Advice on Reading, Looking At and Writing About Ancient Sources

The task of the classical scholar is twofold: to master the evidence (material as well as literary), and to
interpret it in a convincing, and ideally new and/or interesting way. Communicating that interpretation can
be awkward, especially in the rushed and stressful circumstances of the once- or twice-weekly tutorial
essay. These notes are intended to give some guidance about what this tutor thinks essays should be and do;
they are a work in progress, and comments, additions etc. are extremely welcome!
The Reading List
Reading lists vary enormously from tutor to tutor, course to course, and week to week. Most of them will
have some primary and some secondary bibliography. Concentrate primarily on the former and only
second(ari)ly on the latter. Sometimes an essay question will be provided which may help you to focus
your reading and note-taking; 'prompt' questions are also common, a series of issues and problems to think
about while reading, not all of which need to be answered in the essay.
Reading ancient texts, even in translation, requires care and attention. Use a commentary, and use maps
(i.e. photocopy or trace them, then annotate them, draw on them, make your own, etc). Visual material can
be read in a similar way to texts. Students tend to be less used to working with art and artefacts at the
beginning of the course, but practice will quickly close the gap, as will going to lectures on art-historical
and archaeological topics even those outside your own courses, if you find ones that look interesting. One
method of training yourself to read images is to practice a picture question approach (see below) on as
many as possible.
Don't succumb to the temptation to summarize secondary literature in your notes (though this can be a
useful tactic with primary sources): note only what you think you will need to use, either in the long term
(for the exam, or a dissertation), or in the short term (for your essay).
Think about what study methods work for you: room or library? morning or afternoon (or middle of the
night)? written notes or diagrams? Try out different ways of working.
Presentations (for texts and contexts)
There are two kinds of presentation that you will be asked to make in this class: brief responses to prompt
questions on the literary material, and short presentations of archaeological material. In both cases the idea
is to lead off discussion on the text or artefact or topic, so keep your comments concise (certainly less than
five minutes) and use the opportunity to bring up problems or questions as well as (or instead of)
suggesting conclusive answers/interpretations. Its easier to follow presentations given from notes than
talks that are formally written out.
Using the following format will help to structure your presentations of visual material, and will be useful
practice for picture questions (on which see further below):
1.

Description. What kind of thing is it? What is it made of? What is the date? Where was it found?
Can you say anything about how or where it was used, and by whom? Describe features or
iconography as clearly as possible (no expertise needed here!).

2.

Significance. What is interesting about it? Tell us 2 or 3 things that are interesting about the object
in itself, in the context of its genre, and/or in the context of this weeks topic/literary texts.

3.

What problems or questions does it raise? End with 1 or 2 questions or issues for discussion.

Picture Questions in the Exam

NB THESE ARE NOT IDENTIFICATION TESTS! The faculty guidelines say: Examiners want to see you
bring wide knowledge of the subject to bear in assessing a single specific example, and to see how you can
use a specific example to make telling general points.
Answers to picture questions should be organised under the following headings:
1. Title: You should give your answer a basic descriptive title, which could include such things as its name
(if you know it), material, description (ie what is it?), date, and (if known) provenance, current location. An
ideal title would be: Artemision Zeus, Bronze statue, c. 470-460 BC, from Cape Artemision. National
Museum, Athens; but such detail would be unusual.
2. Object: What kind of object or structure is it? What was its function? What contexts was it used or found
in?
3. Subject (iconography): What is represented? (This category does not always apply.) Describe what you
see (scene, pose, action, clothes, hair, attributes, decoration, and subject, if it is a mythological or historical
narrative scene). Are there any particularly interesting details?
[4. Style: How is the subject represented? How is the object made? Is there anything to be said about the
technique, craft or manufacturing? This can lead to an estimate of (or explanation of other scholars
estimate of) date and provenance, especially if you can cite parallels. NB this section is more for people
doing picture questions in dedicated archaeology papers; if you have something to say under this heading
in Texts and Contexts then so much the better, but it is not required.]
5. Significance:
Things to think about: date, function, contexts of use or viewing, interesting or unusual details of the
subject or style, to what extent is it a typical example of its type? Who (or what sort of person) would have
commissioned or bought this, and who is supposed to be looking at it? How does it illuminate the ideas and
values of the people who used it? If you know about them, you could also discuss scholarly interpretations
of the object. You could also talk about links with the set texts or topics for this course (not necessarily the
one it seems to be attached to!)
Essays
A very useful mnemonic to remember when writing essays is TESS. This stands for Thesis - Evidence Structure - Style, four important components of any decent essay in that order of priority. Good style
cannot compensate for poor use of evidence in argument, nor is a beautifully structured essay much good if
it doesn't have anything in particular to say.
Thesis
The reader shouldn't be in any doubt as to what the central contention of the essay actually is. You will
probably be answering a specific question (your tutor's or your own), though you may be conducting a
more general examination of a topic in either case you should have one argument which frames and
propels the essay, and is firmly based on the sources.
Evidence
The primary evidence forms the meat of the essay: the material you select and present in order to develop,
substantiate or defend your thesis. Summarise it, dissect it, interpret it, analyse it, but do so selectively. If
you're interested in a passage in the second book of the Odyssey, don't spend half a paragraph telling me
what Homer says in the first, unless that is somehow terribly important for understanding the claim in
question. Avoid narrative at the expense of argument, and avoid making claims without supporting them
with primary evidence and/or examples. You are trying to persuade your reader of the validity of your

argument, not just tell them what it is, and the efficient and effective marshalling of evidence is a key part
of that endeavour. Page (or book, or chapter) references are good. Use footnotes if you like footnotes.
Structure
A well-laid out paper, with an obvious beginning, middle and end and a thoughtful organisation of
paragraphs is important. A clear structure helps organise your own thinking, and makes it easy for a reader
to find her way through your thoughts. If the topic requires a complex organisation, or a distinctively
peculiar structure, then spend a bit more time at the beginning telling the reader in advance how the essay is
going to work.
Rule no 1: ALWAYS plan your essays before you begin (whether in list or diagram form). The plan may
well change once you start writing, which is the reason for Rule no 2: ALWAYS reread your essays before
you submit them, not only for mistakes, but also for the clear and logical development of the argument.
Style
Style comes last, which is not to say that it is unimportant. Reading good, fluent prose is one of the great
joys in life, and being able to write it is a marvellous gift to possess. But contrary to the beliefs of some,
good style is not the be all and the end all, and style without substance is quickly found out. The most
important aspects of writing style are the basics. Write clear sentences. Use the right words, and not too
many of them. Spell words accurately. Follow the conventions of English grammar. Avoid clich. Don't let
your writing become stuffy, pompous, or bureaucratic. An excellent guide to writing style is Strunk and
White's The Elements of Style. A fine, fine little book, packed with good advice.
Introductions
In many ways the introduction is the most important part of the essay. This is where you can capture your
reader's imagination, and convince her that you have something interesting to say. All sorts of contextual
comments can be made in an introduction, but there are certain things that ALL introductions should do,
viz:
1. Define the question or problem (either that assigned, or that discovered during reading).
2. State the central thesis of the paper. (Some people prefer to construct the essay to lead inexorably to a
concluding thesis rather than explaining and arguing one already stated in the introduction: this is a tricky
route to negotiate, especially under time pressure, and if you do, be sure to be very clear in the introduction
about what kind of argument you will be making and towards what sort of conclusion you are aiming).
3. Summarize the structure of the essay: a road-map of your argument, if you like. This will make the essay
easier to follow - and it will also ensure that it has a clear structure!
Conventions
In my opinion, the ideal tutorial essay is 2000-2200 words long. 2500 is too long, and 1500 is almost
certainly missing something important or interesting. It is double or 1.5 spaced if it is word-processed
though handwriting essays can be useful both for constructing a disciplined argument and for exam
practice. Pictures, diagrams, maps and tables all add colour and clarity.
J. C. Quinn, October 2004