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ENG 4623/5623 Fall 2002 Guide to a Mythology Your assignment is to prepare an encyclopedic survey of the mythology of a particular culture. The focus of your survey can be any mythological system except those that have been treated in class readings–i.e., Mesopotamian, Greek, Norse, and Judeo-Christian. Here are a few possibilities:
Your first task is to pick a subject and get it approved. That should be done by 14 November by talking to me in my office so that I can give you some specific suggestions about sources. Once you have chosen a topic, you should immediately look at the sources. If for some reason, you decide that you want to work with something else, you need to have the change approved by 19 November. Projects on topics that have not been approved will not be accepted. Your survey should cover the following subjects: sources of the mythology (not your own bibliography, but the ultimate sources–e.g., tablets in cuneiform discovered at archeological sites in presentday Iraq); the ways in which the mythology presents themes which recur cross-culturally (cosmogony, cosmology, theogony, apocalypse and renewal, etiology, the hero); the major figures in the mythology’s pantheon and their relationship with each other; the cultural and historical background for the mythology; ways in which the mythology has manifested itself in expressive culture. The sources which you consult should be authoritative. This eliminates general encyclopedias, children’s books (the LC collection in the Dean B. Ellis Library), and most websites. While there are literally hundreds of websites dealing with mythology in general and with specific mythologies, most of them are superficial, riddled with inaccuracies, and based upon secondary materials. You should go to the materials themselves (in so far as they are available in the library) instead of relying on someone else’s interpretation of them. If you use a website, you must be able to vouch for its reliability. Your survey must synthesize at least three sources. Be sure that when you paraphrase from them that you use your own words. Quotations, which should be used sparingly if at all, should be introduced clearly and documented parenthetically (for example, "According to Smith, ‘Ugaritic mythology derives from Mesopotamian sources’ [1998, 23]). The final product of your work should be a paper of about five pages (typed, double-spaced) in the form of a substantial encyclopedia article, which is accompanied by a list of the sources you consulted. Those sources should be presented using either the format prescribed by the Modern Language Association or that in the Chicago Manual of Style. This is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, 3 December. It may be submitted by e-mail as long as it is in a double-spaced attachment. Late papers, which will lose one letter grade, will not be accepted after the final examination (5 December). I will be glad to look at what you have done in any state of completion prior to its submission. |
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