Overview
Below is a list of topics, some from the first list of essay topics, others new. You may choose any topic below, but not one you did for the first essay. You may reformulate or create your own topic as well. 1. Discuss the religious beliefs of the Greeks as seen in the Iliad and Odyssey. 2. The Iliad and Odyssey were central to the Greek educational system. What is it about these epics that made them so important to the ancient Greeks? What can one learn from the two epics about Greek religion? 3. From what you have read in the Iliad and Odyssey, do the Greeks believe they have free will or that their future is determined by the gods or both? 4. Discuss the nature of the gods and how they interact with humans in the Iliad and Odyssey. 6. Why do I call the Iliad and Odyssey morality plays in lecture. 7. Do the religious views expressed by Hesiod in his Works and Days differ from those seen in the Iliad and/or Odyssey?
As with the first essay, this essay must be typed, and may be single- spaced. Please do not add a title page or bibliography. Put your name in the upper right-hand corner and in the upper-left the title of your essay. If you quote a passage from the Iliad or Odyssey, provide the book number and line numbers: (Iliad 6, 12-16). You will be graded on a scale of 10 points (= 100%): seven points for content and you may lose up to three points for misspelled words, typos, improper English usage, and other grammar mistakes. Late essays will lose two points and then one point each week day thereafter. Most points were lost on the first paper due to mistakes of the kind listed below.
Organizing Criteria (to be exhibited in your essay): You must have a thesis sentence at the beginning of the essay. Think of the three, four, or five paragraph essay format, with an introductory thesis paragraph, supporting paragraphs, and a brief concluding paragraph. (Remember: In an essay you are arguing a point, trying to prove a point, or elucidating a point. Your thesis statement states what the point is.) Make sure your sentences make sense. Clumsy phrases and incorrectly used words will cost you points. Stylistic Points (I will not mark off for style, but keep the following in mind): Keep to the same verb tense. Avoid split infinitives. Avoid passives. Avoid wordiness; make your statements direct. Vary your sentence structure: a simple sentence, a compound sentence, a sentence with subordinate clauses, etc. Some Common Errors to Look Out For: it’s = it is its = possession their = possessive vs. there Be consistent in your use of quotation marks alongside periods, commas, etc.: “...store.” “...store,” “...store”; “...store”: Underline or italicize titles of books and poems: Iliad, Odyssey
Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives: Greeks - and not greeks. Do not capitalize the word ancient: ancient Greece and not Ancient Greece. Italicize foreign words such as kleos, kudos, etc. Do not use contractions in formal writing. Avoid run-on sentences: He wanted to go home as soon as he finished, however he stayed behind. A complete sentence ends with a period or semi-colon, except when you string several very short sentences in a row: I came, I saw, I conquered. Avoid fragmentary sentences: Since he lived in the South for over ten years during the 1960s and experienced many facets of country living in those years. Use commas properly. End a subordinate clause beginning with such words (called subordinating conjunctions) as “when,” “since,” “although,” “as long as,” “while,” “as” with a comma. When he finished the assignment, he handed it in. “But” usually has a comma before it as in: I went home, but no one was there. Words or phrases in apposition have a comma before and after. Similarly, such words as “however” in the middle of a sentence has a comma before and after