(1)  All papers must be typed, double-spaced, have 1 or 1.5-inch margins, and in 12-point font.  Rough drafts should be around 3-4 pages in length, and final drafts around 4-5 pages long.  They may be slightly longer or shorter as needed, but I encourage you to adhere to the limit as closely as possible.
(2)  Please number your pages and include your name and a title on the first page.  The title should be something other than "First Assignment" or "Response Essay".  Be creative!
(3)  Your essay should make direct and indirect reference to the texts we are reading in class, which (for now) are Plato's Timaeus and Hesiod's Theogony.  The final draft will also require you to include texts read later in the term.  For purposes of citation, parenthetical, in-text references to the sources are fine.  Thus, please cite sources according to the following format: (Timaeus, 25) or (Theogony, lines 200-202).  Note that the titles of published works should be either underlined or italicized.
(4)  Write as though your audience consists of readers like you--familiar with the works we are using, but also formal (as though you are writing to a professor, not friends).
(5)  Your paper should discuss and be based only on the assigned readings, not on external sources.
(6)  Your paper should have a thesis, an argument.  We'll talk more about what a good thesis looks like, but a brief description might be that a thesis asks “why” and “how” and does not merely describe “what”.  A simple statement of fact (for example, “Hesiod wrote about the Greek gods.”) does not qualify as a thesis.  For more information and background on what a thesis is and how to create one, consult Ways of Writing, pp. 22-24, 28-33, and especially pp. 72-74.
(7)  Please proofread—this is often the difference between an “A” and a “B” paper.
(8)  Please hand your papers in to me in class.

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Late paper policy

I accept late papers, but not without penalties attached.  Penalty guidelines are as follows, and include weekends:

• 1 day late = 1 small grade step deduction (i.e., from A to A-; A- is highest possible grade)
• 2-5 days late = 2 small steps deduction (i.e., from A to B+; B+ is highest possible grade)
• 6-10 days late = 1 full grade deduction (i.e., from A to B; B is highest possible grade)
• 11+ days late = 2 full grade deductions (i.e., from A to C; C is highest grade possible)
  

Students may also request an extension.  Mitigating circumstances such as a demonstrable, documented medical condition or acute personal crisis may be grounds for an extension, but only if requests are made in advance of the paper due date.  Extensions will never be granted on the day the paper is due, or afterward.  The instructor will arrange with the student an appropriate date on which the work will be turned in.  Students may ask for and receive only one extension request per term.

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Assignment guidelines for first essay (rough draft only)

Write an essay on the following topic(s).  You are not expected to answer every question posed below.  Rather, you may choose from one, two, or several of them in crafting your response.  Essays will be evaluated (scored) based on the presence of a thesis statement, organization of ideas, direct and indirect use of sources to demonstrate argument, ability to analyze sources, and spelling, punctuation, sentence syntax, etc.

Plato's Timaeus and Hesiod's Theogony offer in essence two very different pathways for perceiving, understanding, and describing the universe and what is in it.  Both writers lived in ancient Greece (in the fourth and eighth centuries BCE, respectively).  One describes the creation and nature of the cosmos and the gods who inhabit it through poetry, the other through a dialogue among Greek intellectuals which concentrates on intellectual concepts, propositions, and definitions.  In general, how do their visions of the world compare?  How are they different?  Think here about their subject matter, genre and style of writing, and its mood and effect.  How would you characterize their approaches--literary/poetic, intellectual--to the subject of the creation of the universe?  How do they discuss their subject and persuade their audiences of their vision?  Are their different ways of describing and writing about creation at all comparable?  If so, how?  If not, why not?  Is one approach more "faith"-centered or more "rational" than the other?  If so, how, and what makes it that way?  Are the different approaches mutually exclusive or hostile to one another?  Or do they complement one another?  Put another way, what do you think Plato would say about Hesiod's creation story, and vice versa?