Third Year Review Preparation Course

Catalog description

In the Third Year Review preparation course, students work with a faculty member to develop and refine an already existing paper or project. (Such a paper is often, but not always, a paper written for a previous graduate seminar.) During the semester, the student submits drafts of the developing paper, discussing each draft with the instructor before moving on to the next draft. The aim is for students to receive individual mentoring in the craft of writing a professionallevel philosophy paper; to have a chance to develop a paper more deeply and thoroughly than is typically possible in the more rushed context of a onesemester seminar; and to be provided with a formally structured opportunity to prepare a paper for the third-year review. It is expected that the student and faculty member will meet roughly every two weeks during the semester. Students need not have prior acquaintance with a faculty member to ask him or her to supervise the Third Year Review preparation course. Under no circumstances may a student submit one and the same paper for credit in both a graduate seminar and the Third Year Review preparation course. If a Third Year Review preparation course paper develops out of an existing seminar paper, as will often be the case, the expectation is that it will constitute a substantial development of that paper. Except in special circumstances, it is expected that the Third Year Review preparation course paper will serve as the student’s Third Year Review submission.