INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY KARDINAAL MERCIERPLEIN, 2 B-3000 LEUVEN BELGIUM

Guidelines for the Bachelors Paper with Seminar

____________ KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN

Contents
The Bachelors Paper with Seminar in the Bachelor Programme: General ...................................................... 2 Seminar (4sp. 26 hours) ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Bachelors Paper (8 sp.) ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Evaluation .............................................................................................................................................................. 3 2. Final editing ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 General layout ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Organizing the text ................................................................................................................................................. 4 Giving emphasis ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Quotation marks ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Binding ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 3. Techniques ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Finding and consulting relevant information sources ............................................................................................ 6 Quotations .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Notes (foot- or endnotes) ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 4. Appendix I - Standards for the bibliographical references ............................................................................... 10 1.
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1. The Bachelors Paper with Seminar in the Bachelor Programme: General In the third stage of the Bachelor programme, and given that you have to earn a maximum of 75 study points in order to obtain the BA diploma, you are required to take the Bachelors Paper with Seminar. As part of the Bachelors Paper with Seminar, you will have to attend a seminar and write a paper on one of the topics presented in the seminar. The aim of this
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seminar is to teach you how to research and write an extended work of philosophical scholarship and to prepare you for moving on to the Masters programme and writing a Masters paper. The topic of the Bachelors Paper with Seminar changes every academic year. Seminar (4sp. 26 hours) Every academic year several broad topics within a certain field will be offered. The student will have to choose one of these topics and s/he will write a paper on a subject that falls

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within the topic. The seminar topics will not be too specialized and will allow for a variety of approaches. Each topic will be presented during one seminar session where the teacher will introduce the general theme, present possible topics for the paper, and give an overview of the relevant literature. Before each seminar, all students are required to read the assigned literature. Each session of the seminar will, through a dialogue between the teacher and students, centre on a reconstruction of the basic arguments found in the assigned literature, and this is the reason that it is strictly necessary for the students to read the assigned literature before each seminar. After this overall orientation, the students will choose one particular domain concerning which they will formulate a one-page research proposal. The deadline for submitting the proposal is set out in the syllabus of the course. During the second semester, there will be intermediate meetings, during which the students will be given the guidelines for writing a paper and giving a presentation. During these sessions the students will also present their work in progress and report on their research and the problems that they might encounter while writing their paper. Students will receive feedback from both the teacher/coordinator and fellow students and they will be required to participate in class discussions.

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Bachelors Paper (8 sp.) The BA paper has to be between 6,250 and 7,500 words long - not including the table of contents, bibliography and footnotes or endnotes, typed and 1.5 spaced. The word count has to be indicated at the end of the paper and the word count limits have to be respected. The recommended font is Times New Roman 12pt and the recommended format is A4. The paper can be printed on single or double-sided pages. The BA paper must be written in correct
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English, and contain a coherent system of footnotes or endnotes. The paper will be presented orally in a final discussion where all the teachers and students participate. The details (length, organisation) of the presentations session will be provided by the coordinator of the seminar. The dates of submission of the Bachelors Paper and presentations are set by the coordinator of the seminar and indicated in the syllabus.

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Evaluation The Seminar will be graded by the teacher/coordinator of the seminar on the basis of the presentation(s) and participation in the seminar meetings. The Paper will be graded by the teacher of the seminar/supervisor and a second reader. Criteria of evaluation: o Good writing skills and proper mastery of the formalities of presenting a piece of philosophical research. o Overall organisation of the paper. o Familiarity with and understanding of the material being discussed, along with some main secondary material. o Clarity of understanding; argumentative and interpretative skill. o Quality of philosophical intelligence. To determine the overall result for the course Bachelors Paper with Seminar the results for the two parts will be weighted as follows: Seminar: 30% of the final grade; Paper: 70% of the final grade. Students can only pass the course if they get a grade for both parts. If the student does not attend the seminar meetings, s/he will get NA (the course/exam not taken) in

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both the January and June exam sessions. Students who fail to complete the course within one year will not be allowed to continue on the same subject. They will have to retake the seminar and write a paper on a topic that fits within the theme of one of the seminars then offered.

2. Final editing
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In this section we will talk about some technical aspects. They are not directly connected with the content of your paper but they still help your writing to be better understood. It is important to take these aspects into account right from the first drafts. During the final phase of your work you should in any case check if each of the aspects has been taken care of. In the end you will also have to check such important aspects such as spelling, grammar and the consistent use of punctuation and abbreviations.
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General layout The possibilities for layout are almost limitless thanks to computers. Standards for a good layout, however, are rather strict. For this reason, you should choose a sober, easily legible layout and you should not experiment. It is best that you set the page layout to the proper specifications already for the first piece that you want to hand in to your supervisor. Please see above for the form requirements. You can choose to have your paper printed on single or double-sided pages. For the footnotes you should the same font but in smaller size. Short quotations are marked in the text by quotation marks; for longer quotations the left margin needs to be a bit wider and line spacing a bit smaller, and the quotation marks are not necessary here. For the running section titles and for page numbers you should use headers and footers (for footnotes and quotations, see sections 4a and 4b below).

Organizing the text The organisation of your paper into sections is based on the outline you made earlier. You need to make sure that your organisation is logical, balanced and sufficiently developed. You should also pay attention to the formulation of your titles.

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In numbering sections you have the choice between numerical division (1, 1.1, 1.1.1, 2, etc.) or the alpha-numerical system. ( 1, A, B or 1, 1a, 1b). You should not use both systems at once. Once the division of your paper is ready what remains to be filled in then are page numbers. Giving emphasis Be careful with emphasizing concepts and sentences. Do not give your readers the impression that you are taking them through baby-steps. Underlining sentences, parts of a sentence or sub-titles is not acceptable. You should use italics only in the following cases: __

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non-English words that are not generally used scientific terminology: for example, terms in Latin titles of books and journals see also Standards for bibliography references, appendix 1

Quotation marks Normal quotation marks are used to cite the words of somebody else. You can use single quotation marks for: - concepts or notions that you have not previously introduced - scare quotes, identifying an unusual term or non-standard use of a term - titles of articles in journals and chapters in books cf. Appendix 3

Binding Binding marks the completion of your work and you will usually have it done in a copy centre. You should take into consideration that the binding process can take some time. After having your paper bound you should check to see that there are no missing pages and that everything is in its place.

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3. Techniques

Finding and consulting relevant information sources Good research is based on adequate knowledge of the available reference works and bibliographies. This knowledge concerns both content (What resources are there?) and technique (How can I use them in the most efficient way?). You will also discover very quickly
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that each sub-branch within philosophy has its own information sources. You will get to know either in the library or through your supervisor what these are. Technical aspects are more universal and they are applicable in different forms of the scientific work: skills for examining the catalogues and databanks (formulating question and interpreting answer) and working efficiently in the library. To help you develop these skills, you receive a library session at the beginning of the academic year (for details please see the Calendar of the Institute of Philosophy available on the website of the Institute of Philosophy

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and/or in the Study Guide). If you need help in this phase, do not hesitate to get it: it can help you avoid frustration and the loss of time.

Quotations To support your claims it is often necessary that you use someone elses words. You should only ever quote a recognized authority on your subject. Remember, however, that you do not need to support all your claims in such a way. A good quotation is a faithful reproduction of the source and it contains an unambiguous reference to the author and to the work in which the quotation is found. The latter can be a problem if you are quoting an author who is in turn quoting another author. You should always use the source that is best referenced and you can quote text in the original language or you can translate it into English. In any case you should be consistent. If you have translated a quoted text once, then you should continue to do so and you should also check to see if there is a (good) translation of the concerned text available. For the works of the classical philosophers this is usually the critical editions of their work. If you want to omit a part of the text within the passage you are quoting, this should be indicated by an ellipses: []. If you want to add

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something to the text you are quoting, then your addition has to be placed between square brackets: []. You should put quotations not longer than three lines between quotation marks; for longer quotations you should use a different form (see also 3.5.1). You should not end a sentence in English with a quotation in another language. You need to translate the quoted part of the sentence into English, place it between quotation marks and then quote the text in the original in the footnote.
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For each quotation, you need to provide a bibliographical reference and page number so that the reader can check the correctness of your quotation. There are two techniques for quoting: - In the first the quotation-note system - you need to place the reference in a footnote; the reference consists of the name of the author (the first name or initials and the surname) and the short quotation of the title followed by the page reference. You need to include the complete reference in the bibliography.

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- In the second technique the author-year system - the quotation is followed within the text itself by the name of the author, the year when the book was published and the page reference. The entire bibliographic reference is placed within parentheses, for example: (Whitney 1968:251); the only exception to this rule is when you have already mentioned the name of the author in the sentence, for example: . someone like Kim (1990:14). In the bibliography each instance of the name of the author is then followed by the indication of the year so that it is possible to find every reference from the text very easily. Both techniques, the quotation-note system and the author-year system, have advantages and disadvantages. The first technique gives you more freedom to illustrate your own position with respect to your source. The disadvantage is that when you use the source the second time and you use 'Ibidem' (in the same work) or 'Idem' (by the same author), or when you refer to the previous note, it becomes difficult to get an overview of the whole. From this point of view the author-year system is certainly handier. It works best when the bibliography connected with your subject is strictly specialized and homogenous (for example, no source from the exact sciences is mixed in with literary sources). The author-year system is very often used in the Anglo-Saxon world, but it does not lend itself to referring to philosophical masterpieces and it

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is completely inappropriate for referring to ancient and medieval authors, because in these cases the year of 'publication' is very often unknown. The distinction between a quotation and your own assertions must always be very sharply drawn. If this distinction disappears, then it becomes an issue of plagiarism, which is completely unacceptable in the scientific world. This rule is so strict that it is taken for granted that you will not break it intentionally. Unintentional plagiarism, on the other hand, happens
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relatively often and it is usually a result of careless note-taking. While reading you should therefore always make a clear distinction between the passages that you are quoting and your own comments. However, it is not forbidden to summarize and paraphrase somebody else's thoughts. A real paraphrase (with the reference to the source and with the clear indication that you are paraphrasing) is allowed. Quoting without the quotation marks (for shorter quotations) or without differentiating lay-out (for longer quotations) is not allowed.

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Notes (foot- or endnotes) One of the most important functions of notes is to indicate the source of quotations. Given that in the author-year system, the year and not the title is used as the reference, if you use this type of reference, then the use of notes can be rather limited. Notes can be used for variety of purposes: to give the translation of a quotation that was in the original in the text to give other supplemental quotations to nuance or supplement your assertions when these nuances or supplements are valuable but not immediately necessary for the development of your argument in the main text to refer to assertions elsewhere in your text

Notes are numbered and are placed either at the end of the page (footnotes) or at the end of the chapter or at the end of the paper (endnotes). Every word-processing programme will automatically number your notes and provide sufficient space for them. From this point of view there is no reason to use endnotes, which are for readers much less handy then footnotes.

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Bibliography Everyone who reads your paper should be able to check the correctness of your claims. Therefore you need to mention all the works to which you refer and you need to indicate all the information which makes it possible to find them. This happens in the form of a list with bibliographical references: the bibliography. The bibliography also serves to show that you are familiar with the usual literature in your area of interest. You should pay close attention to your
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bibliography because your readers will make sure that it is formatted according to the proper standards. The extent of your bibliography depends on your subject. There is a great difference between a bibliography for a literary study or if your paper is a critical analysis of a given text. In each case you do not have to mention all the works that you have come across during your research. Sometimes there is an excellent bibliography on your subject available and in this case simply referring to this bibliography will save you a lot of work. You should not mention

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in your bibliography the works which you have not consulted and which you only know from the footnotes of the text that you have read. A good bibliography should not be a problem for a student from the BA programme. You can choose from different systems. You should take care to make references to different types of works in the same way, which means not only independent works (i.e., books) but also nonindependent works (i.e., journal articles and book chapters). You can find an example of a bibliography in appendix 1. Finally, you will also have arrange all your references according to some type of order, dividing them into categories. The categories you use will depend on your subject. The following are standard: sources bibliographical reference books secondary literature added material

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You should also make sure that within each sub-division you order your references alphabetically according to the last name. You should check it yourself, when you have this ordering done by a computer programme.

4. Appendix I - Standards for the bibliographical references

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For an overview of bibliographical referencing systems please see the Purdue Online Writing Lab available at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/.

From: Umberto Eco, Hoe schrijf ik een scriptie. Amsterdam, Bakker, 1985, p. 106. NB: These are the norms for the quotation-note system and they do not take into account that in the author-year system the year is after the name of the author.
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Key: What needs to be in italics is in the standards below in italics. What must be between the quotation marks, is between quotation marks, etc. There is a comma where there needs to be a comma, there are brackets where there need to be brackets, etc. The essential information that can never be omitted is marked by an asterix *. All the other information is optional and can be omitted according to the kind of the paper. If you know the first name of an author you should use the full first name. If you do not know it, you should use initials.

BOOKS *1. Name, First name of an author (or of authors, or other information about pseudonyms), *2. Title. Sub-heading. *3. Edition of the work (if it is applicable), *4. Place published (if not available, put: s.l. which stands for sine loco without place), *5. Publisher (can be omitted if it is not available),

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6. (Series; number), *7 year of publication (if not available, put: s.a. which stands for sine anno without year, guess the year and put your guess between the square brackets [], 8. Possible information about the most recent printing on the basis of which it has been worked, 9. Number of pages, possibly the number of volumes,
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10. (Also in:

), ] or [English translation: ].

11. [Original publication:

EDITED BOOKS *1. Title. Sub-heading. *2. Name, First name of the author (ed.), (rest like with BOOKS)
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JOURNAL ARTICLES *1. Name, First name of the author. *2. 'Title of the article or essay'. *3. Name of the magazine, *4. volume (year) number, *5. page numbers, 6. (Also in: ).

CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS, CONFERENCE PAPERS, ESSAYS FROM COLLECTED WORKS *1. Name, and First name of the author, *2. 'Title of the chapter or essay'. *3. In: *4. First name and Last name of the redactor(s), (ed.), *5. Title of the collection. 6. Possible number of the part of the book where there is the article,

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*7. Place published, Publisher, year of publication, number of pages. (like under 4, 5, 7 and 9 by BOOKS).

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