Love and Hate in Ancient Greece and Rome
Important Information

Essay Guidelines

Format: 2- 3 pages typed, with reference to at least one primary and one secondary source. 

Due dates: You may turn in an essay at any time, but each essay musrt be in by the date given in the syllabus (Thursday, Feb. 17 for the first one, and Tuesday, April 26 for the second one). 

If you don't like the grade you receive for one essay, you may do another one.  (I will always take the higher grae, BTW)

Goals: These essays are your chance to express your reactions and interpretations of issues that come up in class, or that occur to you in your readings of the sources.  I will provide a new topic each week, but you may also do a topic of your own choosing if you clear it with me.

Grading: What I will look for:

• clearly formulated topics
• familiarity with a central primary source and with class materials relating to it
• awareness of modern interpretations and perspectives on the topic, where relevant (i.e., while not going into full-force research mode, you have read up on the topic)
• personal investment in the topic -- i.e. you are writing about something that matters to you, or reflects issues that are meaningful to you, directly or indirectly
• clear writing
• points laid out clearly, so that a fellow student in the class could follow your argument or discussion and recap what your main ideas are

Note: If you don't like the grade you receive for one essay, you may do another one.  (I will always take the higher grade, BTW.)  If you want to replace a grade, you have to get the new essay in before the due date for thet essay.

Paper Guidelines

The Paper:   For this course you will write a 3-5 page research-based paper on some aspect of the literature we have studied, or on Greek and/or Roman culture that specifically relates to the theme of love and hate. 

Due Dates:  Thursday, March 24.

Topics : 

You should consult me briefly about your paper topic before you begin working on it. Allow yourself enough time to research your topic thoroughly -- there may be competition for resources close to the due dates.

You might consider such topics as:

• The ways in which love and/or  hate, or other strong emotion, manifest in different works of literature; focusing either on a specific work ( e.g. Euripides' Heracles) or on a specific character (e.g. the different ways the relationship between Orestes and his parents in different works);

• Comparing the ways in which similar themes (e.g. the desire for revenge, or insatiable hopeless love) appear in different authors, with attention to the literary aims and cultural background of each;

• .Comparing works of ancient and modern literature that deal with parallel themes and situations, in their treatment of love and hate;

• Gender relationships and the sources of love, hate, and love-hate in either literature, or real life, or both;

• Interpretations of love or hate in political and/or historical writings;

• etc.

Be Specific: Bear in mind that this course covers a lot of time and a wide geographical region.  You will want to be specific. For example, "Jealousy in Greek drama" is better than "Jealousy in ancient Greece," and "Jealousy in three Euripides' plays" is better still, since its specificity meanns that you can work intensively with primary sources, and apply class principles yourself. 

Research:  The paper should show a knowledge of your subject which is either wide-ranging or detailed (preferably both), and should also show some personal thought.  When planning your research, consider the following:

• Consult at least five sources, of which at least 4 must be either academic books, or articles on a university-approved, refereed Internet forum (such as Diotima's essays or articles from JSTOR or another academic archive).
• Make sure that primary sources are included in your work.  In many sorts of paper it is a good idea to make one primary source a focus of your research, and use other primary sources and secondary sources to illustrate it.  (For example, focus on how Helen of Troy's ability to create passion is portrayed in Euripides' Helen, and compare this with other ancient portrayals of her, using secondary sources for insight into literary conventions.)  Literature and art-focused projects clearly include primary sources; see me if you wonder how to use (or find) such sources.
• There is a standard way of citing Classical primary sources, which you must follow when you use them in your paper.  This method is detailed at UNC-Chapel Hill's IAM site. 
• For a general guide on citing other kinds of sources, see Haverford College's Guide to Citing Sources in Classics.
• Include a Bibliography/Works Cited list.

Assessment: When looking over your paper, consider the following (because I will!):

• Have you done enough research? Have you used the resources available to you to find out all you needed to make this an effective and informed presentation?
• Have you used primary sources? And when you follow an argument by modern authors, are you aware of the primary sources on which they have based their conclusions?  Are you sensitive to the possible agendas of your sources, and able to consider these in evaluating them?
• Are you guiding the progress of your research? That is, do you follow the "topic boundaries" of other peoples' discussions, or do your own questions lead you to your configuration of the issues you discuss?  Do you have an approach to your topic that distinguishes it from what someone else might write?
• Are you applying the perspectives and principles we have considered in this course in your treatments of your topic?
• Are you able to explain your ideas and argue your positions from a knowledge of the critical issues in your topic?
• Have you stated your thesis clearly, and constructed your arguments so they proceed effectively?  If one of your classmates read your paper, would s/he be convined by your argument?
• Do you meet the technical criteria of length and format?

These papers should have the mark of your intelligence, your interests, and your ideology, on them, but they are first and foremost research papers. I will want to see that you have endeavored to present an accurate and well-informed discussion of a particular aspect of the ancient Greek and Roman manifestations of love and hate (and related states). Use the resources of this library and the Internet, especially the sites linked from the Internet resources page.  If you are having difficulty finding information, come to me; I can help you find other resources.

Note:  The paper nay be revised for a final grade, if you want to do it.

Argument and Citation

(The "Argument" section will be added shortly)

• There is a standard way of citing Classical primary sources, which you must follow when you use them in your paper.  This method is detailed at UNC-Chapel Hill's IAM site.

• For a general guide on citing other kinds of sources, see Haverford College's Guide to Citing Sources in Classics.