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Classics 194/First Year Seminar
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Due Dates:
5 copies of a draft of your paper are due in class on Monday,
September 27.
Final paper is due on Friday, October 1 by 5pm, in
the envelope outside Old Main 312.
This assignment provides you the opportunity to delve much more deeply into a particular topic of interest to you than is possible during class discussion. The process of writing should also enable you to refine your ideas and develop them into a much more sophisticated position than we have time for in class. One of your goals is thus to learn more about the Iliad. In addition, the assignment gives you the opportunity to compose a formal argument presenting and defending your conclusions to an academic audience. Communicating your developed ideas in a professional manner is thus the second purpose of the paper.
Compose an argumentative essay providing an interpretation of some aspect of the Iliad. The essay should explain the context and significance of the topic you have selected, articulate the argument you are making about it, and support that argument using rational explanation and evidence from the text presented in a clear and logical fashion.
All papers should be double-spaced, size 12 font, between 3 and 4 pages only. Please include a cover page with your name and the title, and then do not put your name anywhere else on the essay.
Your audience for the paper is our class, that is, a college-level academic community. Your paper will be read by other students, the writing instructor and the professor, and it should contribute in a formal way to our ongoing discussion of ancient Greek arts and literature.
Ideally you should develop your own topic, because you will write better about something that interests you. Consider threads that have intrigued you in class discussion or from your response papers. We will also brainstorm some example topics as a group from which you may choose to work. Evelyn, your classmates and I would be happy to talk with you about your interests and help you develop something interesting. Keep in mind, however, that your initial topic is just a beginning, and that it is a long process from there to a sophisticated thesis that can be adequately explained and defended in 3-4 pages.
Questions are evaluated on the following scale:
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no
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not really
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sort of
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yes
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1
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2
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3
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4
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| I. Argument | 1. Does the essay take a clear and engaging position? (Does it have a definitive thesis?) | _____ |
| . | 2. Does the author provide sufficient context for this position? Is the question implied or answered by the thesis statement made clear to the reader? | _____ |
| II. Support | 3. Does the paper have a clear and logical line of thought that takes a reader from this thesis through the supporting evidence to the author's conclusions? | _____ |
| . | 4. Is appropriate and sufficient evidence employed to prove assertions? Is the relevance of this evidence to the argument explained? Is contradictory evidence accounted for? | _____ |
| III. Overall | 5. Does the author tell a good story? Does the essay provide a sophisticated and engaging analysis of the issue at hand? | _____ |
| . | 6. Is the paper presented in a professional manner? (clear sentences; accurate mechanics: grammar, spelling, punctuation) | _____ |
Grade:
Comments:
Amazons Homepage ~ Classics Department ~ Macalester College
