ANCW20015 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY ESSAY GUIDE

FORMAT
Your essay must be typed. It must be in a reasonable size font (12 is usually good), and
double-spaced, with margins of at least 2.5 cms, so that examiners can add comments. It
must also be accompanied by a cover sheet that includes your seminar time and word
count without citations or bibliography.

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE WORD COUNT, AND IS IT FLEXIBLE?

The word count includes all text of your argument and quotes. It does not include
citations, headings, the assignment question, or bibliography.

All word counts can be deviated by ten per cent without penalty. For example, a 2,000
word essay can be submitted with anything from 1,800 (minus ten per cent) to 2,200 (plus
ten per cent) words.

WHAT ARE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES?

A primary source is something that was created during the period that you are studying. A
secondary source is anything created after and commenting upon the period that you are
studying. For example, a primary source for Renaissance Italy could be a book written in
Florence in the 15th century, and a secondary source would be a journal article written
about the Renaissance in 2008; or for contemporary art, a primary source might be an
interview with an artist from 2008 and a secondary source a book written about
contemporary art in 2010.

For this subject, a primary source is anything that was created before about 500 CE (this
places it very broadly in antiquity). This refers to the original date of creation – even if an
edition of Homer’s Iliad were translated in 2020, it was originally written by Homer in the
eight century BCE and therefore is a primary source. A secondary source is anything that
was created after antiquity.

CITING PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary source citations have three elements, placed in a set of parentheses:
• The ancient author
• The title (often abbreviated, although this isn’t mandatory) in italics
• A number reference to where the evidence was found in the text (see below)
In practice, this looks something like: (Livy, History of Rome 1.7) where Livy is the author,
History of Rome is the text, and 1.7 is book one, section seven where the evidence was
found.

Try to be as specific as possible with the number reference. Ideally, you would have three
numbers here – a book, a chapter, and a line(s) – like this: 5.89.76-77. In the Livy example,
we have a book (one) and a section (seven). From the reader’s perspective, the second
number could equally be a line. This is why it is important to include the edition of a
primary source you are using in the bibliography, so the reader can consult it themselves.
Never use page numbers unless they are the only reference you have.
All primary source citations are placed in-text. This distinguishes them from secondary
source citations, which are footnoted (see below).

The name of any edition/translation you have used must be listed in a ‘Primary Text’
section of your bibliography cited according to Chicago A (Footnote). For a guide to
Chicago style citation, see the Library’s Re:cite resource:
https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/chicago-a

CITING SECONDARY SOURCES

Secondary source citations are placed in footnotes and follow Chicago A (Footnote). For a
guide to Chicago style citation, see the Library’s Re:cite resource:
https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/chicago-a

HOW OFTEN ARE CITATIONS NEEDED?

You must include a reference to primary or secondary texts (or both) every time you quote
from, refer to, or draw your own idea from a text. For example, each of the following
examples require a citation:
• Direct quote – Evander calls Hercules “son of Jupiter…” (Livy, History of Rome 1.7)
• Reference to a source without quotation – Evander hails Hercules (Livy, History of
Rome 1.7)
• Original idea drawn from a text – Evander calling Hercules “son of Jupiter…”
demonstrates the importance of divine heritage in ancient societies (Livy, History of
Rome 1.7)
Every sentence must have its own citations. This means that even if ten sentences in a row
all refer to 1.7 in Livy History of Rome, each sentence needs to have the same citation.

WHERE DO CITATIONS GO?

This differs between primary and secondary sources:
Primary Sources: The citation can go anywhere in a sentence as long as it is before the final
punctuation. Some people prefer to place it directly after the evidence, eg:
Evander calling Hercules “son of Jupiter…” (Livy, History of Rome 1.7) demonstrates
the importance of heritage in ancient societies.
Other people like to place it at the end, eg:
Evander calling Hercules “son of Jupiter…” demonstrates the importance of
heritage in ancient societies (Livy, History of Rome 1.7).

You can also have as many primary source citations in a sentence as you like, depending on
the choice made above. You can have multiple citations for multiple evidence, eg:
Evander calling Hercules “son of Jupiter…” (Livy, History of Rome 1.7), like Achilles’
epithet “son of Peleus…” (Homer, Iliad 22.175) demonstrates the importance of
heritage in ancient societies.
Or put everything in the one citation at the end, eg:
Evander calling Hercules “son of Jupiter…”, like Achilles’ epithet “son of Peleus…”
demonstrates the importance of heritage in ancient societies (Livy, History of Rome
1.7; and Homer, Iliad 22.175).
Note that in the second example, the citations are in the order their evidence appears in
the sentence.

Secondary Sources: Footnotes must always be at the end of a sentence after the final
punctuation, eg:
Heritage is very important in ancient socieites.1

Unlike primary source citations, there can only be one footnote per sentence. A footnote
does not have a capacity limit – it can hold as many citations as necessary.

Footnotes are numbered consecutively, and each sentence needs its own footnote. In other
words, sentences cannot share footnotes – even if you need the same citation as footnote
number three pages later, the new sentence will have its consecutive number with the same
citation as footnote three, eg:
Heritage is very important in ancient socieites.3…[three pages later] Ching argues
that family is central to Iliad.26 This is a reflection of the importance placed on
heritage in ancient societies more broadly [using same evidence as footnote
three].27

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Add a full bibliography of all the works you have cited at the end of your essay. Put
primary texts first, then secondary. Format entries in the bibliography according to the
Chicago A (Footnote) bibliography citation style.