MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

Ancient History Essay Presentation & Conventions: Style Guide

Prepared by Dr. D.J. Phillips 2006

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 basis for discussion relevant to the topic under consideration. Such citation should be included either in footnotes or in the body of your essay (see examples in 2.2 below) Ideas and interpretations which are not your own should be duly acknowledged with references being cited in footnotes.

1.2

2.

QUOTATIONS

2.1

Direct quotations from both ancient sources and secondary references should be kept to an absolute minimum. They should not be used for padding but rather for the purposes of argumentation and substantiation. Quotations, where necessary, from ancient sources should be short and to the point. In other words, they should be relevant extracts rather than substantial reproductions. Where it is necessary to refer to an extended passage this can be done by giving a reference to the full context in a footnote. The reader of the essay can be assumed to have access to the relevant sources. If it is necessary to refer at length to a secondary discussion this should be done by way of paraphrase and summary again with reference to the fuller context in a footnote. Where direct quotations are used they should be enclosed within quotation marks (-----------) and acknowledged in a footnote. Quotations of several lines length should be indented from the margin. The citation of references for quotations from ancient sources and the citation of ancient sources by way of substantiation may be given either 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 immediate public, but was done to last for ever. (Thuc.1.22) Demosthenes....allowed no act of Philips to pass uncriticized... (Plut. Dem.16).

2.2

3.

CONVENTIONS FOR NOTES, REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

As you read articles and monographs you will come across a variety of conventions for citing references in footnotes and endnotes and in bibliographies. These are basically variations 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 commonly used. Items are cited in the bibliography in the following form:

Meiggs, R., The Athenian Empire (Oxford, 1972). Sealey, R., Callistratos of Aphidna and his Contemporaries, Historia 5 (1956), 178-203. First references in footnotes are also given in this form. Thereafter ibid, op.cit. or abbreviated 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 the Humanities 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, YCS 24, 53-70. ________ (1976a), Agesilaus and Sparta, CQ 26, 62-81. ________ (1976b), The Imperialism of Thrasybulus, CQ 26, 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 be used 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 fuller identification. 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 date details, is used. The short version must be easily identifiable as representing the full title; preferably it will use words from the beginning of a long title, and it will drop articles (The, A), e.g. Isaac, Invention of Racism, p.142 or Isaac, Invention, 142.

3.4

Use of Conventions in Essays: You should choose one of these conventions for use in your essays. Apply your choice consistently and do not use a mixture in the same essay. In the sections below I have given examples of each convention.

4.

NOTES

4.1

Notes should be numbered consecutively throughout the essay and placed either: (a) or (b) at the foot of each page (footnotes) 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 (1) (A) Traditional Convention:

First citation: J.M. Balcer, Imperial Magistrates in the Athenian Empire, Historia 25 (1976), 257. R. Meiggs, The Athenian Empire (Oxford, 1972), 176-177.

e.g. 1. 2.

Names of journals/periodicals and titles of books should be italicised (or underlined). In giving details of publication reference should be made to place and date of first publication or subsequent edition, not to the country. Thus: Oxford not England V. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 2nd ed. (London, 1973) (2) Subsequent citations: either: standard use of (= opere citato, in the work cited) (ibidem, in the same place)

op.cit. ibid. 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.) 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.) (B) Author-date Convention:

4.

OR

All references cited must be listed in your bibliography in the form: Balcer, J.M. (1976), Imperial Magistrates in the Athenian Empire, Historia 25, 257-287. Meiggs, R., (1972), The Athenian Empire, Oxford. Footnotes may then simply take the form: 1. 2. OR Balcer (1976: 259) Meiggs (1972: 190) etc. (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 the authors initial (or name) standing first: B. Isaac, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity (Princeton, 2004), p.137. Subsequent citations use the short title: 4. 5. Isaac, Invention of Racism, 142 Loraux, Born of the Earth, 14 3.

4.2.2 For Ancient Sources: A. Literary Sources (1) Unless names or titles are short (e.g. Lysias; Plato, Laws) these should be cited according to standardized or at least recognizable abbreviations. See, for example, the lists of abbreviations for ancient authors in the prefatory pages of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, Liddell & Scott, Greek English Lexicon and Lewis & Short, A Latin Dictionary. e.g. Andok. = Andokides AP or Ath. Pol. = Athenaion Politeia (= Constitution of the Athenians attributed to Aristotle). D.S. or Diod. Sic. = Diodorus Siculus Hdt.= Herodotus Plut. Them. = Plutarch, Life of Themistokles Plut. Dem. = Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes Thuc. = Thucydides Xen. Hell. = Xenophon, Hellenica (History of Greece) (2) Wherever possible all references should be made to the standard divisions of ancient works. These are to be found in the headings and margins of all Loeb editions and most Penguin translations and in the standard editions of classical authors (O.C.T. = Oxford Classical Texts; Bud; Teubner).

e.g. AP 24.2 Arist. Wasps 1011 D.S. XVI. 31.6* or D.S. 16.31.6

= chapter 24, section 2 = line 1011 = book 16, chapter 31, section 6

*Book and speech numbers for most ancient authors are frequently given in Roman numerals. Either form my be used, but be consistent for each author. Lysias 13.15 Plut. Nikias 10 Thuc. 8.12 Thuc. 6.91.2-3 Xen., Hell. 2.1.23 = speech 13 (Against Agoratus), section 15. = chapter 10 = book 8, chapter 12 = book 6, chapter 91, sections 2-3 = book 2, chapter 1, section 23

Where such standard divisions are not included or are not clearly indicated, 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 in your bibliography. B. Epigraphical Sources: Where possible, use standard abbreviations for main corpora and selections of inscriptions. e.g. IG I2 95.5 = Inscriptiones Graecae, Volume I, second edition, number 95, line 5. ML 8 = Meiggs, R. & Lewis, D. (1969). A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the end of the fifth century B.C., Oxford, number 8 SEG XXVII 27 = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume XXVII (1977), number 27. Tod 123 = Tod, M.N. (1933-1948), A Selection of Greek Historical 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 translated documents such as Austin, M.M. & Vidal-Naquet, P. (1977), Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece. An Introduction, London. Fornara, C.W. (1982), Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War, revised edition, Cambridge. give the citation as it occurs in the collection from which you have drawn it and cite that collection in the normal way:

e.g. (i)

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

or Pindar, Second Olympian, 59-88 in Austin & Vidal Naquet op.cit.243. (ii) following convention B: Scholion on Aristeides 46.14f in Fornara (1982:76) or IG I2 26 in 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 the most efficient signposts to the precise place where you found the information. These signposts must include the author and title of the specific web page; the author/editor of the web 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 allow the reader to replicate your search. e.g. Herbert Benario, Trajan (AD 98-117) (updated 23 July 2003), on R.D. Weigel et 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 to be relevant to the essay topic concerned. It may, however, include items which, though consulted, are not actually cited in the notes (particularly, for example, specialist encyclopedia 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. von Fritz & E. Kapp (New York, 1950). 2. Ferguson, J. & Chisholm, K. (eds), Political and Social Life in the Great 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:

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 consulted and are relevant should be included. Follow either convention A or B (see 3.1 and 3.2 above) making sure that you use either convention consistently throughout your essay in 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 names throughout your essay: e.g. Cleisthenes or Kleisthenes; Pericles or Perikles; Isaeus or Isaios.

7.2 7.3

Essays should be either neatly and legibly written or typed. Use one side of the paper only. Allow 111/2 margin for markers comments. Marks will be deducted for inadequate or shoddy preparation and presentation or for work which does not attempt to conform to the standards and style for preparation set out 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)