Dr. Reber’s Guide to the General Archaeology Paper
ANT 207
Spring 2010
As many of you may have noticed from lecture, archaeology is an argumentative kind of field. Therefore, the key aspect of your term paper will be that it argues a position.
The first step of writing a good paper is choosing a topic. This paper is a thesis paper, requiring at least 4 sources, of which at least 1 should be from the past year, and at least half should be paper sources (not web-based). You should therefore choose a topic that is controversial (so you can have a thesis) and that has a reasonable number of modern sources on the topic. Do basic research BEFORE you choose your topic, to make sure you’ll be able to write a good paper. A library keyword search is a really good way to start, as is a quick look at the JSTOR or Anthropological Literature database, both available online from the Randall Library website.
The most important part of your paper is the thesis statement, placed at the end of the first, or introductory, paragraph. It states your argument or position. You will spend the rest of your paper arguing this thesis and supporting it with evidence and research. The most common mistakes with a thesis statement are:
1) To make it too broad, so that it requires a book (or several books) to argue correctly.
2) To write a thesis statement that is not an argument, but a statement of fact. “The Egyptians built the largest known pyramids in history” is not a thesis statement.
3) To
choose a thesis statement that argues a point, but one that is of peripheral
interest to archaeology. Remember, the
point of archaeology is to learn about past people through their material
cultures. Even if someone argued that
the Mesopotamian ziggurats were bigger than the Egyptian pyramids, “The
Egyptians built the largest known pyramids in history” would not be a good
thesis statement because this point is not crucial to learning about the
people. “The centralized government and
need to use surplus labor allowed the Egyptian pharaohs to construct large
monuments” is a good thesis
statement, because it is a controversial point that addresses cultural and
political traits essential to understanding ancient
4) To ignore the thesis statement in the rest of the paper and not argue your point at all.
5) To choose a thesis statement that cannot be supported, due to either the fact that your statement is wrong, or a lack of accessible sources.
The thesis statement is best written, in fact, after you have done most of your research, because then you will have a good idea whether your thesis is true, supportable, and relevant.
The rest of the paper, once you have introduced the topic and made your thesis statement, is concerned with supporting this statement in such a way that I’m convinced you’re right. In order to convince me (or any other reader) you need to give a synopsis of what is generally accepted in the field, the beliefs of people who disagree with you, and archaeological evidence supporting and not supporting your point of view. Any evidence that does not support you should be explained. If, in the course of your essay, you ignore a crucial piece of archaeological evidence that does not support you, I will be unconvinced by your thesis and will probably believe that your research was insufficient. If, however, you mention the opposing evidence and say why you don’t think it is crucial, I may not be convinced by your argument, but will definitely know that your research was adequate.
Your concluding paragraph or section should reprise your thesis and the primary evidence supporting it. You should also say briefly why this topic or thesis is important to archaeology.
Illustrations are always fun and sometimes crucial to a paper. They should all be captioned, so I know what I’m looking at. Please use the form--Figure 1: brief description of the figure. You should mention the figure # in your text, which is where you’ll describe why it was important to put it in the paper. If you put it in because it was a pretty picture, say that it illustrates the fine architectural ability (or whatever) of your subject group, not that it was a pretty picture.
You need at least four sources for this paper, of which at least half (2) should be paper sources, that is to say from a paper journal or book. A paper source is defined by where it was originally published—something published in a peer-reviewed journal and then reprinted online or indexed in an online database such as JSTOR still counts as a paper source. Internet sources or web pages are acceptable, as long as they are cited so that I can check them. Keep in mind that many web pages are unreliable (badly written, years out of date, or just plain wrong). If you are in any doubt as to the reliability of a web page, see me in advance. As a rule of thumb, web pages supported by universities, professional archaeologists, and archaeological foundations are reliable, and those done by private people or groups with an axe to grind are not. Yes, some private people do put up a really good archaeological web page, but this is just a rule of thumb. Wikipedia can provide good background, but is not always reliable, and never counts as a source at all, as everything in it is by definition common knowledge. With any general source, if you find an interesting fact attributed to another source, you should chase the source until you find the earliest version possible.
Additionally, at least one of your sources should be recent (within the past ten years). Archaeology moves quickly, and interpretations that were widely accepted in the 60s, 70s, and 80s may now be considered laughable. If you have trouble finding a recent source, see me or e-mail one of the people writing a paper on a similar topic. I will maintain up-to-date topic lists, so I will be able to tell you who might be using the same sources.
All citations should be done either in MLA style, which is standard English/essay format, or American Antiquity style, which is one of the professional standards for archaeology. The MLA style may be found in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. The American Antiquity style guide may be found at the web at:
http://www.saa.org/StyleGuideText/tabid/985/Default.aspx.
This is a professional paper, and as such you want to sound professional. Third person is preferable. Also, restrain yourself on the matter of adjectives. Use of words such as “magnificent, gigantic, stupendous, awe-inspiring,” or even “cyclopean” more than once a paragraph is a bad idea. If you can cut down to less than once a paragraph, do it. In general, you want to sound like an archaeologist, not a travel writer.
This paper should be 5-10 text pages in length. “Text pages” means that figures, although appreciated, will not count towards total length. Title pages and references also do not count to total length. Also, text should be double-spaced, font should be standard 10 or 12 point and margins should be 1 inch in all directions. In general, if your paper is running too short or too long, it is often due to problems in picking a thesis—if it is running long, you need a narrower thesis. If it’s running short, you need a broader one. Adding random useless facts to add to the length will just get you graded off for not sticking to your thesis and using poor style. If you’re having trouble with any of this, come see Dr. Reber.