There are three components to this exercise: 1) the
preparation of an abstract of your paper in accordance with SCS guidelines; 2)
an oral presentation of no more than 15
minutes (this time limit will be strictly observed); and 3) the seminar paper.
Topics: Preferably, your paper will in some fashion focus on or include Quintilian. This isn't to say you cannot write a paper on the Dialogus or the Panegyricus. Au contraire. But if you choose to work on one or both of those texts for your paper (yes, you could have a paper that covers both texts), some component of it should involve Quintilian. I'd like you to clear your topic with me first (some of you already have); if you are stumped, you may feel free to mine my 'Thinkpad' for some ideas.
Due dates and (rough) guidelines:
Abstract: Please
submit this to me as an email attachment no
later than the day prior to your presentation; they will be distributed to
the class.
Writing abstracts is a skill you should all begin to acquire – most conferences will require you to submit an abstract as a condition of acceptance to present a paper. For our purposes, you should follow the guidelines for writing an abstract for the Society for Classical Studies. Click here for the SCS's guidelines -- in addition to the guidelines, you should also read through the 'suggestions for the preparation of abstracts' (there is a link to that document on the page to which I have just directed you). And here is a link to a pdf that contains several sample abstracts. Please make note of the maximum number of words (650) -- this is a maximum; it does not mean that your abtract needs to be that long. Rather than be guided by length, be guided by the instructions on what the abstract is meant to achieve.
Oral presentation:
Your presentation should be no
more than 15 minutes in length (so please make sure you have timed
yourself), and should present the gist of your thesis together with supporting
evidence/discussion. Please note
that the presentation need not -- and indeed should not -- represent the final
product. Treat the presentation as
an opportunity to talk a bit about what your topic/idea is, discuss some
preliminary research and thinking, and where you think the paper is
headed. There will be ample
opportunity for feedback following your presentation, which hopefully will
contribute to your refining and honing the paper.
Presentation dates: The six presentations will be split up between our last two meetings: 2 on Monday, June 1 (Anna has already agreed to do one of these) and the other 4 on Wednesday, June 6. We'll allot the last hour on Monday for those 2 papers, and the full 2 hours on Wednesday to the other 4. I hope this will leave ample room for discussion on both days.
Seminar paper: Typed, 10-20 pages (I am loath to stipulate paper lengths, but I cannot imagine you can write one less than 10, and anything more than 20 risks becoming a monograph!). This should of course be a fuller explication of what you cover in your talk, fully researched and properly documented. Please follow current guidelines for Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association in preparing your paper -- these guidelines are available here (click on the 'TAPA style' link found in this text).
IĠd like your paper no later
than Thursday, June 11.
Earlier submissions gratefully received.