The Philosophers' Cocoon

This is a guest post by Jonathan Tallant, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham.

There is no one right way to write a short philosophy paper; one need only read the journals that publish them to appreciate that.

What I’ll do here is say a little bit about how I do it and the sorts of issues I think those writing them would do well to think about. My sense of it is that shorter papers need to be punchier papers. That informs a lot of what I say here. Whether you think I’ve managed to follow my own advice in my short-form articles…. Well, I’ll leave that up to you.

1. Read: Go and read some examples. If you’re pitching a paper at the likes of Analysis or Thought, which are the two main journals that publish philosophy in the kind of word-count range we’ll be thinking about (1k to 4k words), then go and read them. Get a feel for (/remind yourself of the feel of) a short, punchy philosophy paper. This follows from a more general principle. If you want to know what kinds of style matter to a journal, go read the journal and try to get a sense of the sorts of style that work.
2. Get on with it. For my money, there are two types of short paper. Reply papers and standard papers. They are a bit different, but one thing binds them for short-form articles (for me): you need to get to the point. Philosophy papers often have slow careful introductory passages that lay out a host of competing concerns, explain a great deal of background, and so on. For a 1500 word reply paper, you can’t do that (well, I can’t). Set up the target thesis; knock it down. For a more standard paper: tell me what the point is and then make it. Don’t mess about.
3. Don’t try to be too interesting. I mean this only in part. Often, longer philosophy papers have a target thesis, but they also make lots of other interesting points along the way, and sometimes explore interesting side issues. For a short paper, don’t (/I don’t) do this. You have few words. You have a target thesis. Set it up. Show how it works. Stop.
4. I find that short sentences make for short(er) papers. Keep it snappy, keep it short. Shorter sentences will force greater precision, which should help you to get on with it. (You may spot a theme here.)
5. It’s obvious, but don’t just edit for content or for sense. Edit for brevity. Find shorter ways of making the same point. Delete those paragraphs that you’re fond of, but that don’t really help drive you towards the main point that you’re making.
6. Edit (again). Imagine that this is a student paper that you’ve been asked to look at. The student is targeting brevity. Your job is to help them.
7. Top and tail. If you feel the need to have an introduction and conclusion (you might not need to), then the same points apply. Keep them short and concise.