writing
TagA Philosopher Helps A Former Prisoner Dig Deep Into His Experiences, Thoughts, and Art
“I realized I couldn’t be what the officials were expecting of me. You got to put that in your head so they can’t break you. They want to break you. If you’re not broken, they say you’re crazy.” (more…)
Types of __________ Papers (updated)
Last week, Randall Munroe, author of the famed webcomic xkcd published a comic about “Types of Scientific Paper“: (more…)
Jargon for Trouble (guest post by Maximilian Noichl)
The following guest post* was prompted by last week’s inquiry about whether philosophy papers with more jargony titles get cited less. Maximilian Noichl (University of Vienna), whose work has been featured at Daily Nous before, turned to the question over the past weekend, and describes his findings below. (more…)
Jargon & Citation in Philosophy
A study of papers published in academic science journals on the topic of “cave science” found that “papers containing higher proportions of jargon in their titles and abstracts were cited less frequently by other researchers.” (more…)
Notably Good Experiences with Philosophy Journals
As stories of philosophy journal horror stories continue to come in, one commenter made a suggestion. (more…)
Philosophy Journal Horror Stories (updated)
By request, here is a post for people to share their journal “horror stories.” (more…)
The Art of Philosophical Writing: An Interview with William Lycan (by Nathan Ballantyne)
“There has to be a balance between the formal and the conversational.” (more…)
“Biting the Bullet”: A Note on Style from Caspar Hare
In his 2013 book, The Limits of Kindness, Caspar Hare (MIT) includes a brief “stylistic note” that gets across an important lesson for academic writers: don’t overestimate the familiarity of your readers with specialist terminology—even when the intended readers are others in your discipline. (more…)
Virtual Dissertation Groups for Spring 2021
Once again, Joshua Smart is organizing workshopping groups for philosophy graduate students currently writing dissertations. (more…)
How to Publish a Journal Article in Philosophy: Advice for Graduate Students and New Assistant Professors (guest post)
In the following guest post,* Eric Schwitzgebel, professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside, shares his “possibly quirky advice” about publishing in philosophy journals. (more…)
A Norm for Self-Citation (guest post by Colin Klein)
“How to self-cite without giving away your identity? I’ve seen two ways of doing it over the years. One is great, and one is really frustrating. We should all stop doing the frustrating one.” (more…)
Virtual Dissertation Writing Groups
The following is an announcement from Joshua Smart (Ohio State University) regarding virtual dissertation groups (VDG) for philosophy graduate students. (more…)
Citing the Referees at the Journal that Rejected You
You may not like it when your article is rejected from a journal, but at least sometimes you get something good out of it: criticism. (more…)
Virtual Dissertation Writing Groups
The following is an announcement from Joshua Smart (Ohio State University) regarding virtual dissertation groups (VDG) for philosophy graduate students.
Students Have Easy Access to Ghostwriters for Hire — What Should Teachers Do?
Recently, Eric Winsberg (South Florida), as an experiment, tweeted, “Who could I pay to write a five-page essay for me that I need to turn in for my philosophy class?” (more…)
The Inefficiencies of Traditional Academic Writing
Most of the words in an average, considered-well-written paper are in some sense superfluous: for the right audience, you can usually boil it down to a few statements. (more…)
Triumphantly Breaking Free from Academic Philosophy, But Still…
In 2015 I received the National Humanities Medal at a ceremony at the White House. President Obama himself put the medal around my neck, and the rumor was that he made the final choice. In the speech he gave before awarding all the medals, in addition to citing my work on Gödel and Spinoza and Plato, he spoke of me as the philosopher who sometimes chooses to write n..
Virtual Dissertation Writing Groups
The following is an announcement from Joshua Smart (Ohio State University) regarding virtual dissertation groups (VDG).
Daily Nous Turns Five
Daily Nous began with a brief welcome message five years ago, today, around this time. Some of you may be thinking: “five years already? No way!” Others may be thinking, “only five years? I thought it has been around forever.” Still others might be thinking, “you are not going to guess what I’m thinking.” (more…)
Seven Principles of Humane PhD Advising (guest post by Eric Schwitzgebel)
The following is a guest post* by Eric Schwitzgebel (University of California, Riverside). It originally appeared at his blog, The Splintered Mind.
The Best Reviewer/Editor Comments You’ve Received
Last week people shared their horror stories on “The Worst Reviewer/Editor Comments You’ve Received“. But refereeing papers and editing journals is crucial and often underappreciated work, and, as some noted, sometimes the comments can be extremely helpful or encouraging or otherwise appreciated. (more…)
Who’s Down With QPPs? (Questionable Publication Practices) (guest post by Mark Alfano)
The following is a guest post* by Mark Alfano (Australian Catholic University & Delft University of Technology).
The Worst Reviewer/Editor Comments You’ve Received
By request, here is a spot for you to tell us about the harsh, insulting, devastating, stupid, nonsensical, mean, unhelpful, contradictory, and otherwise objectionable comments you’ve received from peer reviewers and editors on your work. (more…)
How To Write A Philosophy Paper: Online Guides
Some philosophy professors, realizing that many of their students are unfamiliar with writing philosophy papers, provide them with “how-to” guides to the task. (more…)
Virtual Dissertation Writing Groups
Once again, Joshua Smart (Ohio State) is organizing virtual dissertation writing groups for philosophy Ph.D. students. (more…)
Philosophical Diamonds
“I don’t know any academic field whose writing regularly indulges in sentence structure as complex as in analytic philosophy.” (more…)
Peer Review or Perish: The Problem of Free Riders in Philosophy (guest post by Elizabeth Hannon)
“Here’s a radical suggestion, using the only weapon/motivational device editors have: If someone fails to fulfill their duties as referee, the journal will not accept submissions from that referee.” (more…)
The Examined Illness
Darrel Moellendorf, professor of political theory and philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt, survived. Nearly a year ago, he began chronicling his experience undergoing a stem cell transplant to treat his secondary myelofibrosis, a kind of bone-marrow cancer, that developed from his pre-existing essential thrombocythemia, at On Being (a) Patient. The treatment w..