I. Content Guidelines
There are three basic requirements for the content of the thesis: it should be a classics thesis, have a language component, and be or include a research project. The Classics aspect means that the thesis emerges from your work in Greco-Roman antiquity. The language aspect means that you quote and analyze text in original Latin or Greek. Finally, the “research” aspect means that the thesis must demonstrate that you have a knowledge of secondary material relating to the project. That is, through references in the body of the text and in the bibliography, you must show that you have examined the ideas of the important interpretations and commentaries on the works at issue in the thesis.
II. Presentation Guidelines
The default thesis is an academic paper of roughly 30-50 pages, double-spaced (9000-15,000 words). Classics students have also submitted creative theses: translations with annotation, two of them set in type and printed at The Press at Colorado College, where the research was both embodied in the translation itself and represented by additional annotation; scenes from classical drama, directed based on research which was also summarized in “director’s notes.”
III. Style Guidelines
1. All theses must be printed on acid‑free paper, and either on a laser printer or a letter‑quality printer (no dot‑matrix).
2. Margins: 1" top, bottom, and right; 1.5" left. Font size: 12
3. Last name and page number on the top right hand corner. No number on the first page (although it is counted as 1); no number on title page (and it is not counted, or is counted as page zero).
2. Title page: Layout at your discretion. However, do not use fancy or large fonts; stay within the margin limitations; and include the following information: Name, title, class (i.e., May 2005), and the words Senior Thesis in Classics, The Colorado College.
5. Use either footnotes or endnotes, but not both. Notes should be substantive. Most bibliographical references should be included parenthetically in the texts. Include name and page number only (no commas or little p's). If you are using more than one source by the same author, include abbreviated version of the title instead of the name. Otherwise, use the author's name. If your context either names the source or makes it self evident, all you need in the reference is the page number.
Samples:
As Nilsson says in Greek Piety, "[g]ood Athenians believed that they believed in their gods, but the belief was beginning to fade” (77).
"Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage” (Iliad 1.1, Lombardo).
The line, “vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras" (12.952), both forces and denies us a sense of closure.
6. Quotations that are longer than four lines should always be separated from the text and indented an inch. Poetry should be indented and left justified, not centered. These quotations do not need quotation marks and the punctuation comes before the parenthetical note.
3. Bibliography: Include either list of "Works Cited" or "Works Consulted" at your discretion. If you want, you may also want to separate them and include both. Anything cited must be included. The Writing Center resources page http://www.coloradocollege.edu/learningcommons/writingcenter/resources.asp gives you links to user-friendly guides to APA (that’s Psychological), Chicago and MLA (that’s Modern Languages) style for citations and bibliography.
8. Greek: You may transliterate words or short (word-like) phrases: hubris, hoi polloi (italicized or not). Longer quotes in your paragraphs or indented should be in Greek with accents and breathings. This can’t be done with the “insert symbol” menu in MS Word and Times New Roman font: Perseus has a helpful page at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Help/fonthelp.html that includes links to Greek wordprocessing packages available for sale, including the venerable GreekKeys for Mac. The computing center at Amherst College has a quick guide at http://www.amherst.edu/it/software/languages/index.html#Greek with links to the free, downloadable Keyman utility for activating available Unicode Greek fonts in Windows and to a couple of free, downloadable keyboards that let you type them readily.
Revised 4/15/05