Filosofia paper

Some of you may have never written a paper like this before. So let me contrast it with two other kinds of papers you probably have written. First, I am notlooking for "book reports": I don't want summaries of one or more of the readings, and I don't want you to "compare and contrast" what different authors say, or whatdifferent moral theories might say, about the given topic. Rather, I want you to "stick your neck out"--tell me what you believe to be the truth about therelevant issue. And then I want you to defend that position. Of course, it might well be relevant, or helpful (or perhaps even part of the specific assignment) todiscuss some particular author or view. But even here the emphasis should be on evaluating that author or view. Book reports, no matter how superb, simply don't meetthe assignment.
Second, I am not looking for "thoughts on topic X", or "meditations on X", or "remarks on X". It just won't do to simply string togethervarious reflections you may have on the given topic, even if in the course of doing this you embrace various claims, and offer some reasons for your views, before movingon to the next reflection. The paper should instead have a single, central thesis. The point of the paper is to state and defend that thesis. The variouscontents of the paper should be selected and organized so as best to defend that central claim. (Stream of consciousness, for example, is a poor way to organizematerial, and is likely to include much that is irrelevant to anything like a main thesis.) No matter how brilliant, mere reflections simply don't meet the assignment.