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also ARKEO 263, JWST 263, and RELST 263 |
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also ARKEO 263, JWST 263, and RELST 263 |
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I. Purpose: II. Course Requirements/Grading: Note: I will have to miss class on Nov. 15 because I will be attending a conference. A make up class will be scheduled for some evening during the latter half of the semester. It is a general rule of thumb that for every hour of course credit, you should spend two hours working outside the class. The work load for this class is designed with this rule in mind. Expect to spend ca. 4 hours per week on readings and 2-3 on the paper and web site. Course attendance is mandatory. If a student is 10 minutes or more late to class that is counted as an absence. The University recognizes excusable absences only for family emergencies, medical situations, religious observances, away-game varsity sports events in which you participate, and job interviews. This semester several of the Jewish holidays overlap a class day. If you will miss class due to religious observances you must inform me by email before hand. I can not guess on these things (and suggest guessing might be called “racial profiling”!) The equivalent of ˝ letter grade will be subtracted for each class session missed, or for each full class session the term paper or any writing assignment is late. That is, if an assignment is due in class on Tuesday it is considered late (and subject to penalty) if it is not handed in by class on Thursday of that week. The same penalty applies for each full day the web site is late. If a student shows improvement over the course of the semester later work will be weighted more heavily in the final grade than early work. How to understand your grade(s). A score of 70.0 to 72.9 is a C-, 73-76.9 is a C, and 77.0-79.9 a C+, and so on. There is no rounding of scores (either up or down). The only exception is for those students who have shown steady and marked improvement over the semester. Such a student, who has, for example, a score of 89.6 (B+), may be nudged up to an A-. If you are taking this course S/U you must have a final score for the class of at least 70.0 to pass. Grades for this course are never changed after the final grades are posted. If, based on your assignments and/or exams, you are worried about your final class grade, the time to see me is not long after the term paper is graded and handed back. Do not wait until the last week of the semester! I do not hand out extra assignments or make-up work (If I were to do this for one student, to be fair I would have to make the same offer to all students); I will give you advice on how to study better, and suggest ways to improve your final web project. If you are on any sort of academic probation you should let me know about this as soon as possible. I will check in with the adviser of any student who misses a substantial number of class (7+), or who gets a D grade (70<) on the prelim or the term paper, to evaluate if any special steps need to be taken on the student’s behalf. If you have any type of impairment (e.g. bi-polar disorder) which may affect your performance in this class you should let me know during the first week of the semester and provide me with proper university documentation for the impairment. If any such condition should arise during the course of the semester I should be notified of it immediately. You should not come to me after the final grades have been posted and ask for extra consideration. The same applies to any sort of family related crisis such as a grave illness or death. You must notify me immediately if any situation arises which may or will affect your performance in the class. This also applies to work extensions. The syllabus outlines all course work with deadlines known well in advance. Due not ask the instructor for extensions for other then a real crisis. Do not ask to take the final on a date other than that given in the exam schedule except for a real crisis situation. Do not make travel arrangements to leave Cornell until after you have completed the exam. III. University Regulations: IV. Course Text Books: B. Mazar, A. C. Isserlin, B.S.J. D. Bible A modern translation (not KJV), and not a
paraphrase (e.g. The Living Bible). V. Reference Reading List: A. Freedman, D.N. ed. B. Meyers, E.M. ed. C. Redford, D. B. ed. D. Sasson, J. M. ed. E. Stern, E. ed. F. Biblical Archaeology Review - This is an extremely useful popular magazine which covers all aspects of Biblical Archaeology and is profusely illustrated. You may find it helpful when looking for illustrations for your paper and site. Olin + BS620.A1 B583. Its sister publication is Bible Review which deals more with textual and literary discussions; also well illustrated. BR is no longer being published, but old issues are still valuable. Olin + BS410 .B565. If you are very interested in either subject you may want to subscribe to BAR. You may find out about how to subscribe by going to the Biblical Archaeology Society web page at: http://www.bib-arch.org/ G. Electronic and Hard Copy Publication Indexes H. A Note on the Web, Google and other Online Sources: That being said, there are a few useful on-line
resources that are accessible through the Cornell University Library
computer system: A special warning on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) This resource is in a constant state of flux. Articles are written by anyone who wants to write about the subject, but they can be altered by anyone else. Even a student in this class could add an article, and then find it changed sometime later. If someone does not have the knowledge/savvy (or is just plain too lazy) to create his/her own web site, that person can just add an article to Wikipedia. So, if you look at this resource, be doubly sure you double check the data you retrieve. Some of it is very good, other parts are pure trash. VI. Course Outline B. Week 2:Sept. 2 - 8 C. Week 3: Sept. 9 - 15 Rosh Hashana Sept. 12-14: Class as normal D. Week 4: Sept. 16-22 Thesis Statement/Introduction and Annotated Bibliography due Thursday, Sept. 20 E. Week 5: Sept. 23 - 29 Sukkot Sept. 26-Oct. 3: Class as normal F. Week 6: Sept. 30 - Oct. 6 G. Week 7: Oct. 7 - 13 H. Week 8: Oct. 14- 20 Term Paper Due on Tuesday, Oct. 23 I. Week 9: Oct. 21 - Oct. 27 J. Week 10: Oct. 28 - Nov 3 K. Week 11: Nov. 4 - 10 L. Week 12: Nov. 11 - 17 M. Week 13: Nov. 18 - 24 1. The Babylonian Period Web Site Due Monday, Dec. 3, at 10:00 a.m. Final Exam on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2:00-4:30 Please note that I will not be giving any early Final Exams except per normal university regulations. This means that you should not make plans to leave the university before the end of this exam. VII. Exam formats: The web site has some example questions so you can develop an idea of what is expected. VIII. Term Paper and Web Site
Requirements: A. Purpose: B. Preliminary Drafts: C. Preliminary Thesis Statement/Introduction and
Annotated Bibliography: Your preliminary thesis statement must include the
following elements: Here are some example thesis statements: Sample Introductory Paragraph based on thesis 3. This preliminary work will help me better focus your research and suggest ways to better organize your material. It will also show me if you have selected a suitable topic for this class, of if your efforts will need to be redirected. E.g. a paper on Egyptian burial practices would not be appropriate for this class. An annotated bibliography contains standard bibliographic citations, each with a short paragraph explaining the general nature of the source, and its importance for your paper. An annotation should not be something so banal and generic that it says nothing about the value of the source. E.g. “This work provides valuable insights about Mesopotamian laws,” is not very useful, and in fact, could be simply lifted from the title of the work. This preliminary bibliography will help me to steer you to additional or more useful sources. The reference works listed at the beginning of the syllabus are key resources! B. Term Paper Requirements: Your grade will be based partially on research and partially on writing skill. You may have an excellent idea, and have done dozens of hours of research, but if your grammar is atrocious, word choice poor, notes inadequate, and bibliography haphazardly formatted, you will receive a lower grade. Conversely, an extremely well-written and formatted paper with no real research done, and full of vague generalizations will also receive a lower grade. Your paper must be structured in the following way.
First an introduction following the format set out above for the
preliminary thesis statement. The main part of your paper will be where
you marshal your data and arguments. You will end with a summary of your
presentation and a conclusion which explains why and how your presentation
proves your thesis. The body of the paper must be at least 7 full pages in length; bibliography, notes, illustrations, etc. are not included in these 7 pages. Use 1" margins on all sides. Do not use a font larger than 12 point or smaller than 10. Use a standard font, such as Times Roman, no whacky font types. Basically no gimmicks designed to pad the length of your paper. Double space throughout, except foot/endnotes (in-text citations are preferred). All pages must be numbered. The title page must include the paper title, course number, date and your name. Use proper academic form in your paper. In-text citations are preferred. Note that any illustrations you use must be credited to the proper source, just like a text citation (E.g. Fig. 1 (Zorn Fig. 312); or (Zorn 23, illustration in top right corner)). You must include a photocopied page of the title page of each book you have used in your paper at the end of the bibliography. For articles provide a copy of the first page of the article. For web sites use the home page of the site. Do not use contractions (e.g. “aren’t,” “didn’t”) in formal writing. You will be graded down for this The bibliography/works cited must contain at least 7 sources which you have consulted in the preparation of your paper. At least 3 of these must be articles from journals, encyclopedias, or dictionaries. You may only use more than 2 electronic sources (e.g. CD’s, web sites, e-mail) if you have at least 5 non-electronic sources (i.e. you can’t use Google exclusively). If you use an electronic resource such as JSTOR, which simply makes already existing hard copy sources available over the Web, this does not count against the limit of 2 electronic sources. You may cite the course texts books and the Bible, but these do not count towards the 7 required sources. If you list a work in your bibliography it must be referenced in the body of the paper; i.e. if it is important enough to list in the bibliography it must have provided you with some significant data for your paper topic. I prefer MLA format, but others are acceptable, as long as documentation is full. A convenient source for this is Diana Hacker’s A Writers Reference. Many of you have used this in your First Year Writing Seminar. Papers with improperly formatted bibliographies will receive lower scores than they would otherwise receive. I will help you with your bibliography. However, before coming to me for help in finding references you must do a little work yourself. Look through the bibliographic material in the course text books, check through the reference works cited above, check the university computer catalogues, consult with the university librarians, use Google Scholar. Once you have taken these first steps you should come to me, explain what you have done so far, and explain any difficulties you are having finding references. I will not give help on bibliography the week the paper is due, so ask early on. C. Specific Web Site Requirements: Our society is being driven more and more by the Internet; much useful data and many products are available on the Web. In the old days to get a head in the world it was sufficient to be a decent writer. This is no longer the case. Having a certain amount of computer savvy is also important. Most of you have already surfed the Internet. The purpose of this exercise is to introduce you to Web authoring, a skill which is in increasing demand. Warning, if you have never created a web page before, start on it as soon as your paper is complete. In fact, you may want to think about suitable illustrations as you are working on the paper. While setting up a basic site, with a proper web authoring program, is not difficult, it is time consuming. The biggest mistake that some students make is to do the absolute minimum for the web site, and then wonder about their C grade. Avoid placing your entire text on one page, your bibliography on another, and each illustration on its own page. This is a couple of hours of work and will not earn a very high grade. Your web project is a second or final draft of your term paper. Your grade on the web site will depend partially on how well you design and implement the project, and also on its content. If changes or recommendations were suggested on your term paper these should be pursued in the web project. If you receive a C on the term paper, then do not expect an A on the web project, no mater how slickly presented, unless you improve upon your basic text. If additional research was suggested as feedback on your term paper this should be pursued. You should continue to strive to improve the content while you repackage it for the Web. All general term paper requirements apply. I.e. you must include a bibliography, and all your ideas and material must be properly documented in notes. On Tuesday, Oct. 16, we will meet with ATC staff, in Stimson Hall G27 (the computer lab). This meeting will orient you to the resources available at Cornell for creating Web pages. This meeting will be in lieu of a class session. Web authoring is a time consuming task. You should feel free to consult the ATC staff as often as you need help. You may not ask another person to design and build the site for you. This is the equivalent of buying a term paper and is regarded as “cheating” However, if you have friends with more computer savvy than you possess, do not be afraid to ask for help with mechanical procedures such as getting an illustration in the right part of the page. There may be helpful free/shareware on the Internet which you can download. You are free to purchase web authoring programs if you like. Cornell’s computer labs also have more sophisticated web authoring soft ware, scanners, etc. Before you set out to design your page you should surf the Net a bit and look at a variety of sites. Notice the things you like and dislike about how they look and work and take this to heart as you design your own site. What makes the site attractive? What makes it easy to navigate. Evaluate what makes a poor site poor. Think about the logical arrangement of your site. A written paper proceeds in a linear fashion. A Web site does not have to be linear (though of course it can be). If you want to rewrite or rearrange your paper into a format which better accommodates it to the Web, you should do it. The web site does not have to be a slavish copy of the paper, but it should include all the same material as the paper. A superior web site is easy to navigate around. Buttons/Links are in the right place for easy access (e.g. always on top, or on the left side). Each separate page should have a clearly defined role. Watch out for simple, clumsy, easy to correct errors. E.g. just as your printed text does not run up to the edge of the paper, your web text should not go to the edge of the screen (i.e. remember margins!) A basic tip is to keep image file sizes fairly small. Monitors only display at 75 dpi (dots per inch) so high resolution images of 300+ dpi are useless (unless you imagine that viewers will want to download and print them). Nothing is more annoying than waiting for several minutes while several unnecessarily large graphic files are loading (not everyone has broadband yet!). When you scan and edit your images keep your images a reasonable size. Also be aware that you should save them as .jpg or .gif formatted files. I recommend that no single web page have more than ca. 500 Kb worth of graphics on it. If you need to use a large graphic file, put it on another page with a link to it that says how large it is. This warns your readers before they try to hop to it. Another issue is the use of background images. Make sure that if you use one it does not obscure the material you are presenting, or make the font unreadable. Also make sure that it is not a huge file that takes minutes to load. The same with colored backgrounds. E.g. if you use a background that is dark blue, avoid black text. Even certain bright colors look awful against dark backgrounds (e.g. light green). The web site must include at least 4 internal links. I.e. your web site cannot be a single page with everything loaded on to it. E.g. you could have a main page and links to a map, a translation of a text, a list of seals bearing a particular iconographic symbol and a bibliography page. A link to an external site which is relevant to your paper is not required, but will earn you some extra credit. The web site must include at least 4 illustrations, 2 of which may not be on the main page; i.e. they must be on linked pages. Again, this is the minimum for a passing grade, not an “A” grade. You must provide proper documentation (“notes”) for all materials you use in your web page, just as in the term paper. In addition, you must provide proper documentation for the illustrations you use. If you take them from a printed source you must cite them by the illustration number, or by the page number (and position on the page if there is more than a single illustration on the page). If the illustration is from a web source you must provide the title of the web site and the specific section of the site where the illustration is found, the URL of that section, and the author of the site. You may use, but are not required to use, sound files or video clips if they are relevant to your work. Finally, be sure to check that your site looks right on a computer other than your own, and on a browser other than your own. If you use a PC check it on a Mac. If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, view it on Netscape. You may want to include a comment on which browser and at what resolution the site looks best. As with the term paper on which it is based, I will be happy to review any student’s web page 4 days prior to the deadline. Following up on such feedback will almost certainly improve your grade and is highly recommended. IX. Paper Topic Examples: Was King David any more or less blood thirsty on campaign
than an Assyrian king? Why did chariots become larger in the Iron Age? What did the Cherubim and Seraphim look like and how did
they function in Israelite iconography? Here are a few topics related to Israelite cult: |
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