The Odyssey

The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. A: Beginnings to A.D. 100. 3^rd ed. Trans. Sarah Lawall. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. Print. ISBN-13: 978-0393913293.

Students must choose one theme/motif/or symbol from the handouts that are posted to Bb for each work. Do NOT invent one. Do NOT cover more than one:

Themes:

(The themes/motifs are included in the .jpg image within the submission folder).

• The Iliad and The Odyssey are epic poems.
• In MLA style guide:

1. For the in-text citations: Cite the epic in-text by writing the author’s last name in parentheses. After the author’s name, write the number of the book or canto from which you drew the information, a period, and the line number you are citing. For example: Astyanax does not recognize Hector when he wears his helmet (Homer 6.556-562). You only need the last name of the author in the first citation, after that use only the book or canto number, a period, and the line number you are citing (7.112-145). If you change sources, then when you mention the source again, you need to restate the author’s last name. This is to make sure that your readers are certain about which work you are referring to at the moment. If you only use the one source though, the first time is the only time we should see the author’s last name for the in-text citations.
2. The works cited entries should look like this: Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Stanley Lombardo. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vol. A: Beginnings to A.D. 100. 3rd ed., edited by Martin Puchner, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2003, pp. 332-622.
3. The ISBN is listed for students to make certain they purchase the correct copy of the textbook.
4. The ISBN should not appear in a Works Cited entry (see MLA Style Guide).

Topics and Basic Requirements: During the term we will examine, discuss, and write about works related to classical mythology. At the end of our investigation of three of these works, students are required to turn in a four-page formal critical analysis of the work. This paper is to be on The Iliad. Each paper must be a formal critical analysis of the assigned work and must answer and explain the following: (1) What is the main message it is trying to convey to the audience?, (2) Why did it succeed or fail at conveying its main message?, and (3) How did one of the themes/motifs/or symbols contribute to its success or failure at conveying its main message? Students must choose one theme/motif/or symbol from the handouts that are posted to Bb for each work. Do NOT invent one. Do NOT cover more than one. The overarching goal of each formal paper is to critically analyze and academically assess how well and why each work expresses and explores the main message presented in the piece, and to provide a formal, scholarly, and precise evaluation of the work. This is not a personal opinion piece, generic book report, blog entry, nor film review online. There is no additional outside research required for the papers; however, students must use MLA for all citations, quotations, and research that they consulted. Students are required to have one to two correct citations per page AND a correct works cited page at the end of the paper, on a fresh page, by itself, and properly formatted. Correct use of the MLA style guide is required (link to Purdue O.W.L. on Bb). Stiff penalties will be applied for incorrect use of the MLA style guide for all matters of format and execution (do not guess, look everything up). Students must correctly cite the focus piece for the required in-text citations AND in the works cited, plus anything else they used for the formal paper. The professor has created the proper works cited entries and explained exactly how to make the proper in-text citations for each focus piece and posted them to Bb in order to help students learn these skills and alleviate stress. They are in the “Course Materials” tab, “Lectures and Reading Guides” folder, and then by topic (e.g. “Reading Guides: The Iliad and The Odyssey [Epic Poetry]”).

Required Format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). All written work for the course must follow the standard MLA format: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides, in black font for the color, “insert” page numbers with the student’s last name in the top right corner (do not manually type them or it is wrong because it alters the paper spacing and margins). Students must provide a full label, on the first page only, before beginning their paper and place it in the top left corner (student’s full name, professor’s name, course title, date). This is the standard MLA format and it is all listed, explained, and shown on Purdue O.W.L.: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_general_format.html 

All course documents must be submitted to the correct locations on Bb in Microsoft Word ONLY (.doc or .docx) to ensure the professor can open and read them and so the Safe Assign plagiarism check runs properly and gives students and the professor accurate results. PDFs do not scan correctly in Safe Assign, that is why they are not accepted in the course. If assignments are not in the required acceptable format (.doc or .docx), or if they are turned in to the wrong location, they are automatically a “0 F,” no exceptions. Students are required to read all handouts on Bb and follow the instructions precisely. The “Writing and Paper Help: The Technical Stuff” module on Bb has the grading rubric, handouts, and links students are required to follow (the module is in the “Course Materials” tab).

• Word is Required but it is FREE: Harper students have free access to five desktop, mobile, and tablet downloads of Microsoft Office. Go to https://login.microsoftonline.com to sign up. It is also on all main campus computers.
• Please Note Well: Students’ S.A. reports (Safe Assign) must be no more than 25%, otherwise there is not enough original content in total and that is plagiarism; therefore, it will be an automatic “0 F” and reported to the college for academic dishonesty. Most colleges and universities only accept 10-15%, so this allows students more than that while helping them learn proper academic standards and practices. Please turn in the papers early so that there are opportunities to fix them if needed. The reports are available to students on Bb and will show up a little while after submission (sometimes longer), i.e. once it has cycled through and generated a report. Students have “unlimited submissions” on Bb for the required papers, so they have every opportunity to turn them in early, look at their reports, and fix any errors or issues that occur. Safe Assign will compare the student’s paper to any paper ever submitted to the Bb system (i.e. everywhere that uses Bb) and the entire Internet. It will catch plagiarism.
• If the S.A. report is over 25%, several solutions are: add more of your own words to the paper (additional sentences or paragraphs) which will increase the original content that is not cited or used from other sources or use less/smaller-sized direct quotations/paraphrasing/other references. Both of those options should quickly and easily lower the S.A. percentage. Students most often have an issue with this when their papers are too short (i.e. less than the bare minimum).

Technical or Personal Issues: Students should type up and save all their written work ahead of time and backup their work in multiple locations to proactively save themselves from any unfortunate mishaps that may occur. Unfortunately, life does not stop because one is in college. Students should finish their work early in case other matters arise. To be just and fair to all students, the due dates/times apply equally to all students, i.e. no extensions will be given to anybody, at any time, for any reason, for any and all coursework. Technical or personal issues are not a valid excuse for not completing coursework correctly and on time, no exceptions.  

• Make sure the title is The Iliad (I-L-I-A-D and italicized, it is an epic poem, therefore it is book length and per MLA guidelines it is italicized).