Greek and Roman Essay Plan. The Piece of Ancient Evidence

3) Essay Plan
This is the plan for your Research Essay, which is due later in the term. The Essay Plan
enables you to decide how you will use the results from your reading of the items in your
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Annotated Bibliography. The Essay Plan is also where you show how you will use the
feedback you were given on your Annotated Bibliography. Doing this plan now will help
you do your research effectively during the term.
Deadline: 14 February 2019 by 5pm
Weight: 15%
Length: 1 page minimum, font size 12, page margins 2.54 x 3.17 cm, single-spaced
Format: full sentences
Your Essay Plan needs the following elements:
1) Research Question: State the question you are trying to answer.
2) Thesis-Statement summarizing your answer to your Research Question (2-3
sentences).
3) Outlines of at least 4 paragraphs. EACH paragraph needs:
a) Topic-sentence stating one of the arguments you will make to support/prove
your thesis-statement (1-2 sentences).
b) Piece of ancient evidence #1: full and correct citation for a piece of ancient
evidence which helps to prove your topic sentence.
c) Explanation of why this piece of ancient evidence is relevant/helps to prove
your topic sentence (3 sentences).
d) Piece of ancient evidence #2: full and correct citation for another piece of
ancient evidence which also helps to prove your topic sentence.
e) Explanation of why this piece of ancient evidence is relevant/helps to prove
your topic sentence (3 sentences).
4) Conclusion, summarizing what you have argued above (2-5 sentences). (Your
Conclusion must not add new points which were not already proven in the rest of the
Essay Plan/Research Essay. But you can suggest relevant further questions for future
research.)
5) Bibliography of at least 6 items of Modern Scholarship, fully and correctly cited as
shown in class.
Pieces of Ancient Evidence are selections from Primary (Ancient) Sources, defined as
anything originally produced by ancient people during the time period we are studying
(1st century BC-3rd century AD). Examples are specific passages/excerpts from texts,
specific artefacts, or specific buildings. What makes a source ‘ancient’ is not when it was
published in the form you came across it, but when it was originally produced. (E.g. a
quotation from the Roman writer Sallust, who wrote in the first century BCE, which you
found translated into English in a book published in 2011, would still count as a piece of
ancient evidence because it was originally produced in the 1st c. BCE.) For texts, each
specific passage/excerpt you use will count as 1 piece of ancient evidence; you can use
more than one passage/excerpt from the same author, provided that you are not using the
same passage/excerpt over again.
Anything originally produced after the 3st century CE (e.g. Items of Modern Scholarship,
lecture notes from other classes, encyclopedia entries, etc.) does NOT count as a Primary
(Ancient) Source and should not be used as a Piece of Ancient Evidence for this course.
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Remember that it is the date of original production, not the content, which determines
what is ‘ancient’ and what is not. (E.g. a painting painted in 1668 which depicts a Roman
myth does not count, even if the picture refers to something Romans believed, because
the painting itself was made in the 17th c. CE.)
Pieces of Ancient Evidence need to be cited as follows:
- for ancient texts: ancient author’s name, title of the ancient text, specific
book/chapter/section/line numbers (e.g. Hesiod, Theogony 242-245)
- for ancient artefacts: material, kind of object, what it depicts, date, where it is from,
where it is now (e.g. Marble relief depicting a woman who died in childbirth, 4th c. BC,
from Athens, currently in Metropolitan Museum of Art)
If you are not sure about how to do this, please speak to me.
This assessment will be marked on the following criteria:
Clarity of Argument: Are your thesis-statement, topic-sentences, and conclusion
effectively expressed? Do they make a clear point/argument (rather than simply stating a
fact)?
Correctness and Accuracy of Citations of Ancient Evidence: Have you cited each
piece of ancient evidence correctly, accurately, and consistently according to the
guidelines given above? (If you are not sure how to cite ancient primary sources, please
speak to me.)
Relevance and Appropriateness of Ancient Evidence: Is each piece of ancient
evidence as relevant as possible for your research question/the argument of the paragraph
in which it is used? Does each piece count as an ‘ancient’ source as defined above? Does
the piece of ancient evidence prove what you say it does?
Use of Feedback: Have you made the changes recommended in the feedback you
received on your Annotated Bibliography? (Failure to make these changes will result in a
lower score on this criterion. Please don’t hesitate to ask me if you are not sure how to
use the feedback I have given you!)
Topic is the same one you did for me last time.