Essay Guide Long Anchist

8/13/2019 Essay Guide Long Anchist

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MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

Ancient History

Essay Presentation & Conventions: Style Guide

Prepared by Dr. D.J. Phillips

2006


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Essay Presentation & Conventions: Style Guide

1. DOCUMENTATION

Essays should be appropriately but not excessively documented.

1.1 Relevant ancient sources should be cited both by way of substantiation and as a basisfor discussion relevant to the topic under consideration. Such citation should beincluded either in footnotes or in the body of your essay (see examples in 2.2 below)

1.2 Ideas and interpretations which are not your own should be duly acknowledged withreferences being cited in footnotes.

2. QUOTATIONS

2.1 Direct quotations from both ancient sources and secondary references should be keptto an absolute minimum. They should not be used for padding but rather for the

purposes of argumentation and substantiation. Quotations, where necessary, fromancient sources should be short and to the point. In other words, they should berelevant extracts rather than substantial reproductions. Where it is necessary to refer toan extended passage this can be done by giving a reference to the full context in afootnote. The reader of the essay can be assumed to have access to the relevantsources. If it is necessary to refer at length to a secondary discussion this should bedone by way of paraphrase and summary again with reference to the fuller context in afootnote.

2.2 Where direct quotations are used they should be enclosed within quotation marks (------------) and acknowledged in a footnote. Quotations of several lines length should beindented from the margin. The citation of references for quotations from ancientsources and the citation of ancient sources by way of substantiation may be giveneither in footnotes or in brackets in the body of the essay.

e.g. Kleisthenes chief political opponent was Isagoras (Hdt. 5.66; Ath.Pol. 20.1).

My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediatepublic, but was done to last for ever.

(Thuc.1.22)

Demosthenes....allowed no act of Philips to pass uncriticized... (Plut.Dem.16).

3. CONVENTIONS FOR NOTES, REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

As you read articles and monographs you will come across a variety of conventions forciting references in footnotes and endnotes and in bibliographies. These are basicallyvariations upon one or other of two conventions.

3.1 Convention A: Traditional/Humanities System:

This was the traditional system for works in the Humanities, and is still commonlyused. Items are cited in the bibliography in the following form:


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Meiggs, R., The Athenian Empire(Oxford, 1972).Sealey, R., Callistratos of Aphidna and his Contemporaries,Historia5 (1956),

178-203.

First references in footnotes are also given in this form. Thereafter ibid, op.cit. orabbreviated titles are used (see 4.2.1 (2) below).

3.2 Convention B: Author-date (Harvard) System:

Originating in the sciences and social sciences, this system is now common in theHumanities also. Items are cited in the bibliography in the following form:

Cartledge, P. (1979), Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History, 1300-362 B.C.,London.

Cawkwell, G. (1975), Thucydides Judgement of Periclean Strategy, YCS24,53-70.

________ (1976a), Agesilaus and Sparta, CQ26, 62-81.

________ (1976b), The Imperialism of Thrasybulus, CQ26, 270-277.Humphreys, S.C. (1978),Anthropology and the Greeks, London.

(i.e. here, three books by Cawkwell are listed)

Within the essay, references appear in the forms:

Cartledge (1979:76) or Cartledge, 1979, p.76

The reference may appear either in a footnote, or in the body of the text, e.g.

Vases are important, but little used, category of evidence for social history(Humphreys, 1978:120).

The advantages of this system are that it takes up less space in footnotes, and may beused in the body of the text in place of, or in addition to, footnotes. As with 3.1,however, this system requires the reader to regularly refer to the bibliography for fulleridentification.

3.3 Convention C: Short Title

Short title style is a now common variation on 3.1. In this style, the first appearance

of an item in the footnotes is as in 3.1, e.g.

Isaac, B, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity(Princeton, 2006), p.137

In subsequent references, a shortened version of the title, without place and datedetails, is used. The short version must be easily identifiable as representing the fulltitle; preferably it will use words from the beginning of a long title, and it will droparticles (The, A), e.g.

Isaac,Invention of Racism, p.142 orIsaac,Invention, 142.


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3.4 Use of Conventions in Essays:

You should choose one of these conventions for use in your essays. Apply your choiceconsistently and do not use a mixture in the same essay. In the sections below I havegiven examples of each convention.

4. NOTES

4.1 Notes should be numbered consecutively throughout the essay and placed either:

(a) at the foot of each page (footnotes)

or (b) on a separate, detachable page(s) at the end of the essay (endnotes).

4.2 Notes should take the following forms:

4.2.1 For Secondary References:

EITHER (A) Traditional Convention:

(1) First citation:

e.g. 1. J.M. Balcer, Imperial Magistrates in the Athenian Empire,Historia25 (1976), 257.

2. R. Meiggs, The Athenian Empire(Oxford, 1972), 176-177.

Names of journals/periodicals and titles of books should be italicised (or

underlined). In giving details of publication reference should be made to placeand date of first publication or subsequent edition, not to the country. Thus:

Oxford not EnglandV. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 2nd ed. (London, 1973)

(2) Subsequent citations:

either: standard use of

op.cit. (= opere citato, in the work cited)

ibid. (ibidem, in the same place)

e.g. 3. ibid. p.190.(This is used where the same work is cited in two [or more]successive notes, without any other work being cited.)

4. Balcer, op.cit. p.259.(This is used when a work is cited for a second [or subsequent] time,but not immediately following the previous instance.)

OR (B) Author-date Convention:


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All references cited must be listed in your bibliography in the form:

Balcer, J.M. (1976), Imperial Magistrates in the Athenian Empire,Historia25, 257-287.

Meiggs, R., (1972), The Athenian Empire, Oxford.

Footnotes may then simply take the form:

1. Balcer (1976: 259)2. Meiggs (1972: 190) etc.

OR (C) Short Title Convention:

All items appear on the bibliography in the form:

Isaac, B., The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity(Princeton, 2004)Lovaux, N., Born of the Earth: Myth and Politics in Athens, trans. S.

Stewart (Ithaca, 2000).

The first citation in the notes appears with the details in full, but with theauthors initial (or name) standing first:

3. B. Isaac, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity (Princeton,2004), p.137.

Subsequent citations use the short title:

4. Isaac,Invention of Racism, 1425. Loraux,Born of the Earth, 14

4.2.2 For Ancient Sources:

A. Literary Sources

(1) Unless names or titles are short (e.g. Lysias; Plato, Laws) theseshould be cited according to standardized or at least recognizableabbreviations. See, for example, the lists of abbreviations for ancientauthors in the prefatory pages of the Oxford Classical Dictionary,Liddell & Scott, Greek English Lexiconand Lewis & Short,A Latin

Dictionary.

e.g. Andok. = AndokidesAP or Ath. Pol. = Athenaion Politeia (= Constitution of the

Atheniansattributed to Aristotle).D.S. orDiod. Sic. = Diodorus SiculusHdt.= HerodotusPlut. Them. = Plutarch,Life of ThemistoklesPlut.Dem. = Plutarch,Life of DemosthenesThuc. = ThucydidesXen.Hell. = Xenophon,Hellenica(History of Greece)

(2) Wherever possible all references should be made to the standarddivisions of ancient works. These are to be found in the headings andmargins of all Loeb editions and most Penguin translations and in thestandard editions of classical authors (O.C.T. = Oxford ClassicalTexts; Bud; Teubner).


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e.g. AP 24.2 = chapter 24, section 2Arist. Wasps1011 = line 1011D.S. XVI. 31.6* = book 16, chapter 31, section 6

or D.S. 16.31.6

*Book and speech numbers for most ancient authors are frequently given in

Roman numerals. Either form my be used, but be consistent for eachauthor.

Lysias 13.15 = speech 13 (Against Agoratus), section 15.Plut.Nikias10 = chapter 10Thuc. 8.12 = book 8, chapter 12Thuc. 6.91.2-3 = book 6, chapter 91, sections 2-3Xen.,Hell. 2.1.23 = book 2, chapter 1, section 23

Where such standard divisions are not included or are not clearlyindicated, indicate the translation being used (first citation only) and the

page number(s).

e.g. Hdt. (Penguin) p.398 or Hdt. (trans. de Selincourt, 1972:395)thereafter Hdt. p.578 or Hdt. p.437

Full details of the edition or translation consulted should be included inyour bibliography.

B. Epigraphical Sources:

Where possible, use standard abbreviations for main corpora and selections

of inscriptions.

e.g. IG I295.5 = Inscriptiones Graecae, Volume I, second edition,number 95, line 5.

ML 8 = Meiggs, R. & Lewis, D. (1969). A Selection of Greek HistoricalInscriptions to the end of the fifth century B.C.,Oxford, number 8

SEG XXVII 27 = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, VolumeXXVII (1977), number 27.

Tod 123 = Tod, M.N. (1933-1948), A Selection of GreekHistorical Inscriptions: Vol. I To the end of the fifth

century B.C.; Vol. II From 403 to 323 B.C., Oxford,number 123.[Vol. I = nos. 1-96; Vol. II = nos. 97-205]

C. Sources in Collections of Documents:

When citing inscriptions or other sources from collections of translateddocuments such as

Austin, M.M. & Vidal-Naquet, P. (1977), Economic and SocialHistory of Ancient Greece. An Introduction, London.

Fornara, C.W. (1982), Archaic Times to the End of thePeloponnesian War, revised edition, Cambridge.

give the citation as it occurs in the collection from which you havedrawn it and cite that collection in the normal way:


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e.g. (i) following convention A:

[Xenophon], Constitution of the Athenians, I, 5-9 in Austin,M.N. & Vidal-Naquet, Economic and Social History ofGreece: An Introduction(London, 1977), pp.189-190

or

Pindar, Second Olympian, 59-88 in Austin & Vidal Naquetop.cit.243.

(ii) following convention B:

Scholion on Aristeides 46.14f in Fornara (1982:76) or IG I226in Fornara (1982: no. 82)

5. ELECTRONICALLY-ACCESSED SOURCES

The over-riding aim here, as in all other types of citation, should be to give the reader themost efficient signposts to the precise place where you found the information. Thesesignposts must include the author and title of the specific web page; the author/editor of theweb site; the date of the specific page, if that differs from the date of the sites home-page

plus the electronic address (URL) of your source and enough further information to allowthe reader to replicate your search.

e.g. Herbert Benario, Trajan (AD 98-117) (updated 23 July 2003), on R.D. Weigelet al.,De Imperatoribus Romanis,http://www.roman-emperors.org/trajan.htm

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Your bibliography should contain only those items which have been consulted and found tobe relevant to the essay topic concerned. It may, however, include items which, thoughconsulted, are not actually cited in the notes (particularly, for example, specialistencyclopedia and other reference works, such as The Oxford Classical Dictionary).Bibliographies should be divided into two sections (a) ancient sources (b) modern studies.Within each section items should be arranged alphabetically by author.

(a) Ancient Sources:

References to ancient sources should give details of the edition(s) and/or translation(s)used for each ancient author plus details of source collections consulted.

e.g. (i) following convention A:

1. Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians and Related Texts, trans. K. vonFritz & E. Kapp (New York, 1950).

2. Ferguson, J. & Chisholm, K. (eds), Political and Social Life in theGreat Age of Athens(London, 1978).

3. Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of Athens, trans. I. Scott-Kilvert,

(Harmondsworth, 1960).4. Thucydides, trans. C.F. Smith, Loeb Classical Library, 4 Vols(Cambridge, Mass., 1919-1923)

(ii) following convention B:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/trajan.htmhttp://www.roman-emperors.org/trajan.htm


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1. Aristotle, Politics in Sinclair T.A. ed. (1981), Aristotle: The Politics,revised and represented by T.J. Saunders, Harmondsworth.

2. Crawford, M. & Whitehead, D. (1983),Archaic and Classical Greece:A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation, Cambridge.

3. Diodorus Siculus in Oldfather, C.H. ed. (1933)Diodorus of Sicily, Vol.I, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass.

4. Plutarch, Timoleon, Demosthenes, Phocion in Scott-Kilvert, I., trans.(1973), The Age of Alexander, intro. by G.T. Griffith,Harmondsworth.

(b) Modern Studies:

All other items (articles, monographs, reference works) which have been consultedand are relevant should be included. Follow either convention A or B (see 3.1 and 3.2above) making sure that you use either convention consistently throughout your essayin footnotes as well as in your bibliography.

7. GENERAL REMARKS ON ESSAY PRESENTATION

7.1 You should be consistent in your forms of citation and in the spelling of namesthroughout your essay:

e.g. Cleisthenes or Kleisthenes; Pericles or Perikles; Isaeus or Isaios.

7.2 Essays should be either neatly and legibly written or typed. Use one side of the paper

only. Allow 111/2 marginfor markers comments.

7.3 Marks will be deducted for inadequate or shoddy preparation and presentation or forwork which does not attempt to conform to the standards and style for preparation setout above.

8. SAMPLE ESSAY

An example of one style of essay presentation is available online, at:http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/AHST233/sample.htm(the sample essay is available both as an rtf document, or better, as an pdf document.)

Note that this sample essay uses Convention C (Short Title) for citation style.

David J. Phillips(revised 23.3.2006 Andrew Gillett)
http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/AHST233/sample.htmhttp://online.mq.edu.au/pub/AHST233/sample.htm