Related Links

• Peer Review page
  • Peer-Review Survey Template (Word Doc)
• Writing Issues page @ the Persuasion site
• Academic honesty. . .
  • BU Acedemic Honesty Code, Bulletin
  • Honesty and related issues page @ Persuasion site
  • Academic Honesty and Plagiarism page, BU Libraries
  • Academic Honesty Tutorial and Quiz, BU Libraries
    • Directions on use. . . .
• BU Writing Center
• BU English as a Second Language Center (ESL)
• Purdue Owl — online guide to papers, MLA, etc. (our rule book for papers & research)

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Critical-Reflective Papers: Basics

• Two papers, 10 pp. each (= ca. 3,000 words, doublespaced MLA)
• "C" (composition) GenEd component
• Multiple Submission + peer review
• Topic: reflect critically on designated modern readings in light of ancient evidence
  • Paper 1
    • Focus on just one of the following
      1. Butler Antigone's Claim
      2. Foucault History of Sexuality vol. 2
      3. Halperin - " 'Homosexuality': A Cultural Construct" interview (19-Sep reading)
    • See how well select arguments therein shed light on Ancient evidence chosen by you from first ½ of course (i.e., through the "Women in the Ancient Greek World" phase)
  • Paper 2
    • Focus on Finnis or Nussbaum reading from "Ancient Evidence, Modern Law" assignment. Evaluate strength of select arguments in light of. . .
    • Ancient evidence chosen by you from second ½ of course (the "The Roman World and Later Greco-Roman Antiquity " phase)
• Some added outside reasearch (modern studies) req'd for each paper
  • At least two valid scholarly sources
  • Neither may be from class assignments
• Electronic submission via Bb + hard-copy submission as per Assignments page

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Specifications (length, etc. — both papers)

Length: ca. 3,000 words, i.e., about 10 pages of word-processed text, including bibliography, title, etc.

Formatting, Style: MLA formatting, MLA citation/bibliography style throughout as per "The Owl" at Purdue University.

Note following, some of it tailored to this class:

• No title page
• But give your paper a title
• Use only Times New Roman font or equiv.
• Don't underline anything, use italics instead for book, journal, web site titles or similar
• Line-spacing everywhere DOUBLE-SPACED
• Do not add space after/before paragraphs
• One space, not two, following terminal punctuation (periods etc.)
• In-text, parenthetic citations as per MLA (try to avoid footnotes) — more here
• Bibliographic entries ("Works Cited" page) as per MLA, hanging indent, NOT numbered — more here
• One-inch margins R, L, top, bottom
• ALL PAGES NUMBERED AS PER MLA!!!

For each paper, outside research will be as described bellow.

As for paper format, citation style, and so on, I've prepared a sample MLA paper in pdf format for you to use as a formatting and style model. It's adapted from the opening to my own book, Concordia Discors (Scholtz 2007).

I've also provided you with a link to an MLA paper template in word format.

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Please note that your grade will in part reflect whether you've employed MLA style correctly; you'll find that among the evaluation criteria

Submission Sequence, etc.

The following describes what happens, and in what order, with respect to the sequence of submissions, etc. See Assignments page for due dates respective to each of the two papers.

SEQUENCE

1. Schedule via Ancient S/G Paper Conference Scheduling Calendar (check times then E-mail me with free 30-min. slot during conference weeks) a topic conference with instructor during weeks specified on Assignments page.


2. Submit via E-mail a brief topic prospectus:


1. The modern reading you want to do, depending on what the choices are for the paper in question.
2. The ancient evidence you want to address — the equivalent of one substantial literary work from the first half (paper 1) or the second half (paper 2) of the semester.
3. A sense of the where, at least at this preliminary stage, you think the paper will be going — why choose to work with that particular pairing of theory text and ancient evidence.


4. Note: Ancient evidence may include images from relevant "artistic evidence" classes. Don't, however, choose too much ancient evidence — one fullłength text or equiv. will usually be enough. No papers accepted without prior approval of topic.


3. Initial submission of paper by 5pm of due-date. Not a slap-dash draft, nor a perfected "wrap," but a completed paper with requirements fulfilled — a good-faith first effort en route to final submission. Electronic copy only via Blackboard Turnitin ("Assignments" link)


1. BE SURE THE UPLOAD IS SUCCESSFUL. Check to see if the file is there; check for the all-important confirmation E-mail.

Negligence on this deadline will carry serious consequences — you HAVE to get your initial submission to your peer-reviewer and to me, and you have to upload to Bb > Papers.

4. Instructor E-mails you your peer-review partner's paper.


5. Prepare for peer-review paper workshop by. . .


1. Writing a detailed, word-processed reader's report as per peer-review guide and using the supplied peer-review survey template (not hand-written comments, not on back or side of partner's paper)
2. Proofreading partner's paper and applying detailed markup applied directly to printout (no set scheme for markup, but be clear — see proof-reading guide at Owl)
3. Meet with partner IN CLASS to discuss papers and go over assessments
6. Final submission of paper due by 12pm of due-date via Bb "Assignments" link, electronic copy of final version .

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Research, Documentation, Sources

Though these will not be research papers per se, a certain amount of research is still required. That will involve documenting and substantiating your arguments through reference to both of two types of sources:

• Primary (i.e., ancient) evidence
• Secondary (modern reference/research)

Research and documentation are crucial for two reasons:

1. To back up your arguments with evidence and similar validation.
2. To acknowledge where you get ideas, facts, quotes, etc. — more under Syllabus > Academic Honesty.

So, in addition to grappling with your modern target text and ancient proof-texts, it will be necessary for you to consult and to cite a minimum of two modern secondary sources not assigned for class reading, i.e., discovered up by you in the course of your research — books and/or articles, web cites only as permitted (see below).

Outside research sources — that's modern sources: books, journal articles, chapters in collections, approved web sites. That can include citing the introduction or commentary in a source like Green's translation of Ovid, The Erotic Poems (Penguin). But it does not include citing ancient material or more modern, literary material. (The Odyssey, the Aeneid, Shakespeare's Hamlet, a modern novel — none of those will count here as a secondary source.) Your bibliography will therefore have to include modern sources — a minimum of three — plus the modern editions of ancient sources used.

It is important to understand that not all online sources are valid — indeed, most are not.

Check the homepage of the site you're using. Is it. . .

• A valid scholarly / university / peer-reviewed site / journal / etc.? (OK!)
• Someone's unvetted personal site? (not OK. . .)
• Site belonging to an organization pushing an agenda? (not OK. . .)

See further:

• Resources page
• Guide to Academic Honesty, Research, MLA etc. (Persuasion site)
• Purdue Owl
• Web Page Checklist @ BU Libraries.

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Content, Structure

Papers should consist of a. . .

1. Introductory section introducing topic, the problem/question being approached, brief statement of thesis (that sentence or two expressing what you want to show or prove or argue — see Owl) and how being argued.
2. Main body setting forth argumentation, evidence, documentation.
3. Concluding section briefly recapping and tying things up, maybe adding further reflections.

See the Persuasion site Writing Issues page for more on structuring your paper and the argument you wish to develop there.

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Assessment (aka grading) of Papers

You will be assessed for all aspects of these papers: research, presentation of argument, verbal expression, mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation), formatting of paper, documentation.

1. The initial submission will be graded as if it were a final draft — though that won't actually be the final grade. I will also provide my own proof-reading mark-up on the hard copy plus supply comments. The idea is to provide you with a sense of what needs improving.
2. The final submission grade will be the final paper grade. My criteria:
   • Does the student show good-faith effort to revise with a view to achieving the paper's potential?
   • Was the initial submission careless enough in its execution that I cannot give the final version, however good, full marks?
   • Note that sometimes, if the intial submission is pretty decent but the final submission careless of suggestions, the final grade will go down.

Assessment criteria as follows, based on Writing Issues page (Persuasion in Ancient Greece site) and on SUNY Critical Thinking and Writing rubrics.

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Topic Areas

These will be critical response papers, not report-oriented term papers. The point is to encourage you to think critically about modern theory/legal texts and questions they raise, but to do so informed by ancient evidence.

Paper 1 Topic

THEORY TEXT. Please critique/reflect on select claims/ideas in just one of the following:

• Butler (Antigone's Claim) OR
• Foucault (History of Sexuality Part 2)
• Focus on just one theory text, though you are certainly welcome to refer to the other one, too. Don't try to do a global interrogation! Merely try to see if there's an idea or claim in there that you can test against ancient evidence. . .

ANCIENT EVIDENCE. Do the aforementioned in light of your reading of texts/artifacts (images) dealt with during the first phase of this course — 29-Aug through 22-Oct.

• You need only choose one full-length text or the equivalent
  • One little poem or image may betoo little to go on
  • Two or three plays is too much
• Formulate and defend your own thesis with respect to your target theory text's idea(s) read against ancient evidence, for instance
  • "Butler's notions of X should find validation in Plato's Symposium. Curiously, however, they don't"
  • "Foucault's claims concerning ABC resonate with Sappho's poetry and will help us understand it"

See further Foucault and/or Butler study guide for issues/questions to help with focusing your paper.

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Paper 2 Topic

LAW ARTICLE. Please critique/reflect on select claims/ideas in just one of the following:

• Nussbaum ("Platonic Law and Colorado Law") OR
• Finnis ("Law, Morality, and 'Sexual Orientation' ")
• Focus on just one law article, though you are certainly welcome to refer to the other one, too. Don't try to do a global interrogation! Merely try to see if there's an idea or claim in there that you can test against ancient evidence. . .

ANCIENT EVIDENCE. Do the aforementioned in light of your reading of texts/artifacts dealt with during the second phase of this course — 24-Oct through 10-Dec.

• You need only choose one full-length text or the equivalent
  • One little poem or image may betoo little to go on
  • Two or three plays is too much
• Formulate and defend your own thesis with respect to your target theory text's idea(s) read against ancient evidence, for instance
  • "Finnis' notions of X should find validation in Longus' Daphnis and Chloe. Curiously, however, they don't in the scene where. . ."
  • "One would not have expected Nussbaum's notion of ABC to resonate with views expressed by Musonius Rufus. Curiously, though, they do when the latter. . ."

See further Evens v. Rome Study Guide for issues/questions to help with focusing your paper.