The paper can be on any topic in Chinese philosophy, whether covered in the course or not, but it must
focus on a specific problem or question and must present an argument in favor of a particular thesis. You
must draw upon at least one primary and two secondary sources in your paper. All secondary sources
should be peer-reviewed articles in academic journals (e.g. Philosophy East & West) or scholarly books.
Please give citations for all your sources (including those from the assigned reading) and provide a
bibliography giving full references for all sources(do not include the URL for articles downloaded from
JSTOR).
After gathering sources and identifying a specific problem or question to address in the paper, you will need
to formulate a specific thesis. The thesis can involve the defense or criticism of some specific philosophical
view advanced by a particular philosopher on a specific issue. It can deal with a comparative question,
asserting that two philosophers views are similar and different in specific ways on specific issues. It could
also be focused on an interpretive question, evaluating disagreements between contemporary scholars on
how to interpret some philosopher on some particular point and defending some particular interpretation.
Whatever the question or problem is, the thesis should be interesting, specific, and qualified. It should not
be a claim that is incredibly obvious and it should be focused as narrowly as possible on one particular
issue or view
