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Essay Guidelines
Topics: After you have read this entire page carefully, click on the link at the bottom for essay topics.
Deadline: Turn the essay in to your TA’s office or mailbox (in the Classics
mailroom, HSSB 4072, door doors up from the department office) by
Length: Minimum 5 pages; but please do not go on long beyond that point. TAs each have about 90 papers to grade, so do not expect your TA to read beyond the fifth page unless the first 5 pp. prove that it will be worthwhile to do so.
DO NOT summarize the myths at length. We know them too, so there’s no need to retell them to us except to the extent necessary to highlight or substantiate the points you are making. Excessive plot-summary (more than a paragraph or so) will NOT count toward the page-minimum.
What we do and don’t want to see:
· This is an essay, not a research paper. You are expected to make use of the material presented to you in this course—the textbook, lectures, other texts such as the Iliad—NOT to plunder the library for other people’s ideas. We are interested only in what you think and the reasoning behind what you think, so resorting to other sources, even when they do cast further light on the question, is beside the point.
· Your essay should be grammatically and orthographically (i.e., with regard to spelling) correct, clearly written, and present a coherent argument.
· Begin with a brief introductory paragraph indicating exactly what question you are seeking to answer and how you plan to proceed (it is desirable, though not absolutely necessary, to include a thesis statement here); develop your argument over a series of clearly distinct and well-organized paragraphs, each of which carries the discussion forward toward your conclusion; and finish with a concluding paragraph that ties up all your main points. Be sure that each of the paragraphs in the body of the essay (i.e., between introductory and concluding paragraphs) contributes something significant to your conclusion; if one doesn’t, then either it shouldn’t be there or your conclusion needs work.
· Remember that writing is also a process of thinking. Frequently we don’t really know what we think until we have nearly finished writing and are working on the conclusion. This is one reason why any good essay is likely to be rewritten at least once. If you want to excel in your essay, expect to go through at least one draft before you work out the final version. Proofread and correct your final version; excessive spelling/typographical errors will affect your grade.
· Avoid pompous language designed to make an essay appear “academic” or “intellectual;” but, equally, remember that colloquial, slang and especially obscene language have little or no place in formal academic writing. Use your dictionary!, as your parents and high school teachers always said. Every essay you write in college is an excellent opportunity to improve your command of your language—a skill whose value cannot be overestimated in the “real world” out there.
· Be forewarned that the questions have been designed to make it very difficult to buy a matching paper off the web. We are aware of many of the cheater-sites on the web and what they have to offer. Don’t waste your time buying your way straight to the Conduct Committee.
· That leads to another big issue: plagiarism, both intentional and unintentional. TAs will be discussing this in your sections during 7th week, and there are excellent web-pages (OWL, the Purdue University On-Line Writing Lab, and TurnItIn.com: read this page and surf around a bit) that will help you understand the gravity of this offense and exactly how to avoid it. Please understand that with this information at your fingertips, ignorance of the meaning and nature of plagiarism will be no excuse.
This is not the place to go into the problem in detail, but here is the basic principle: Plagiarism is taking someone else’s ideas (or words) and misrepresenting them—intentionally or unintentionally—as one’s own. Setting aside hair-splitting exact quotation, paraphrase, or “common knowledge,” I think we are all very well aware of when we are doing this. At the bottom line plagiarism matters for two important reasons: first, because effective learning depends on actually doing an assignment rather than pretending to; and second, because you are graded on your own work. For the first reason, plagiarism harms even the plagiarizer; for the second reason, plagiarism harms every careful and honest student who has truly done his or her own work, and correspondingly devalues your degree.
The TAs have been advised that I will actively pursue any case of plagiarism that we detect. I conclude by quoting a flyer recently sent out from the Office of Student Judicial Affairs:
”During spring and summer 2003, 27 students were brought before the Student Faculty Committee on Student Conduct. 15 of these students were found guilty of plagiarism, 4 were found guilty of cheating on exams.
”Of these 19 students found guilty of academic misconduct, 1 was dismissed, 1 was suspended for 3 quarters, 11 were suspended for 2 quarters, 4 were suspended for 1 quarter, 2 were put on probation.
”All 15 students who plagiarized and were suspended for 1 quarter or more took information from the Internet without citing the source of that information.
”INTERNET PLAGIARISM IS A SERIOUS OFFENSE.”
After you have read this entire page carefully, click here for essay topics.