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Col. Rose Mary Sheldon |
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Description of Assignments
Keep a copy of this document with you at all times and refer to it frequently. Read each section thoroughly before the assignment is due, and bring this document with you when you meet with the professor.
Assignment One: Pick a Topic You may pick any topic from the list provided. You may also design one of your own provided you get permission from the professor. Before deciding, you should verify whether there are enough sources in Preston Library and Leyburn Library at W&L to allow you to research the topic thoroughly. You may also consult reference works in the Reference Room at Leyburn Library. Consult LTC Janet Holly if you have any questions. The assignment will be complete when you write at least one half page on the topic you wish to discuss. A term paper is a piece of research, not a description copied out of a secondary source. Your paper must pose and then answer a question. Be sure to include a cover sheet with your name, the professor’s name, the date and the number of the class: HI 330. Assignment Two: Bibliography - Reference Works and Encyclopedias The first place to start researching a topic for your term paper is the reference room at Preston Library. LTC Janet Holly is your contact person. Here you will find scholarly reference works on the history of evil. These include encyclopedia articles, dictionary entries and the appropriate entries from handbooks. Once you have identified a topic, you should try to track down every reference work that may have an entry relevant to your research. There is no magic number (like ten) for these sources. You are expected to find them all.
STANDARD REFERENCE WORKS IN THE CLASSICS a. Oxford Classical Dictionary. Lists entries in alphabetical form, gives a short description, and lists ancient sources at the end of the entry. The VMI library has both the 2nd and 3rd editions. For a paper on Hannibal, for example, one would look up Hannibal under "H" and see that Livy and Polybius are our major sources. b. Cambridge Ancient History. A large encyclopedic collection of articles on the ancient world listed in chronological order. Find the volume that covers your topic and check the index to see what is listed. c. L'Année Philologique. The single most valuable resource for finding articles on ancient topics. Each volume covers a single year and lists everything published on classical topics in that year. Check the index for the latest year and work backward. The newer volumes are indexed by place names, proper names, author's names, etc. This work is in the reference section at W&L. They have both hard copy and disk version. d. Journal Articles. The major journals in classics at W & L are Journal of Roman Studies, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Classical Review, American Journal of Archaeology, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Phoenix, Classical Journal, Classical Philology, Classical World, American Journal of Philology.
Although these works are a good place to start, they will not be the sources upon which you will base your final research. Any paper relying on these sources alone will be severely penalized. They are only a start, not the end product. For this assignment, you are to consult as many reference works as possible, find the entry which refers to your topic and list them in a bibliography. This bibliography must be in proper format or the assignment will not be accepted. See the attached format sheet. This format also appears on the VMI Department of History Website, and in the Chicago Manual of Style. It is the standard format for a bibliography in works of history.
Do NOT list websites unless they have been approved by the professor. Some of the more acceptable ones are listed on my website under "Greece" and "links."
Examples of Reference Works: The Encyclopedia of Religion Mircea Eliade (ed) New York, N.Y. : Macmillan, 1986. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. (W&L) Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World
Style Sheet Bibliography: A list of all works used should be listed at the back of a term paper. This is a separate listing from the footnotes. The encyclopedia entries, books and scholarly articles should be listed in separate sections, and in alphabetical order.
For all of the bibliographical assignments and the final copy of your bibliography, use the following format: Encyclopedia: Author of the article, ( last name, first name), title of the entry in quotations, Name of Encyclopedia (underlined), place and date of publication, page numbers. Books: In alphabetical order, last name firt.
Assignment Three: Choosing Books Once you have finished mining encyclopedias for information, it is time to track down scholarly books which go into your topic in more detail. These should be books written by reputable scholars with full apparatus criticus (footnotes, bibliographies and reference to primary sources). This does not include Time/ Life books, Internet sites, or glossy cocktail- table books. For this assignment you must find a list of books available from Preston Library, Leyburn Library and and works available on Inter-Library Loan. Emphasis should be placed on the most recent and thorough scholarship. That means books written since 1980. Nineteenth century literature is almost useless except for antiquarian interest. There is no such thing as one "standard" work that will tell you everything you need to know. Please give the librarians adequate time to order these books for you, and do not order any work you do not consider essential. ILL ordering may be done directly from the VMI Library Page online. From these books you will be expected to extract what kind of research has been done on your topic in the last two decades. Try to identify "schools of thought" and disagreements among modern scholars on the interpretation of the evidence. For example, if you are doing a paper on the Yezidis there have been books that suggest they are devil worshippers, and others books which suggest that they are not. Which is correct? Your paper is not required to come up with an original interpretation, but you must identify what has been said in the past and at least identify which argument you think is the strongest. The list of books you turn in should appear in alphabetical order, and in proper bibliographical format. See above, Assignment Two. You may, of course, add to this list as the semester progresses and as you find more sources. This list will serve as a starting point for your research and allow the professor to make you aware of any gaps in your search. Remember that the final bibliography appended to your term paper will represent the books you have actually used in your paper, not just a list of books that exist on the subject. All books in your bibliography must be cited in your footnotes, and any work cited in the footnotes must be listed in full in your bibliography. Under no circumstances should you ever cite a book you have not held in your hands and used yourself. If you are forced to cite a work quoted in another source (because it is not available here), you must indicate this in the footnote. Assignment Four: Choosing Articles
There are a number of Indexes that will list scholarly articles on topics in religious history. Let these indexes be your guide. Try to find articles in journals such as Journal of Religion, Biblical World, Jewish Quarterly Review, etc. Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature First Search - Current Contents (On VMI Library website) Periodical Contents Index. (On the VMI-Library Website). Ulrich’s Online Art Index (before 1983) Arts and Humanities Index. You may specify "I n our library" and it will tell you what is at VMI. L’Année Philologique (for Ptolemaic Egypt or Roman Egypt). Available at W&L. Requested online for VMI. Your assignment is to list the articles which you think are necessary for research on your topic. The list should be in alphabetical order, and in proper bibliographical format:
Example: Sheldon, R.M. "Tradecraft in Ancient Greece," Studies in Intelligence 30,1 (1986), pp. 39-47. You may, of course, add to this list as the semester progresses and as you find more sources. This list will serve as a starting point for your research and allow the professor to make you aware of any gaps in your search. Remember that the final bibliography appended to your term paper will represent the articles you have actually used in your paper, not just a list of articles that exist on the subject. All articles in your bibliography must be cited in your footnotes, and any work cited in the footnotes must be listed in full in your bibliography. Under no circumstances should you ever cite an article you have not held in your hands and used yourself. If you are forced to cite a work quoted in another source (because it is not available here), you must indicate this in the footnote.
Assignment Five: Identifying Primary Sources The evidence you use to prove your case must rely as heavily as possible on primary (ancient and medieval) sources. To the extent that they are available in the VMI Library, you will be expected to have consulted the relevant documents and have them listed in your bibliography. These are the documents used by scholars to write their books. They help us answer the question, "How do we know what we know?" The best place to identify what documents are relevant to your research is to consult the bibliographies of the books you use. Any reputable scholar will list these sources in the bibliography and refer to them in the footnotes. These sources will vary from paper to paper, but will include some of the following documents: Greek and Latin authors Inscriptions Monuments Works of art Archaeological Reports
There are special rules for citing classical authors in footnotes. Please use the following format.
I. ANCIENT AUTHORS Ancient authors are cited by Book, Chapter and Verse, just like the Bible. For example, if you want to cite a passage in Plutarch's Life of Caesar, the citation would look like this: Plutarch, Caesar, 25. A quotation from Livy's History of Rome first book, chapter three, verses 1-5 would appear as Livy 1.3.1-5. Pages numbers are meaningless for classical quotations unless the reader uses the identical edition as the writer. By using this standard method, the reader may go to any edition and look up the identical passage and find it. Please take note of the proper punctuation - - no punctuation mark before the parentheses, a period after the parentheses. . If you have questions about abbreviations or how to cite an author, you may consult The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3nd edition, or ask the instructor. Do not cite works you have not consulted yourself personally. If a modern author says "Plutarch records that Publius Clodius was a man of noble birth . . " you must look up the passage in Plutarch before you cite it in a footnote. Any quotation of a classical source must be footnoted and the name of the translator indicated.
Assignment Six : Meeting with the ProfessorBy the time you have scheduled an appointment with the professor, you should have your bibliography typed up as one document. The document should be divided into four parts: the primary sources, the reference works and websites, books and articles. Each section should be in alphabetical order. Be ready to review your topic, your thesis, and an outline of where you plan to go with your research. Also be ready to discuss the scholars who have done research in the field and what their opinions are. It is a good idea to bring the best book on the subject with you. Failure to schedule the meeting before Spring Furlough will result in a 5 point penalty. Assignment Seven: The Thesis and Introduction. The very first paragraph of the paper must contain the question you intend to answer. You should discuss why there is a problem, and how scholars have attempted to answer this question in the past. Why has the question not been answered satisfactorily. The second paragraph should discuss the sources which you will use to answer the question. Are there gaps in our knowledge? Are the documents unreliable? Why have different scholars come to different conclusions? Assignment Eight: Outline and Draft You should have an outline which includes your thesis question, a section on the sources, the order in which you will discuss each section of your paper, and an updated bibliography if there have been additions. Assignment Nine: Writing the Conclusion This is the section in which you summarize your findings and tell the reader what you heave learned through your research. No new material should be introduced in this section. Assignment Ten: Final Draft and Footnote Check You will expect to have a draft of the paper with the conclusion and completed bibliography. All sections of the paper must be in conformity with the guidelines above. It is better to have them corrected in this draft when there is no penalty than to have points deducted from your final paper grade because of format errors. Drafts without footnotes will not be read. Feel free to take your drafts to the Writing Center and discuss them with the staff there. Do not drop in at the last moment and expect them to perform miracles. Do not expect me to read 15 drafts the night before the paper is due. Once you have drafted your essay, look over this instruction sheet again in its entirety. Do a critical self-assessment of your work. Strengthen the weaker portions of your essay in light of this assessment. Then do a thorough and careful editing, eradicating all errors in English. Only at this point are you ready to print out the final copy. Proofread your work carefully, even compulsively. It is a good idea to make a copy of your paper before you turn it in.
KEEP IN MIND THE FOLLOWING CHECKLIST: 1. Quotations and Voice Keep quotations to a minimum. Strive to write the paper in your own voice. Too much quotation partakes of "scissors and paste" history. You should strive, in fashioning a term paper, to be original and creative within the standard canons of the historical discipline itself. Quotations are most effectively used to buttress points already made in your own language. Do not use quotations to convey information, only to illustrate points and to furnish emphasis. Again, keep them to a minimum and then they will be more effective. 2. Prepare a paper that directly addresses the question asked. Make sure that you illustrate your general points with specific examples. Develop your answer further with reference to modern scholarship. 3. I expect that your essays will be well organized and coherent. I insist that your writing be free of errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. These problems should be taken care of during the draft stage. If they still persist in the final copy, you will be penalized accordingly. 4. Once the professor has read a draft and suggested corrections, DO THE CORRECTIONS. Never hand in a new draft with the same mistakes on it. This is a waste of everyone’s time and an insult to the professor. 5. Any time you use someone else's words in your paper, those words (phrases, sentences, paragraphs) should be rendered in quotation marks, and cited by a footnote. If you decide to use someone else's words in any form, you must use quotations in order to show that you are borrowing the same. But not only words and phrases and sentences require footnotes. If you borrow someone else's ideas, you must also acknowledge the fact by a footnote. If you do not use quotes when taking another person's wording, if you do not cite another person's ideas with a footnote, this constitutes plagiarism.
"PLAGIARIZE: TO STEAL OR PURLOIN AND PASS OFF AS ONE'S OWN IDEAS, WORDS, WRITINGS, ETC. OF ANOTHER." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.
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Last updated on 26 December 2002 by Col. Sheldon "Espionage is practiced occasionally by spies, and all the time by neighbors, relatives, and colleagues" |