Write an essay of no more than 2000 words on ONE of the topics below.
1. To what extent are myths charters for religious practice in the ancient world? Substantiate your
answer with examples from Greek, Roman and Near Eastern myths.
OR
2. To what extent are myths both traditional tales and a reflection of the culture in which they are retold?
Substantiate your answer with examples from Greek, Roman and Near Eastern myths.
OR
3. What can we learn about an ancient culture through the study of its myths? Substantiate your answer
with examples from Egyptian, Greek, and Near Eastern myths.Giving References in Assignments: the Ancient History Departmental Style Guide
A. Introduction: What are references for, and why are they necessary?
In nearly any assignment you are asked to do in an Ancient History subject, you will need
to give references showing where the ideas in the assignment have come from. Any
assignment is a combination of your own original ideas, things you heard in lectures and
tutorials, and things you learned from your own reading and research. As a general rule,
if an idea is your own, you will need to give evidence to support it, and if it is not your
own, you will need to say where you came across the idea, and why you believe it (or
don’t). Showing where an idea came from, and what the evidence supporting the idea is,
is one of the main jobs of references.
Broadly speaking, supporting evidence is of two kinds. First there is ancient evidence,
which is either statements by ancient writers (or simple deductions based on such
statements), or ancient objects or artefacts (or simple observations about such objects).
Second, there is modern scholarly opinion (which should be based, directly or indirectly,
on ancient evidence). You will need to keep the distinction between ancient evidence
and modern scholarly opinion clear in your mind, because there are different conventions
for referring to each of these.
When you give a reference either to a piece of ancient evidence or to a modern
scholarly opinion or opinions, the essential reasons for doing so are
1. intellectual honesty (admitting the idea was not your own original idea), and
2. providing the reader with the tools to check your work for themselves by showing what the
evidence is and where to find it.
You will soon learn how important this is to you in your own research. There is nothing
more frustrating than a modern historian making a significant claim (one you want to
make use of!), but not telling you what the evidence for the claim actually is! In the same
way, the reader of your assignment (who will usually be your marker) wants to know not
simply what you think, but also why you think it, and the evidence, ancient or modern,
which led you to your conclusion. That is what references are for: telling the reader
where the claims in your work are coming from.
There are many different styles of referencing. Here we will give you basic details about
three different styles, each of which is appropriate in particular circumstances. Different
publishers make use of different styles. Sometimes your lecturer will have a preference in
relation to a particular assignment. Sometimes you can decide which style suits a
particular assignment. But don’t mix and match within an assignment: stick to one style!
Please note: the Library has a number of online resources to help you with referencing.
An introduction to the topic can be found here; information about reference management
software can be found here.
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Contents > Introduction
B. What basic kinds of references are there?
There are three basic kinds of referencing, which need to be combined in most
assignments. There are
1. Brief In-text references
or
2. Footnotes or Endnotes (we prefer that you use Footnotes. Modern word processors
handle footnotes very well, and they are easier to keep track of when you’re reading
the assignment than are endnotes).
and
3. Bibliographies.
C. Different reasons to use references, and the different kinds of references:
There are two basic reasons for using references in an assignment:
1. As above, they can be used to make it clear where a quotation, an idea or an argument came from.
2. They can also be used to explain or qualify a point made in the main text, or to qualify, or
give further details of an argument which would unnecessarily break up your main text.
If you only need to give references of the first type (to show where a quotation, an idea or
an argument came from, or to refer to ancient evidence or a modern scholarly opinion),
then you can either use simple “In-text referencing”, or you can use formal footnotes.
Footnotes can be in “author-date” (“Harvard”) format, or extended “author-title”
(“Traditional”) format. The difference will be explained below.
If you need to give references of the second type (giving further details or qualifying your
argument), you will have to use formal footnotes of one of the two kinds. Since there is
no point mixing up the two kinds of references together, if you are ever going to need
formal footnotes in an assignment, use them the whole way through the assignment for
all your references.
Whichever form of referencing you use, you will usually also need to give a
Bibliography at the end of the assignment. The Bibliography should include only works
you have actually referred to in the assignment (i.e. not ones you just have a feeling you
should have!). The Bibliography should usually be divided into ancient authors you have
referred to, and the works of modern scholars you have used, listed separately. Each list
should be sorted alphabetically by the name of the primary author. (Works by more than
one author or editor should be listed under the name which comes first alphabetically.)
Because Bibliographies are organised alphabetically, you should give the surname of the
author first, followed by their first name. (In In-text references and in footnotes you will
normally give the author’s first name or first initial first. See the examples given below.)
The only cases where you will not need a Bibliography are likely to be those where you
have been provided with all the necessary references in your Unit materials.
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Contents > Basic Kinds of References
D. Choosing a Referencing Style for an assignment
The choice between the three recommended referencing styles basically comes down to
three factors:
1. Does your lecturer or Department have a preferred style for this assignment?
2. How much information about your references will the reader need to be able to pick up “at a
glance”?
3. Does the variety of assignment mean you will need to give lots of explanatory comments or
qualifications to the argument in your main text?
If your lecturer or Department require a particular style, you should obviously go with that.
“Author-date” styles of referencing generally work to keep the amount of referencing
information on the page to a minimum: just the author, the date of writing, and a page
reference. All the other detail, like the title of the work and where it was published, is kept for
the Bibliography at the end. In some cases this works very well. “Author-title” styles put
more information on the page, and so take up more space and may distract from the main text.
If you will be referring to a small number of well-known works, without detailed interaction
with their opinions, you can use In-text notes in author-date style. But don’t forget to include
precise page references, and the full Bibliography at the end of the assignment!
If you will be adding explanatory comments or qualifications to the argument in you main
text, you will need to use formal footnotes so those comments and qualifications don’t break
up the flow of your argument. Author-date or author-title style? That depends on other
factors.
If you will be interacting with a relatively small number of well-known works, you would be
better off using formal footnotes, but could use the author-date style. Again, don’t forget
page references, and the Bibliography at the end, in the same style.
If you will be referring to a wide range of material, so that constantly having to cross-check
with the Bibliography would be frustrating for the reader, you would be best to use formal
footnotes and the author-title system. It takes a little more work, but it gives the reader more
information “at a glance”, without having to turn to the Bibliography, and perhaps lose their
place in the main text. There may turn out to be other factors in particular cases as well.
As you begin to build up a body of works you regularly refer to, you should consider making
use of reference-management software. Such software keeps a database of all the relevant
information about each work on your list, and can output references in a wide range of formal
styles. This means you can easily re-use items from one assignment’s Bibliography in a
second or third context. Over your University career you could build up quite a large
database, and save yourself a considerable amount of time.
For further information about reference-management software such as EndNote and
Mendeley, see the Library’s online resource page, here. The University provides students with
free licences for this software, if you decide to make use of it.
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Contents > Choosing a Style
E. How do you know when you should give a reference?
As a rule of thumb, if you know where an idea came from, you need to give a reference
saying so. Unless there is a good reason to put it earlier, in mid-sentence, a reference will
normally come at the end of the relevant sentence.
1. If the words you use are a direct quotation, whether from an ancient author or a modern scholar,
you need to give a reference (quotations also need to be in quotation marks!). Quotations should
be brief. In rare cases where you need to quote more than three lines of text, put the quotation in
its own paragraph and inset it from the margin with a “hanging indent”.
2. If the idea is your own, no reference is necessary, though you may still need to say where you
found the evidence that suggested the idea.
3. If the idea was given by staff in lectures or tutorials, there is no need to reference it: everyone
else in the class heard it as well (or should have!), so it’s “common property”.
If you read the idea in one place, you need to say what that place was. If you read it in two or
more places, you need to give a reference to at least one of them. Referring to more than one
may strengthen your argument. If you read it in almost everything you read for the
assignment, you probably only need to refer to one item.
If you refer to an idea more than once, you only need to give a reference the first time.
References normally count towards the word limit of your assignment: don’t let them get too
long or repetitious! (Note: references normally do count: Bibliographies don’t.)
If you refer to the same book or article more than once, you only need to give the full details
the first time (even if you’re using the fuller “author-title” style). The second, third and
subsequent times, you can give the author’s name and an abbreviation of the title of the work,
and the different page number. There’s no need to give the full details over and over. Once
again, references count towards the word limit!
If you don’t know where the idea came from, you haven’t been keeping careful notes of
your reading! One of the most basic habits of effective study is keeping track of where
you notice ideas! And don’t just keep track of the author, or the book or article: keep
track of the page reference as well. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing there
was a great idea somewhere in your reading, but not being able to remember where.
In brief:
1. If you directly quote either an ancient author or a modern scholar, you must set it within
quotation marks, and you must give a reference,
and
2. If you make use of an idea which you know is not your own, even if your paraphrase it in
your own words, you must give a reference.
3. Rather than give multiple footnotes in the one sentence, it is usually best to combine them into
one footnote. If necessary you can add brief explanatory comments in the note.