CLAS 2230 Great Works of Ancient Literature II: Rome

final paper project

Draft assignment, due Wed. 3/29 (group discussion board, Bb) (600 points)

Before you begin your paper itself, you might find it useful to write about your topic:
explain your idea in writing as if youre telling someone about it. You can write some
context for the paper or for the texts/passages youve chosen to work on. You may
decide not to use this at all, or to incorporate it in another way Ive found that writing
about the topic is a good way to start writing the paper.)

Once youve warmed up a little, begin by writing out your thesis (introduction) as
clearly as you can, but with the understanding that it can still be improved.

Expand on your outline by inserting the relevant passages (give in-line citations, e.g.,
Aen.IV.496-499) and writing your observations clearly. You may find that the outline
isnt working out as youd planned. Reorganize as necessary.

Paper writing can be very messy. It sometimes requires doing a little here, a little there,
a little review of your overall vision and then back to the specifics.

This will take time. Dont handicap yourself by waiting until the last minute.
Break it up into multiple sittings.
o Set deadlines to complete writing sections of your outline.
o Save intro & conclusion for last.

Aim for 6-8 single-spaced pages (12-16 double-spaced).

DRAFT GRADING CRITERIA

Examples do your examples from the texts benefit your argument? Is each
cited unanimbugiously by author/work, book/line or page number (as
necessary)? (150 pts)
Connections do you connect your examples to your topic clearly? (150 pts)
Relevance did you stay on topic? (100 pts)
Bibliography do you have a works cited page that lists clear, meaningful &
consistent bibliographic information for each text you cited in the paper? See
reference list assignment for bibliographic citation info. (100 pts)
Formatting do you have a working title, paragraphs, citations/bibliography
with appropriate headers/subheaders? (100 pts)

See the next page for an idea on how to proceed.

 CLAS 2230 Great Works of Ancient Literature II: Rome
final paper project
meaningful
title, gives Experience of the Supernatural in First Century Rome
indication of
topic Mystical and magical experiences occur in Roman literature in the 1st century in the
works of essayists, storytellers and people in between. --- and? Whats my question?What
do the passages reveal? What conclusion can we draw from the textual evidence? What
question do they raise that you can answer by close examination & interpretation?
Ill start with a Im going to stop working on the introduction now. I need to get a clear handle on
sentence or two, as
specific as I can be,how my papers going to shake out before I come back to it. (Be as clear, give as
about my topic. much information as you are able to some of you may have a very clear idea in

mind, youll have more to write; others less. Both are okay. Remember, theres not
just a single right way to write; its very personal. The only way youre doing it
wrong is if youre not doing it at all.

Use this space where youll put the introduction as word bank where you can
store ideas from the paragraphs that you want to include in your intro. It will be
easy to write after youve written the body, especially if youve left yourself some
keywords.
Im going to spend hours on this part. It represents about 5 single-spaced pages.

Most of my time will be spent in this space the body of the paper. Im going to start
by seeing what my outline indicates. Then Im going to look back at my list of
references and see if thats still what I want to do.
Thats a lot of writing and a lot of thinking. Its a long, slow process.

Most likely, I decide I dont want to do that at all. I think I see a more interesting way to
break the passages up. I do a quick reorganization of the outline and pick one of my
model passages. I paste it into my document, and begin. I write about how it relates
to & informs my topic.

And so I continue, stitching on more paragraphs & passages, explaining,

contextualizing and connecting. You might ask yourselves these sorts of questions if you
feel stuck here: What does the passage show? How is it related to other passages on the same
topic? How does it differ from them? What evidence does it add to the topic & what does that
evidence mean for the topic?

Ill create subheaders and put key words up in my introduction word bank as I go, as I
see fit (but not arbitrarily).

After a few hours, once Ive written 5 or so single-spaced pages, and have covered my
material, Ill return to the introduction. Ill have the benefit of having written the paper
now, so wont have to wonder what its about, and Ive left myself a word bank of ideas.
All I have to do is put those words into sentences. And thats my introduction.

Then Im going to copy & paste the introduction to the end of the paper. Ill condense
it into about two sentences, then Ill expand into what it means to us now as members
of the enduring human community that shares in creative and intellectual endeavors
through great expanses of time. What does it say about the human condition? What
does it say about humanity?
CLAS 2230 Great Works of Ancient Literature II: Rome
final paper project

Works Cited
Finally, Im going to put every text I cited in my paper onto my Works Cited page.
Im glad I have them all assembled from my initial reference list assignment. (Though I
may have to add bibliographic information for any texts I decided to use after I made
the list, or remove texts that I decided against using.)

Ill include the following information in a consistent way:

Author, Title of text; Translator. Publisher, year of publication.