III. FORM
The I.S. Thesis should be clear, self-consistent, and in conformity with the forms approved for scholarly writing in general and the classics in particular. Except where otherwise noted, the department adopts the canons of style put forth in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Modern Language Association of America (New York: 5nd edition, 1999) or the attached 'Guidelines for Contributors' to the Transactions of the American Philological Association. The Bedford/St. Martin's website http://www.smpcollege.com/online/citex.html also offers an excellent overview of major citation styles. Students should buy the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook, which is available at the Wilson Bookstore, and become familiar with it. The following remarks will address the special needs of the writer of the I.S. Thesis in classics.
The I.S. Thesis should conform to the following format:
Title page (A suggested title page is shown at the end of this guide; see "Appendix II".)
Preface (including any acknowledgments)
Table of Contents
Introduction
Text and footnotes
Bibliography
The I.S. Thesis should be printed with uniform margins on a uniform kind of paper. It should be double-spaced throughout, except for the footnotes, bibliography and extended quotations (of five lines or longer) which should be single spaced (see below). Page numbers should be placed in the upper right corner of each page except for chapter title pages, on which the number should be centered at the bottom. The thesis should be bound firmly in a spring or pressure clamp-type binder; loose-leaf binders are not acceptable.
Students must employ correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence, and paragraph construction, etc. Answers to questions in these matters can usually be obtained by consulting any of the standard handbooks such as the Harbrace College Handbook. The Department of History in its guide Independent Study Thesis in History has compiled a general list of suggestions on style which would apply to the I.S. Thesis in classics; a version of this is provided at the end of this guide (see "Appendix III").
The need for careful proofreading at all stages of writing cannot be overemphasized. Computerized spelling and grammar checks are of limited use; there is no substitute for your own painstaking perusal of what you have written.
Direct quotations should be kept to a minimum and should be used for two primary reasons: to provide materials that are under investigation, especially from primary sources, and to provide an argument that is expressed so cogently in the original that it cannot be paraphrased without being weakened.
Quotations of five lines or fewer should be incorporated in the text and put in quotation marks. Any internal quotation marks in the original should then be changed to single ones in your text. Note that all commas and periods go inside the quotation marks, but that semicolons and question marks -- if not part of the original -- go outside the quotation marks. When quoting poetry, use a slash (/) at the end of each verse. Foreign terms in French, German, Latin, and transliterated Greek should be italicized.
If you must quote a selection of more than five lines, then indent on both sides and single-space the material, retaining only the punctuation used in the original. Quotations that are entirely in one foreign language need not be italicized.
Indicate any omissions you have made within a quotation by an elipsis consisting of three periods (. . .). If the omission comes at the end of the sentence, indicate this by a fourth period (. . . .). If you must make an interpolation within a quotation, indicate this by enclosing the entire interpolation within square brackets. If there are any errors of logic, grammar or spelling in the original that might otherwise be attributed to you, indicate the error by [sic].
In quoting from the Greek and Latin authors you are always permitted and encouraged to quote in the original. Be sure that your quotation corresponds exactly to the original, and that you quote no more than is needed. Employ modern editions and be sure you fully understand your quotation. Quotations in Greek should be typed in a Greek font. Please note that Symbol font does not provide the diacritical marks that you must always include when typing non-transliterated Greek. Several excellent Greek fonts can be downloaded from the Perseus website. Consult with your advisor in advance about obtaining the necessary fonts.
You may, however, use a suitable translation when the passage is for its general content and not its particular language or style. Translated passages would be appropriate in an I.S. Thesis whose topic is primarily historical or cultural rather than literary or linguistic. Take care to select a translation which is recognized as accurate and, if possible, in modern idiomatic English.
Personal names and place names whose Latinized forms are familiar in English should be so given (e.g. Alcibiades, Crete). If you wish to transliterate Greek terms and concepts, do so directly from the Greek, distinguishing original omega and eta as as ô and ê respectively. In citing figures from Greek mythology, be consistent; use either the Latin forms (e.g. Aeolus, Proserpina, Clytemnestra) or the Greek (e.g. Aiolos, Persephone, Klytaimnestra).
Proper documentation is necessary in order to identify the source of quotations, to provide explanatory material and refer the reader to additional reading, to add authority to arguments in areas where there is significant disagreement, and to acknowledge material that is borrowed and incorporated in the text. Use a footnote to identify direct quotations which reproduce the words of the source unchanged or changed only according to the rules given above. Use the explanatory note to insert additional material which although related might not be appropriate in the text itself, or to suggest sources for further reading. Use the reference note to support any statement in the text about which there is significant disagreement, that is, in which you are stating the opinion of a certain person or school of thought. You should not footnote statements that are "common knowledge," that is, about which there is universal agreement by authorities. The reference note is also used to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is the failure to acknowledge borrowed material, the ideas or words of another. When you take notes and write your paper, be sure that your product is a genuine paraphrase, using your own words and your own sentence structure.
You may choose to cite secondary sources either with parenthetical references or traditional footnotes or endnotes.
Parenthetical references must include the author's last name and page number; full information on each source is contained in the bibliography.
Footnotes or endnotes are indicated in the text by a simple Arabic numeral elevated slightly above the line. All notes should be numbered consecutively and begin fresh with each new chapter. You may place them at the bottom of each page, at the end of each chapter, or at the end of the paper according to your preference. They should be single-spaced with double-spacing in between, and the first line of each note should be indented. The note number should again be slightly elevated.
Information in footnotes or endnotes should follow the forms prescribed in the MLA Style Sheet. Typical first references for books and articles in periodicals are as follows:
21Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1970), pp. 144-145.
22Owen C. Cramer, "Speech and Silence in the Iliad," Classical Journal 71 (1976), 300-304.
For subsequent references generally use the method of the author's last name followed by a short title and page reference. For example:
23Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity, pp. 130-143.
24Cramer, "Speech and Silence," 303.
You may also use "Ibid." when a note refers to the source cited in the preceding note. A subsequent reference to the article cited in note 24 might read:
25Ibid., p. 301.
Do not use op. cit. or loc. cit. anywhere or at any time. If you must make a cross-reference to another note, use the formula "(see above, note 21)" or "(see below, note 30)".
If you will be relying on a single source for several consecutive pages, indicate your indebtedness in a single footnote at the end of the first paragraph and do not footnote the subsequent material drawn from this source. Generally, you should avoid excessive or continuous reliance upon a single source.
Parenthetical references may be used to document quotations from the Greek and Latin authors; comments on them belong in footnotes or endnotes. In each reference, abbreviate the name of the author and work; correct abbreviations can be found at the front of the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Use Arabic numberals to pinpoint the lines within various subdivisions of the text. In a reference with three numerals, the first will indicate the number of the book, the second the number of the paragraph or poem within the book, and the third the sentence, line or verse. Separate numerals with a simple period and no space between. For example:
41Verg. Aen. 6.314.
42Pind. Isthm. 2.5.
43See Eur. Alc. 1159-1163.
44Cf. the use of furor in Prop. 1.1.7.
45Thuc. 7.13.2.
Note that in the references to Thucydides and Propertius give no title, since only one work survives each author. Be sure that for each classical author quoted anywhere in your paper you include in your bibliography the edition or translation you have used. If a particular work will be quoted extensively in your text, indicate the edition you will be using in your first reference to this work. For example:
4Verg. Ecl. 4.7; all references to Vergil are based upon the text of R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford Univ. Press, 1969).
Your bibliography should include any and all works referred to in your footnotes, plus the editions you used in all quotations from the classical authors. You should not include works you consulted but did not refer to in your footnotes, nor should you use the bibliography to recommend additional reading. If you have made extensive use of primary source material in your paper, you may wish to list the primary sources first and then the secondary. The bibliography should follow the form prescribed in the MLA Style Sheet , but should be single-spaced with double spacing in between. The bibliographical form from the book and article cited above is:
Cramer, Owen C. "Speech and Silence in the Iliad." Classical Journal, 71 (1976), 300- 304.
Snowden, Frank M., Jr. Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1970.
List editions of the classical authors alphabetically according to the familiar form of the author's name, not according to the editor. For example:
Cicero. Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, I and Scipio's Dream. Ed. Frank Ernest Rockwood. 2nd ed., 1903; rpt. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1966.
Thucydides. Thucydidis Historiae. Ed. Henry Stuart Jones. 2 vols. Oxford Classical Texts. Oxford: Clarendonn Press, 1900.
If you wish, you may submit an annotated bibliography. In this case you should follow each entry in your bibliography of secondary sources with a brief critique indicating the work's subject, general orientation or perspective, and usefulness as a source. For example:
Sullivan, J. P. Propertius: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1976.
A general literary study which focuses more on poetic content
than style. Portrays Propertius as a "counter-cultural"
force in Augustan society, politics and literature.