J&B Blue Program (John Locke Finalist)“Faith, Philosophy, and Free-Thinking for John Locke” Highlights: J&B consulted with the client on a 1,*50-word essay for the John Locke Essay Competition addressing the Theology prompt: “If you cannot persuade your intelligent, sympathetic friends to embrace your religious belief system, do you have enough reason to believe what you believe?” J&B split the project into: a topic selection, brainstorming process, lecture, reading period, seminar, outlining stage, draft writing process, and editing and revising. At the end of the project, the client gained deeper insights into forming complex, logic-based arguments. The Topic:J&B consulted with the client on a 1,*50-word essay for the John Locke Essay Competition addressing the Theology prompt: “If you cannot persuade your intelligent, sympathetic friends to embrace your religious belief system, do you have enough reason to believe what you believe?” The Result:Finalist The Process:At the start of the project, J&B met with the client to decide on a prompt. During the session, the team suggested four potential prompts for the client and shared reading materials related to each prompt. J&B and the client discussed each prompt in detail and after narrowing down the client’s interests, they conducted a brainstorming session related to their chosen prompt. J&B then prepared a 40-minute lecture and shared 10 scholarly sources related to the client’s topic to flesh out their background knowledge. Subsequently, J&B and the client met for a seminar session, where they engaged in an informal debate to solidify the client’s stance. Next, J&B shared a detailed, 9-page outline with the client to help them write their first draft. The client reviewed J&B’s outline and utilized it as a framework for their writing process. After J&B edited and revised the client’s first draft, the client prepared their second draft based on J&B’s edits, which the team polished and finalized so that it would be ready to submit to John Locke. Writing Style:The client is a thoughtful writer open to expanding their knowledge of philosophy and theology. To help the client improve the quality of their essay, the team shared additional relevant sources related to their arguments. J&B also worked closely with the client on helping them select key areas of their essay to expand and adding a “reply” to their counterclaim to take the persuasive component of their essay one step further. At the end of the project, the client gained deeper insights into forming complex, logic-based arguments. J&B’s Key Goals: Logic and persuasiveness Innovative thought Structure and format Philosophical thinking
