Topics for Paper 1

 

Remember:

a) 1200-1500 words long
b) bring 3 paper copies to class
c) submit one electronic copy to "Submit Papers to this Folder"
d) first draft due Monday, October 8; final draft due Friday, October 19
Write on the following: For the topic of the article/chapter which you have picked, examine the differences between the Roman "material"* and equivalent "material"* today. Then, based on that examination, determine whether that difference is based on some sort of fundamental difference between Roman culture and "today's" culture (be specific here) or is simply a matter of happenstance (e.g. the Roman preference for goat's milk cheese versus cow's milk cheese or Roman use of oil lamps for lighting versus electric lights today).  Finally, if the difference is fundamental, speculate as to what is the root cause. As always, make sure you cite and quote correctly; make sure you give good examples and/or references from the primary material; make sure you give good examples and/or references to the chapter/article you have picked (secondary material); and make sure that at some point you evaluate the "correctness" of that chapter/article.

Roman "Material"
    1. the chapter or article you have picked (especially the primary evidence cited/quoted in it)
    2. any applicable primary evidence in Shelton
    3. other primary evidence--if it is easily available (i.e., in Reeves library or on web at Women's Life in Greece & Rome: selected texts; )
 

Example of how this would work:
Say you picked an article about a Roman's typical morning routine. You would then

1) examine the difference between the typical morning routine today and that of a Roman,
 
2) determine why the difference exists and determine if this difference is culturally significant/important/fundamental (probably most of the differences in this case are not significant culturally, though the modern emphasis on time is significant), and

3) if culturally based, then the person would speculate as to why it is culturally based (the modern emphasis on time is indicative of a modern interest in efficiency and a need for continual improvement--as a culture America is very interested in always improving whatever is done).

4) at some point give an evaluation of the article