See the General tips for writing in Classics posted on this site under Study Tools. Pay attention in particular to point #7 on Drafts.

I. General Information on Writing in this Section of CLAS 1000

Writing is a process that takes time. You should not expect to write a perfect draft in one go; rather you should budget enough time to be able to write at least one draft and a final version of your assignment before handing it in to be evaluated. Generally speaking, the more drafts you complete, the better your final product will be.

Because writing helps you think and learn, this semester you will be asked to complete a variety of writing assignments. These assignments are all designed to sharpen your critical thinking skills in general, focus your thinking about antiquity in particular, reinforce classroom discussion, and improve your writing skills. These assignments include

• synopses of assigned reading for the course (3 assignments)
• postmortems of classroom discussions on authors or material culture (3 assignments)
• analysis of secondary texts (i.e., labeling sentences as either evidence, conclusion, hypothesis etc.—1 assignment)
• formal essay (draft and final version—1 assignment).

All assignments will be evaluated, but not all will be graded. Students will meet with the WIP TA about their formal essays. See the syllabus for due dates and note that late assignments will NOT be accepted. If you do not follow the formatting instructions listed below, your paper will be returned to you to be re-formatted and your grade will be effected.

II. Description of the Writing Assignments

A. Synopsis:

Description: A synopsis is a one page (no more, no less) summary of the narrative (plot) of a work of literature or part of a work of literature. It should, however, move beyond merely plot summary and should focus on some issue of significance, some question of interpretation, some point of cultural context, or some point of historical relevance and should briefly discuss it in relation to the plot.

Use of the 1st person pronoun "I" is not acceptable for this kind of writing assignment.

Format:

• Times New Roman or Courier, 12 point font
• 1" margins all around
• double spaced
• your name in the upper left hand corner
• no title or title page

B. Postmortem:

Description: A postmortem is a one page (no more, no less) report or description of class discussion. It allows you to collect your thoughts about the material covered in class, to articulate what ideas you want to carry away from class, and to place the discussion within the wider context of Greek culture.

Because this a statement of personal views, reactions etc, the use of the 1st person pronoun "I" is acceptable.

Format:

• Times New Roman or Courier, 12 point font
• 1" margins all around
• double spaced
• your name in the upper left hand corner
• no title or title page

C. Formal Essay:

Description: A formal essay is a longer (5-7 page) discussion of a particular topic that allows you to deal with several different works of literature and cultural concepts. I will pass out a list of suitable topics in class. Or you may craft your own topic in consultation with me.

The essay is not a research paper; therefore it should not be necessary to consult any secondary sources. I am not interested in what established scholars have to say about any of these topics; I am interested in your opinion. This does not mean, however, that you can simply sit down and “write from the heart,” telling me what you think/feel is true. Rather, you need to have a fully developed thesis and you must present it in a logical way, citing evidence from the text to prove your case. Please remember that this kind of essay is not a mystery story; there is no need to keep your thesis from your reader until the end. Indeed, you should tell your reader in your first paragraph what your thesis is, what you are going to demonstrate in your essay.

Because this is a formal essay, use of the 1st person pronoun "I" is generally not acceptable.

Format: Body of the text:

• Times New Roman or Courier, 12 point font
• 1" margins all around
• double spaced
• Since you will need to quote passages from Greek literature in your essay, use the following format for these citations:
  1. “blah, blah, blah crafty Odysseus” (Sophocles, Philoctetes, 41-2).
  2. or, if you prefer to abbreviate, “blah, blah, blah crafty Odysseus” (Soph., Phil. 41-2).
  3. For Homer, “blah blah blah home” (Homer, Iliad, 3.22). Or (Homer, Il.3.22).
  (Pay close attention in the examples above to formatting and punctuation. Inside the parentheses, put the author’s name, title of work italicized, and the relevant line numbers, NOT page numbers; if you're quoting from the Iliad, include the book number, followed by line numbers. Also, note that your sentence punctuation goes after the parenthetical citation.)
• Lengthy quotations (i.e., 3 lines or more) should be indented, single-spaced, with no quotation marks.
• Quotations of poetry should follow the line format of your text.
• Consult the Oxford Classical Dictionary (Main Ref DE5 .O9 2003) for the appropriate abbreviations for authors and titles.
• Place page numbers in the middle of the bottom of the first page and in the upper right-hand corner of all other pages.
• Use BCE and CE when mentioning dates in your paper.

Format: Title page:

• click here for the format to use on your title page (pdf file)

III. “Fatal Errors”

These are common errors that will certainly impact your grade for your writing assignments.

• lack of thesis paragraph or ill-constructed thesis paragraph (i.e., those that contain trite generalizations, e.g., “since the dawn of time, man has ....”
• lack of concluding paragraph or ill-constructed concluding paragraph
• lack of citation or use of improper citation (see instructions above on how to cite from ancient literature, see Writing Tips for citation instructions from secondary sources)
• plagiarism -- make sure you know what plagiarism is and avoid it. Plagiarism will result in a zero for the assignment.
• failure to follow formatting guidelines listed above for each kind of writing assignment
• subject / verb disagreement: example “The royal tomb at Vergina were ....” instead of “The royal tomb at Vergina was....” Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs.
• misspelled words: run your paper through the spell checking tool on your word processing program, but be aware of the fact that spell checkers do not note the difference between “there” and “their.”
• incomplete sentences: example “The Parthenon, the greatest Doric temple built on the Greek mainland in the fifth century BCE.” Note, this sentence has a subject “the Parthenon” but no verb.

The common errors listed below should be avoided in your paper. Generally they will not impact your grade, unless they occur with great frequency throughout your writing assigments. For guidance on grammar and punctuation, please see your WIP TA or personnel in the writing clinic.

• use of colloquialisms: example: “Achilles was a jerk.”
• misplaced commas
• split infinitives: example use “to go boldly,” not “to boldly go”
• contractions: example “don’t” instead of “do not”
• shifting between verb tenses randomly: example “Perikles sculpted the statue in the mid-fifth century BCE. He is a famous Greek sculptor.”
• incorrect use of parentheses, brackets and quotation marks
• excessive use of the passive voice: example “The man was hit by the ball.” Generally the passive voice is fuzzy and much weaker than the active voice. The passive voice passes the buck and no one has to take responsibility for thinking something. Note how “I believe that the Greeks . . .” is a much stronger and more emphatic statement than “It is thought that the Greeks . . . .” which begs the questions: Who thought that? and why?
• poor use of pronouns: example: “I saw him on the street with his wife.” Was he with his own wife? or someone else’s wife. You must make it unambiguously clear to whom a pronoun refers. The pronoun “it” is particularly tricky in this kind of writing.

IV. Guide to Grading:

• F : This paper has no thesis, cites no evidence, has no organization and is replete with fatal and non-fatal errors.
• D range: This paper doesn’t quite meet the basic requirements of the assignment. It may or may not have a thesis, may or may not cite evidence to support the thesis, and generally has formatting or grammatical errors.
• C range: This paper meets the basic requirements of the assignment. It has a thesis and it cites some evidence to support the thesis but deals with the topic at only a superficial level. Format is generally correct.
• B range: This paper has a clear thesis and presents a unified and coherent argument with evidence in support of its points. The paper demonstrates both comprehension of the basic material and some critical thinking about themes and issues concerning the topic and the course. The paper is well written and carefully proofed.
• A range: This paper is outstanding in content and format. The thesis is clear and insightful. The argument may be original or may expand in some way ideas presented in the course. The paper deftly handles a wide range of carefully selected evidence. The argument is coherent (i.e., each point flows logically from the one before it) and complex. The paper is not flawed by formatting or grammatical mistakes.