (OCS) system. Submission of hardcopies to the School office is not
required. However, you should print out your essays for the purpose of discussion in tutorials.